Major Ion Chemical Analysis of Brittle Ice in the WAIS Divide Ice Core

Cole-DAI/0839066该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案(公法111-5)资助的。该奖项支持一个项目，该项目通过对脆弱的冰区(大约500米到1500米)进行采样，在西南极冰盖分割(WAIS Divide)冰芯进行持续的主要离子分析。该项目的学术价值在于，这些可能是关于脆弱冰区的唯一化学测量，因此，将弥合基于化学测量的气候、冰盖动力学和生物进化的预期连续记录的差距。高分辨率采样和分析--可能针对脆弱冰区的选定部分和深度区间--将有助于对WAIS Divide岩心进行独立、高精度的测年，并有助于实现WAIS Divide项目的主要目标--开发高分辨率气候记录，以调查温室气体迫使气候变化的问题，以及南极洲和南半球在全球气候系统中的作用。计划与其他WAIS Divide调查人员合作，将从南极洲冰芯获得最长和最详细的火山记录。该项目的更广泛影响包括对增进我们对气候系统的了解的贡献。在对全球气候系统的了解以及预测未来变化的规模和不确定性的能力方面的这种改进与全球社会高度相关。该项目将支持博士后科学家和研究生，包括那些来自代表性不足群体的科学家，将为教育做出贡献，帮助培养未来的科学家，促进研究和教育的多样性。该项目的公共宣传活动将有助于南达科他州东部地区学龄儿童的非正规科学教育。

Cole-Dai/0839066This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).This award supports a project to make continuous major ion analyses in the West Antarctica Ice Sheet Divide (WAIS Divide) ice core by sampling the brittle ice zone (approximately from 500 m to 1500 m). The intellectual merit of the project is that these will likely be the only chemical measurements on the brittle ice zone and, therefore, will bridge the gap in the expected continuous records of climate, ice sheet dynamics and biological evolution based on chemical measurements. High resolution sampling and analysis, probably on selected portions and depth intervals in the brittle ice zone, will help with the independent, high-precision dating of the WAIS Divide core and contribute to the achievement of the major objectives of the WAIS Divide project?development of high resolution climate records with which to investigate issues of climate forcing by greenhouse gases and the role of Antarctica and Southern Hemisphere in the global climate system. Planned collaboration with other WAIS Divide investigators will develop the longest and most detailed volcanic record from Antarctica ice cores. The broader impacts of this project include a contribution to enhancing our knowledge of the climate system. Such improvements in understanding of the global climate system and the ability to predict the magnitude and uncertainty of future changes are highly relevant to the global community. The project will support post-doctoral scientists and graduate students, including those from under-represented groups, will contribute to education, an help to train future scientists and promote diversity in research and education. Public outreach activities of this project will contribute to informal science education of school age children in the Eastern South Dakota region.