Investigation of the Contemporary and Paleo Climates of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica

极地项目办公室、南极科学分部、海洋和气候系统项目授予该奖项，以支持一系列大气模拟练习，以检查麦克默多干谷地区的气候变化。已适应极地条件的极地MM5大气模式的各种实现将用于表征当代气候的时空变异及其控制机制。模型的边界条件将被调整，以解决这样一个问题：尽管附近的冰芯证据表明，年平均温度比现在低4-8摄氏度，但在最后一次冰川高峰期间，比现在大得多的湖泊是如何在干谷中持续存在并进入全新世的。南极中尺度预报系统是一个以南极洲为重点的协作实验数值天气预报项目，分辨率从60公里到2.2公里不等，将采用存档模式运行提供的更大尺度条件的嵌套模拟方法。为了研究当代的空间和时间变化，PI将设置一个1公里水平分辨率的极地MM5版本，从地表延伸到平流层，在32个水平层中，每隔一小时输出一个完整的年间隔。年际变率和更大尺度（厄尔尼诺-南方涛动和南环模）气候相互作用将在1985年至今较低水平分辨率（2公里）模拟的融化季节进行评估。为了解决古问题，将利用LGM地形，调整冰和湿度来模拟古条件。PI在提案中表明，现有的2.2公里Polar MM5实施可以通过逻辑方式进行调整，以获得与干谷自动气象站观测更接近的一致性。这使人们相信，提出的其他改进措施，包括适当的土地类型描述、减少模式重新初始化以及参数化遮阳和坡向对太阳辐射量的影响，将在建模能力和对干谷气候变率的理解方面取得重大进展。更广泛的影响：该项目的结果可能对正在进行的干谷长期生态研究项目产生重要影响。拟议项目的结果将公布在当地网站上，并提交给国家冰雪数据中心进行更广泛的传播。该提案是目前在俄亥俄州立大学拥有博士后地位的PI获得的第一个NSF支持，因此它提供了早期职业支持。该项目产生的材料将被联合项目负责人用于大学讲座，并打算以访问哥伦布公立学校讲座的形式用于外联工作，这些学校的学生群体由代表性不足的群体的主要部分组成。与伯德极地研究中心外联协调员的合作旨在为访问该中心的初高中学生提供数据和可视化材料，并最终为教师提供LTER DVD。

The Office of Polar Program, Antarctic Science Divison, Ocean & Climate Systems Program has made this award to suppport a series of atmospheric modeling exercises for examining climate variability in the McMurdo Dry Valleys region. Various implementations of the Polar MM5 atmospheric model that has been adapted for polar conditions will be used to characterize spatial and temporal variability of the contemporary climate and its controlling mechanisms. Boundary conditions for the model will be adjusted to address the question of how lakes much larger than the current ones persisted in the Dry Valleys during the last Glacial Maximum and into the Holocene despite nearby ice core evidence suggesting an annual mean temperature 4-8 degree C cooler than present. A nested modeling approach will be undertaken with larger scale conditions provided by archived model runs from the Antarctic Mesoscale Prediction System that is a collaborative experimental numerical weather forecasting project focused on Antarctica and having resolution that varies regionally from 60-km to 2.2-km. To study contemporary spatial and temporal variability, the PI will nest a 1-km horizontal resolution version of Polar MM5 that extends in 32 levels from the surface to the stratosphere with output at hourly intervals for a full year interval. Interannual variability and larger-scale (El Nino-Southern Oscillation and the Southern Annular Mode) climate interactions will be assessed over the melt season with lesser horizontal resolution (2-km) simulations from 1985 to the present. To address the paleo question, the LGM topography will be employed and ice and humidity adjusted to simulate paleo conditions. The PI demonstrated in the proposal that an existing 2.2-km implementation of Polar MM5 could be adjusted in logical ways to obtain closer agreement with Automatic Weather Station observations in the Dry Valleys. This lends confidence that proposed additional improvements including proper land type depiction, reduced model reinitializations and parameterizing the effects of shading and slope aspect on the amount of solar radiation will result significant progress in modeling capabilities and understanding of Dry Valley climate variability. Broader impacts: The outcome of this project could have important implications for ongoing Long-Term Ecological Research projects in the Dry Valleys. Results from the proposed project are to be posted on a local web site and given to the National Snow & Ice Data Center for broader dissemination. This proposal constitutes the first NSF support obtained by the PI who currently has postdoctoral status at Ohio State University hence it provides early career support. The material generated by this project will be used in university lectures by the co-PI and it is intended to be used in outreach efforts in the form of visits with lectures to Columbus Public Schools whose student bodies are made of a dominant fraction of underrepresented groups. Collaboration with the Byrd Polar Research Center outreach coordinator is intended to yield data and visualization materials for middle and high school student visitors to the Center and eventually an LTER DVD intended for teachers.