Collaborative Research: ANDRILL - - Investigating Antarctica's Role in Cenozoic Global Environmental Change

安德里尔是一个科学钻探计划，旨在调查南极洲在过去6000万年间全球气候变化中的作用。该方法综合了地球物理调查、新的钻探技术、多学科岩心分析和冰盖建模，以解决四个科学主题：（1）南极气候和冰盖的历史;（2）极地生物群和生态系统的演变;（3）主要构造和火山事件的时间和性质;以及（4）南极洲在地球海洋气候系统中的作用。该奖项启动了一个可能成为长期计划的钻探两个以前无法访问的沉积物记录下的麦克默多冰架和南麦克默多声音。这些地层记录涵盖了南极洲主要冰盖发展的关键时期。麦克默多冰架网站的重点是罗斯冰架，其大小是全球气候变化的敏感指标。它最近经历了重大的冰解事件，有证据表明，自上一次冰川最大期以来，它已经收缩了数千公里。作为冷底层水的生成器，大陆架也可能在海洋环流中发挥关键作用。从这个网站获得的核心也将提供深入了解冰下架沉积，生物和海洋学过程;罗斯岛火山活动的历史;和岩石圈的火山负荷，这是重要的地球物理和构造研究该地区的弯曲响应。南麦克默多声音网站位于干谷附近，并侧重于覆盖东南极洲的主要冰盖。关于这片冰原的稳定性一直存在争议。来自干谷的证据支持了相互矛盾的结论：至少在过去的1500万年里是一个稳定的冰盖，或者是一个活跃的冰盖，在几百万年前经历了膨胀和收缩的循环。限制这一历史对于全球气候变化的深时模型至关重要。沉积物芯将用于构建该地区的整体冰川和间冰期历史，包括海冰覆盖率，海平面，陆地植被和融水排放事件的文件。该岩芯还将为区域地震研究提供一般的年代地层学框架，并有助于揭示该地区复杂的构造历史。该项目的更广泛影响包括正规和非正规教育、新的研究基础设施、各种形式的合作，以及提高社会对全球气候变化的理解。教育支持博士后，研究生，本科和K-12水平。教师和课程专家被纳入研究计划，并将制作一系列视频资源，包括一部供电视播放的科学纪录片。新的研究基础设施包括用于核心分析和冰盖建模的设备，以及开发一种独特的钻探系统来穿透冰架。钻探开发和整个项目得到了与科学家和新西兰、德国和意大利国家南极计划的国际合作的共同支持。该计划还建立了美国研究机构和主要本科院校之间的新合作。作为海平面上升以及海洋和大气环流的关键因素，南极洲的冰盖对社会了解全球气候变化至关重要。ANDRILL提供了有关海洋和陆地温度的新数据，并改变了我们对极地冰盖形成等极端气候事件的理解。这些数据对于建立未来地球气候的准确模型至关重要。

ANDRILL is a scientific drilling program to investigate Antarctica's role in global climate change over the last sixty million years. The approach integrates geophysical surveys, new drilling technology, multidisciplinary core analysis, and ice sheet modeling to address four scientific themes: (1) the history of Antarctica's climate and ice sheets; (2) the evolution of polar biota and ecosystems; (3) the timing and nature of major tectonic and volcanic episodes; and (4) the role of Antarctica in the Earth's ocean-climate system. This award initiates what may become a long-term program with drilling of two previously inaccessible sediment records beneath the McMurdo Ice Shelf and in South McMurdo Sound. These stratigraphic records cover critical time periods in the development of Antarctica's major ice sheets. The McMurdo Ice Shelf site focuses on the Ross Ice Shelf, whose size is a sensitive indicator of global climate change. It has recently undergone major calving events, and there is evidence of a thousand-kilometer contraction since the last glacial maximum. As a generator of cold bottom water, the shelf may also play a key role in ocean circulation. The core obtained from this site will also offer insight into sub-ice shelf sedimentary, biologic, and oceanographic processes; the history of Ross Island volcanism; and the flexural response of the lithosphere to volcanic loading, which is important for geophysical and tectonic studies of the region.The South McMurdo Sound site is located adjacent to the Dry Valleys, and focuses on the major ice sheet overlying East Antarctica. A debate persists regarding the stability of this ice sheet. Evidence from the Dry Valleys supports contradictory conclusions; a stable ice sheet for at least the last fifteen million years or an active ice sheet that cycled through expansions and contractions as recently as a few millions of years ago. Constraining this history is critical to deep-time models of global climate change. The sediment cores will be used to construct an overall glacial and interglacial history for the region; including documentation of sea-ice coverage, sea level, terrestrial vegetation, and melt-water discharge events. The core will also provide a general chronostratigraphic framework for regional seismic studies and help unravel the area's complex tectonic history.The broader impacts of this project include formal and informal education, new research infrastructure, various forms of collaboration, and improving society's understanding of global climate change. Education is supported at the postdoctoral, graduate, undergraduate, and K-12 levels. Teachers and curriculum specialists are integrated into the research program, and a range of video resources will be produced, including a science documentary for television release. New research infrastructure includes equipment for core analysis and ice sheet modeling, as well as development of a unique drilling system to penetrate ice shelves. Drill development and the overall project are co-supported by international collaboration with scientists and the National Antarctic programs of New Zealand, Germany, and Italy. The program also forges new collaborations between research and primarily undergraduate institutions within the United States. As key factors in sea-level rise and oceanic and atmospheric circulation, Antarctica's ice sheets are important to society's understanding of global climate change. ANDRILL offers new data on marine and terrestrial temperatures, and changes our understanding of extreme climate events like the formation of polar ice caps. Such data are critical to developing accurate models of the Earth's climatic future.