Optical Imaging Support for the National Ice Core Laboratory

McGwire/0637004该奖项支持一个项目，该项目旨在继续开发储存在科罗拉多州丹佛市国家冰芯实验室(NICL)的冰芯数字图像分析的新方法。已经开发了成像硬件和软件技术，以满足岩芯科学分析的具体需要，该项目将为NICL使用和进一步完善这一光学扫描技术提供软件和培训支持，这些技术是从西南极冰盖(WAIS)分离冰芯项目返回的冰芯。这一项目的智力优势是基于光学成像提供更有用的岩心状况指标的能力，以及这一方法整合其他科学观点和数据来源的能力，例如电导率测量。通过支持在岩心处理时收集高分辨率图像数据，该项目将确保所有科学家对岩心的原始状态有高质量的记录，即使部分岩心在分析过程中被消耗或在长期储存下退化。图像分析技术的这种支持还将进一步提高科学家合作解释岩心特征的能力，例如测年和识别重要的层和气泡特征。这项工作产生了更广泛的影响，因为冰芯科学解决了与气候变化和生物地球化学循环有关的涉及人类利益的基本问题，并直接向决策者提供信息。通过确保适当调整国家冰芯实验室的光学成像和分析系统以处理大规模钻探项目，该项目将确保在冰芯样本采集方面的巨大投资产生一个高度有用的图像数据档案，可在更广泛的科学界广泛共享，并在未来几年内重新使用。该项目还将促进和改进新一代科学家的培训。

McGwire/0637004This award supports a project to continue with the development of novel methods for digital image analysis of glacial ice cores that are stored at the National Ice Core Laboratory (NICL) in Denver, Colorado. Imaging hardware and software techniques have been developed to meet specific needs in the scientific analysis of cores, and this project will provide software and training support for NICL to use and further refine this optical scanning technology with ice cores returning from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) Divide ice core project. The intellectual merit of this project is based on the ability of optical imaging to provide much more useful indicators of core condition, as well as the ability of this approach to integrate additional scientific perspectives and data sources, such as electrical conductivity measurements. By supporting the collection of high resolution image data at the time of core processing, this project will ensure that all scientists have a high quality record of the original state of the core, even though portions of the core are consumed in analysis or degrade under long term storage. This support of the image analysis technology also will further improve the ability of scientists to collaborate on their interpretations of core characteristics, such as dating and identification of important layer and bubble features. The broader impacts from this work arise from the fact that ice core science addresses fundamental questions of human interest related to climate change and biogeochemical cycling, as well as directly informing policymakers. By ensuring that the optical imaging and analysis systems for the National Ice Core Laboratory are properly scaled to handle large-scale drilling projects, this project will ensure that the very large investments in ice core sample collection result in an archive of highly useful image data that can be shared widely among the broader scientific community and revisited for years to come. This project will also facilitate and improve the training of a new generation of scientists.