Glacier Change in the Southern Indian Ocean: Brown Glacier, Heard Island

该奖项支持探索性研究（SGER）的小额赠款，以利用最近为P.I.提供的机会。在赫德岛与澳大利亚南极分部（AAD）合作。 赫德岛是一个小的（367平方公里）亚南极洲岛屿，由一个2700米高的复合火山组成，四面都是冰川。 这项工作的目的是确定南印度洋赫德岛布朗冰川目前的质量平衡、几何形状和流动状况。 这项工作将有助于通过测量一些基本的冰川学参数（质量平衡、流速、冰厚）来确定赫德岛冰川的基线概况。 这将有助于将观察到的冰川变化与气候联系起来，从而为地球上最偏远和最少访问的地方之一的气候变化提供重要指标。 拟议中的工作为美国参与一个没有当地合作几乎不可能运作的领域提供了一个极好的机会。 这项研究的学术价值在于，它增加了对世界上一个很难进入、收集到的数据很少的地区的气候变化的观察。赫德岛是这个纬度上为数不多的陆地之一，其海拔范围使其成为冰川研究的主要候选者。 记录冰川变化填补了全球气候变化图景中的一个重要空白。 这项工作的更广泛影响是，这是一个与澳大利亚南极分部的合作项目，该分部将提供后勤和一些人员。这项工作将是博士学位的一部分。他将在澳大利亚霍巴特的塔斯马尼亚大学撰写论文，从而为年轻科学家的教育做出贡献。赫德岛的实地考察队包括地质学家、冰川学家、植物和野生生物学家，他们正在研究这个独特的系统。许多工作是跨学科的，例如冰川退缩后植物重新定居的研究。赫德岛是世界遗产，据信岛上没有人类引入的植物或动物。澳大利亚南极分部与美国调查人员有着长期的成功合作历史，并热衷于保持这种合作。它的工作集中在南极大陆东部及其周围地区，因此补充了美国在南极洲西部的工作。这项工作的结果将发表在同行评审的期刊上。调查员还就冰川问题向公众发表演讲，并向记者提供反馈，今后将继续这样做。

This award supports a Small Grant for Exploratory Research (SGER) to take advantage of an opportunity that recently presented itself for the P.I. to work on Heard Island with the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD). Heard Island is a small (367 km 2 ) subantarctic island which consists of a 2700 m high composite volcano that is glacierized on all sides.. The objective of the work is to determine the current mass balance, geometry and flow regime of Brown Glacier on Heard Island in the Southern Indian Ocean. The work will help to establish a baseline profile of Heard Island glaciers by measuring some basic glaciological parameters (mass balance, flow velocity, ice thickness). This will help relate the observed glacier changes to climate, and thus provide an important indicator of climate change in one of the most remote and least visited places on the planet. The proposed work provides an excellent opportunity for U.S. involvement in an area where it would be nearly impossible to operate without local collaboration. The intellectual merit of this study is that it adds to observations of climate change in a region of the world that is very difficult to access, and where few data have been collected. Heard Island is one of only few landmasses at this latitude, and its elevation range makes it a prime candidate for glacier study. Documenting glacier change fills an important gap in the picture of global climate change. The broader impacts of this work are that this is a collaborative project with the Australian Antarctic Division who will provide the logistics and some personnel. The work will be part of a Ph.D. thesis at the University of Tasmania in Hobart, Australia and will thus contribute to the education of a young scientist. The Heard Island field team includes geologists, glaciologists, and plant and wildlife biologists, studying this unique system. Much of the work is interdisciplinary, such as the study of plant re-colonization after glacial retreat. Heard Island is a World Heritage site, and it is believed that no human-introduced plant or animal life exists on the island. The Australian Antarctic Division has a long history of successful collaboration with U.S. investigators and is keen on maintaining that. It concentrates its work in and around the eastern part of the Antarctic continent, and therefore complements the U.S. work on the western part of Antarctica. The results of this work will be published in peer-reviewed journals. The investigator has also given lectures to the general public and provided feedback to journalists on glacier issues, and will continue to do so in the future.