Collaborative Research in IPY: Abrupt Environmental Change in the Larsen Ice Shelf System, a Multidisciplinary Approach -- Cryosphere and Oceans

在地球上没有其他地区，南极半岛北部是一个壮观的气候变化自然实验室，为研究过去气候和生态变化的记录以及地球上变暖最快的地区之一的今天的变化提供了机会。该奖项支持冰冻圈和海洋综合多学科计划的组成部分，以应对南极半岛(AP)目前正在发生的这些快速和根本性的变化。通过利用海洋研究平台(RV NB Palmer和机载直升机)和阿根廷南极计划提供的额外后勤支持，该项目将把冰川学家、海洋学家、海洋地质学家和生物学家聚集在一起，共同努力从根本上解决与气候变化有关的跨学科问题。该项目将包括从格雷厄姆陆地的布鲁斯高原收集新的高分辨率古气候记录，并利用它来比较全新世--可能是冰川时代--与现代时期的气候；调查剩余的拉森冰架的稳定性和冰川解体后的快速反应？特别是，表面融化和冰-海洋相互作用在加速和退缩中的作用；观察海洋系统对冰架解体和冰-冰川相互作用的贡献和反应。船上的直升机支持将允许进入拉森湾附近的广泛冰川和地质区域。在这些地点，将建立长期的现场冰川监测、均衡抬升和冰流GPS站点，并将使用以前测试过的轻型钻探设备获得高分辨率的冰芯记录。对深水外流的长期监测将首次纳入冰架范围和厚度、底水形成和多层环流的变化，方法是将近源观测与集中外流的远端地点联系起来。这一国际多学科努力的更广泛影响是，它将极大地促进我们对极地地区地球系统之间联系的了解，并本着国际极地年(IPY)的真正精神，在国际参与(英国、西班牙、比利时、德国和阿根廷)和跨学科参与下提出这一建议。它还将提供一种手段，让公众参与和教育极地科学的几乎所有方面以及正在进行的气候变化的影响。该研究团队长期致力于让本科生参与研究，培养高表现的研究生，并为K-12教育和公共媒体论坛提供创新和吸引人的外展产品。此外，在科学和国际南极项目中建立新的联系将提供除国际南极年以外的持续遗产，增进对南极的理解与合作。

Scambos/0732921Pettit/0732738Gordon/0732651Truffer/0732602Mosley-Thompson/0732655Like no other region on Earth, the northern Antarctic Peninsula represents a spectacular natural laboratory of climate change and provides the opportunity to study the record of past climate and ecological shifts alongside the present-day changes in one of the most rapidly warming regions on Earth. This award supports the cryospheric and oceano-graphic components of an integrated multi-disciplinary program to address these rapid and fundamental changes now taking place in Antarctic Peninsula (AP). By making use of a marine research platform (the RV NB Palmer and on-board helicopters) and additional logistical support from the Argentine Antarctic program, the project will bring glaciologists, oceanographers, marine geologists and biologists together, working collaboratively to address fundamentally interdisciplinary questions regarding climate change. The project will include gathering a new, high-resolution paleoclimate record from the Bruce Plateau of Graham Land, and using it to compare Holocene- and possibly glacial-epoch climate to the modern period; investigating the stability of the remaining Larsen Ice Shelf and rapid post-breakup glacier response ? in particular, the roles of surface melt and ice-ocean interactions in the speed-up and retreat; observing the contribution of, and response of, oceanographic systems to ice shelf disintegration and ice-glacier interactions. Helicopter support on board will allow access to a wide range of glacial and geological areas of interest adjacent to the Larsen embayment. At these locations, long-term in situ glacial monitoring, isostatic uplift, and ice flow GPS sites will be established, and high-resolution ice core records will be obtained using previously tested lightweight drilling equipment. Long-term monitoring of deep water outflow will, for the first time, be integrated into changes in ice shelf extent and thickness, bottom water formation, and multi-level circulation by linking near-source observations to distal sites of concentrated outflow. The broader impacts of this international, multidisciplinary effort are that it will significantly advance our understanding of linkages amongst the earth's systems in the Polar Regions, and are proposed with international participation (UK, Spain, Belgium, Germany and Argentina) and interdisciplinary engagement in the true spirit of the International Polar Year (IPY). It will also provide a means of engaging and educating the public in virtually all aspects of polar science and the effects of ongoing climate change. The research team has a long record of involving undergraduates in research, educating high-performing graduate students, and providing innovative and engaging outreach products to the K-12 education and public media forums. Moreover, forging the new links both in science and international Antarctic programs will provide a continuing legacy, beyond IPY, of improved understanding and cooperation in Antarctica.