IPY: Investigation of Antarctic Ice Sheet Mass Balance From Satellite Gravity Measurements

该奖项支持一个项目，该项目利用NASA重力恢复和气候实验(GRACE)任务的高精度卫星重力测量，在大陆和区域空间尺度上评估南极冰盖质量平衡。拟议调查的学术价值在于，这项研究将利用GRACE重力数据以前所未有的精度改进对大陆、区域和集水盆地尺度的南极冰块平衡的评估。GRACE估计与遥感测量之间的拟议比较对于正确量化和解释不同空间和时间尺度上的南极冰块平衡至关重要。提议团队在GRACE时变重力数据的地球物理应用方面有着良好的记录(包括最近发表的针对极地冰盖和山脉冰川融化的几篇主要论文)，并展示了对GRACE数据和相关产品的透彻理解；该团队一直在设计优化的过滤方法和开发数值正演模拟技术方面走在前列，这对使用GRACE数据研究区域或集水区盆地尺度的冰块变化至关重要。拟议活动的更广泛影响包括，该项目将通过支持研究生的论文研究，积极让学生参与和培训；并将广泛参与一般教育和公共宣传(E/PO)活动(PI实际上正在通过联邦资助的项目领导空间研究中心的E/PO小组)，这项调查的结果将有助于激发未来地球科学家的兴趣，并提高公众对我们的地球系统迅速变化的气候(例如，全球变暖、冰盖融化和海平面上升)对我们生活环境的重大影响的认识。最后，拟议的调查涉及国际冰年计划的一个重点领域(即冰盖历史和动态：极地冰盖的体积和地理范围如何随时间变化？)。量化南极冰盖上的冰量变化对于了解地球系统的气候变化具有重要意义。

Chen/0632195This award supports a project to assess Antarctic ice sheet mass balance at both continental and regional spatial scales, using high-accuracy satellite gravity measurements from the NASA Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission. The intellectual merit of the proposed investigation is that this study will provide improved assessments of Antarctic ice mass balance at continental, regional, and catchment basin scales using GRACE gravity data with unprecedented accuracy. The proposed comparison between GRACE estimates and remote sensing measurements are critical for correctly quantifying and interpreting Antarctic ice mass balance at different spatial and temporal scales. The proposing team has a strong record of publications related to geophysical applications of GRACE time-variable gravity data (including a few major papers targeting polar ice sheets and mountain glacial melting that have been recently published), and has demonstrated a thorough understanding of GRACE data and related products; and the team has been working in the forefront in designing optimized filtering methods, and developing numerical forward modeling techniques, which are critical for the study of regional or catchment basin scale ice mass changes using GRACE data. The broader impacts of the proposed activities include that this project will actively involve student participation and training, through the support of the thesis study of a graduate student; and will extensively involve in general education and public outreach (E/PO) activities (the PI is actually leading an E/PO team at the Center for Space Research through a federally funded project), and the results from this investigation will help to inspire the interest of future geoscientists and promote the public awareness of the significant impacts on our living environment from the rapidly changing climate (e.g., global warming, ice sheet melting, and sea level rise) of our home planet system. Finally, the proposed investigation addresses one of the emphasis areas of the IPY program (i.e. Ice Sheet History and Dynamics: How has the volume and geographic extent of polar ice sheets varied through time?). Quantifying ice mass changes over the Antarctic ice sheet is of great importance in understanding climate changes of our planet system.