ANDRILL Coulman High Project -- Investigating Antarctica's Role in Cenozoic Global Environmental Change - Coulman High Project

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This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). ANDRILL (ANtarctic geological DRILLing) is an international, multidisciplinary program that aims on investigating the role of Antarctic continent in Cenozoic global environmental change. After two successful drilling projects, ANDRILL proposes to move northeastward and outside the well-understood Victoria Land Basin to target a Cretaceous to middle Miocene geological sequence on the Coulman High (CH) at two potential drilling sites that will address fundamental questions of global climate evolution and regional tectonics, determining fundamental shifts as well as transient excursions in the Antarctic cryosphere that impacted global ocean and climate reorganization. This proposal requests funds to initiate Phase I of the international ANDRILL CH Drilling Project, focusing on site selection and extensive surveys, including evaluating existing seismic reflection and airborne radar data, conducting over-ice radar mapping of to locate any sub-ice crevassing along the traverse route, and conducting hot water drilling to provide access holes through the 300 meter-thick ice shelf and thereby enable the deployment/recovery of current meters and other sensors (e.g. remotely operated underwater vehicles) to measure tidal and ocean currents, assess sub-ice conditions, and evaluate potential drilling strategies at the proposed sites. All of these data and modeling results will be used to finalize site selection and determine the most robust drilling strategy. In addition, the ANDRILL Science Management Office will continue a diverse and highly visible education and outreach program, and provide project management and institutional support for the U.S. research community's involvement in the CH Drilling Project.