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

极地计划办公室，南极科学司，海洋气候系统计划已经取得了这个奖项，以支持一系列的大气模拟演习，检查气候变化的麦克默多干谷地区。已适应极地条件的Polar MM 5大气模式的各种实现将用于表征当代气候及其控制机制的空间和时间变化。 模型的边界条件将进行调整，以解决在最后一次冰期最大期和全新世期间，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，但比目前大得多的湖泊如何在干谷中持续存在的问题。 南极中尺度预报系统是一个以南极洲为重点的合作实验性数值天气预报项目，其分辨率在60公里至2.2公里之间，各区域之间各不相同。 为了研究当代的空间和时间变化，PI将嵌套一个1公里的水平分辨率版本的Polar MM 5，从地面到平流层延伸到32层，每小时输出一次，持续一整年。 从1985年至今，将在融化季节用水平分辨率较低（2公里）的模拟评估年际变率和大尺度（厄尔尼诺-南方涛动和南方环形模式）气候相互作用。 为了解决古问题，将采用LGM地形，并调整冰和湿度以模拟古条件。 PI在提案中表明，可以以合理的方式调整Polar MM 5的现有2.2公里实施，以获得与干旱山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，减少模型重新初始化和参数化的阴影和坡度对太阳辐射量的影响，将导致建模能力和理解干谷气候变异性的重大进展。 更广泛的影响：该项目的成果可能对干旱山谷正在进行的长期生态研究项目产生重要影响。 拟议项目的结果将张贴在当地网站上，并提交给国家冰雪数据中心，以便更广泛地传播。 该提案构成了PI获得的第一个NSF支持，PI目前在俄亥俄州州立大学拥有博士后身份，因此提供了早期职业支持。 该项目所产生的材料将用于共同主要研究者的大学讲座，并打算用于外联工作，其形式是访问哥伦布公立学校，并在这些学校举办讲座，因为这些学校的学生主要是代表性不足的群体。 与伯德极地研究中心外展协调员的合作旨在为访问该中心的初中和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.