Collaborative Research: Collection of Marine Geophysical Data on Transits of the Nathaniel B. Palmer

该项目将利用R/VIB纳撒尼尔·b·帕尔默的过境巡航来收集南部海洋机会目标的海洋地球物理数据。由于Palmer通常只经过地球物理仪器很少调查的地区，因此该项目代表了收集重要新数据的经济有效方法。这项工作的重点是扩大我们对南极和周围板块运动历史的认识。最终目标是改善全球板块重建，并获得对一般板块运动学和动力学以及岩石圈流变学的新见解。只有轻微偏离直线路线是必需的，我们预计在项目的三年内每年运行一次邮轮。从新西兰到智利的第一次巡航将沿着Menard断裂带调查太平洋-南极板块运动的流动线，该断裂带在南纬50度左右穿过东太平洋隆起。将收集深度测量、重力、磁力和少量地震反射剖面，以确定断裂带的确切轨迹及其与船载和卫星雷达测高数据中相关重力异常的关系。这些观测对精确的板块重建至关重要，并将提供太平洋-南极边界北端附近主要断裂带的gps导航位置。这些数据将与板块边界西南端的皮特曼断裂带的类似数据以及先前在梅纳德断裂带附近的磁异常结合使用，以提高高精度板块重建并评估太平洋和南极板块的内部变形极限。未来几年的科学计划将在过境时间表确定后进行设计。就更广泛的影响而言，我们计划在两次游轮上为研究生和本科生讲授船上海洋地球物理学课程。课程包括日常课堂讲授有关仪器和数据；每天数小时的手表站立和数据处理；每个学生都要完成一个独立的研究项目。我们预计每班可容纳15名学生，其中包括来自少数民族入学率较高的主要本科院校的学生。

This project will utilize the R/VIB Nathaniel B. Palmer's transit cruises to collect marine geophysical data on targets-of-opportunity in the southern oceans. Because the Palmer generally traverses regions only sparsely surveyed with geophysical instruments, this project represents a cost-effective way to collect important new data. The work's focus is expanding our knowledge of plate motion histories for the Antarctic and surrounding plates. The ultimate goals are improving global plate reconstructions and gaining new insight into general plate kinematics and dynamics and lithospheric rheology. Only slight deviations from the straight routes are required, and we expect to operate on one cruise per year over the three years of the project. The first cruise from New Zealand to Chile will survey a flow line of Pacific-Antarctic plate motion along the Menard fracture zone, which crosses the East Pacific Rise at ~50 S latitude. Swath bathymetry, gravity, magnetics, and a small amount of seismic reflection profiling will be collected to determine the exact trace of the fracture zone and its relationship to the associated gravity anomaly seen in shipboard and satellite radar altimetry data. These observations are critical for precise plate reconstructions, and will provide GPS-navigated locations of a major fracture zone near the northern end of the Pacific-Antarctic boundary. These data will be used in combination with similar data from the Pitman fracture zone at the southwestern end of the plate boundary and magnetic anomalies from previous cruises near the Menard fracture zone to improve high-precision plate reconstructions and evaluate the limits of internal deformation of the Pacific and Antarctic plates. The science plan for cruises in following years will be designed once transit schedules are set. In terms of broader impacts, we plan to teach an on-board marine geophysics class to graduate and undergraduate students on two cruises. The class consists of daily classroom lectures about the instruments and data; several hours per day of watch standing and data processing; and work by each student on an independent research project. We expect to accommodate 15 students per class, including participants from primarily undergraduate institutions with high minority enrollments.