Collaborative Research: Integrative Study of Marine Ice Sheet Stability & Subglacial Life Habitats in W Antarctica - Lake & Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research Drilling (

合作研究：海洋冰盖稳定性综合研究

• 批准号: 0839059
• 负责人: Ross Powell
• 金额: $ 32.56万
• 依托单位: Northern Illinois University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-09-01 至 2015-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0839059&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Integrative; Study; Marine

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). The LISSARD project (Lake and Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research Drilling) is one of three research components of the WISSARD integrative initiative (Whillans Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research Drilling) that is being funded by the Antarctic Integrated System Science Program of NSF's Office of Polar Programs, Antarctic Division. The overarching scientific objective of WISSARD is to assess the role of water beneath a West Antarctic ice stream in interlinked glaciological, geological, microbiological, geochemical, and oceanographic systems. The LISSARD component of WISSARD focuses on the role of active subglacial lakes in determining how fast the West Antarctic ice sheet loses mass to the global ocean and influences global sea level changes. The importance of Antarctic subglacial lakes has only been recently recognized, and the lakes have been identified as high priority targets for scientific investigations because of their unknown contributions to ice sheet stability under future global warming scenarios. LISSARD has several primary science goals: A) To provide an observational basis for improving treatments of subglacial hydrological and mechanical processes in models of ice sheet mass balance and stability; B) To reconstruct the past history of ice stream stability by analyzing archives of past basal water and ice flow variability contained in subglacial sediments, porewater, lake water, and basal accreted ice; C) To provide background understanding of subglacial lake environments to benefit RAGES and GBASE (the other two components of the WISSARD project); and D) To synthesize data and concepts developed as part of this project to determine whether subglacial lakes play an important role in (de)stabilizing Antarctic ice sheets. We propose an unprecedented synthesis of approaches to studying ice sheet processes, including: (1) satellite remote sensing, (2) surface geophysics, (3) borehole observations and measurements and, (4) basal and subglacial sampling. INTELLECTUAL MERIT: The latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recognized that the greatest uncertainties in assessing future global sea-level change stem from a poor understanding of ice sheet dynamics and ice sheet vulnerability to oceanic and atmospheric warming. Disintegration of the WAIS (West Antarctic Ice Sheet) alone would contribute 3-5 m to global sea-level rise, making WAIS a focus of scientific concern due to its potential susceptibility to internal or ocean-driven instability. The overall WISSARD project will test the overarching hypothesis that active water drainage connects various subglacial environments and exerts major control on ice sheet flow, geochemistry, metabolic and phylogenetic diversity, and biogeochemical transformations. BROADER IMPACTS: Societal Relevance: Global warming, melting of ice sheets and consequential sea-level rise are of high societal relevance. Science Resource Development: After a 9-year hiatus WISSARD will provide the US-science community with a renewed capability to access and study sub-ice sheet environments. Developing this technological infrastructure will benefit the broader science community and assets will be accessible for future use through the NSF-OPP drilling contractor. Furthermore, these projects will pioneer an approach implementing recommendations from the National Research Council committee on Principles of Environmental Stewardship for the Exploration and Study of Subglacial Environments (2007). Education and Outreach (E/O): These activities are grouped into four categories: i) increasing student participation in polar research by fully integrating them in our research programs; ii) introducing new investigators to the polar sciences by incorporating promising young investigators in our programs, iii) promotion of K-12 teaching and learning programs by incorporating various teachers and NSTA programs, and iv) reaching a larger public audience through such venues as popular science magazines, museum based activities and videography and documentary films. In summary, WISSARD will promote scientific exploration of Antarctica by conveying to the public the excitement of accessing and studying what may be some of the last unexplored aquatic environments on Earth, and which represent a potential analogue for extraterrestrial life habitats on Europa and Mars.

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。LISSARD项目（湖泊和冰流冰下通道研究钻探）是WISSARD综合计划（Whillans冰流冰下通道研究钻探）的三个研究组成部分之一，该计划由美国国家科学基金会极地计划办公室南极分部的南极综合系统科学计划资助。WISSARD的首要科学目标是评估南极西部冰流下的水在相互关联的冰川学、地质学、微生物学、地球化学和海洋学系统中的作用。WISSARD的LISSARD部分侧重于活跃的冰下湖泊在确定南极西部冰盖向全球海洋流失质量和影响全球海平面变化的速度方面的作用。南极冰下湖泊的重要性直到最近才被认识到，由于它们在未来全球变暖情景下对冰盖稳定性的未知贡献，这些湖泊已被确定为科学调查的高优先目标。LISSARD有几个主要的科学目标：A)为改善冰盖质量平衡和稳定性模式中冰下水文和力学过程的处理提供观测基础；B)通过分析冰下沉积物、孔隙水、湖水和基底积冰中过去基础水和冰流变化的档案，重建冰流稳定性的过去历史；C)为RAGES和GBASE （WISSARD项目的另外两个组成部分）提供对冰下湖泊环境的背景了解；D)综合作为该项目的一部分发展的数据和概念，以确定冰下湖泊是否在稳定南极冰盖方面发挥重要作用。我们提出了一种前所未有的综合方法来研究冰盖过程，包括：(1)卫星遥感，(2)地表地球物理，(3)钻孔观测和测量，(4)基底和冰下采样。学术价值：政府间气候变化专门委员会的最新报告认识到，评估未来全球海平面变化的最大不确定性源于对冰盖动态和冰盖易受海洋和大气变暖影响的认识不足。仅西南极冰盖的解体就会导致全球海平面上升3-5米，由于其内部或海洋驱动的不稳定的潜在敏感性，使西南极冰盖成为科学关注的焦点。整个WISSARD项目将测试一个总体假设，即活跃的排水系统连接了各种冰下环境，并对冰盖流动、地球化学、代谢和系统发育多样性以及生物地球化学转化发挥主要控制作用。更广泛的影响：社会相关性：全球变暖、冰盖融化和随之而来的海平面上升具有高度的社会相关性。科学资源开发：在中断了9年之后，WISSARD将为美国科学界提供获取和研究亚冰盖环境的新能力。发展这一技术基础设施将使更广泛的科学界受益，并将通过NSF-OPP钻井承包商获得未来使用的资产。此外，这些项目将率先实施国家研究委员会关于探索和研究冰下环境的环境管理原则委员会（2007年）的建议。教育和推广（E/O）：这些活动分为四类：i)通过将学生充分融入我们的研究计划，增加学生对极地研究的参与；ii)通过将有前途的年轻研究人员纳入我们的项目，向极地科学引入新的研究人员；iii)通过整合各种教师和NSTA项目，促进K-12教学和学习计划；iv)通过大众科学杂志、博物馆活动、摄像和纪录片等渠道接触更多的公众观众。总而言之，WISSARD将通过向公众传达进入和研究地球上最后未开发的水生环境的兴奋，从而促进对南极洲的科学探索，这些水生环境代表了欧罗巴和火星上外星生命栖息地的潜在类似物。