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

与地球上的其他地区不同，南极半岛北部是一个壮观的气候变化自然实验室，为研究地球上变暖最快的地区之一的过去气候和生态变化的记录提供了机会。该奖项支持一个综合多学科项目的冰冻圈和海洋学组成部分，以解决目前在南极半岛（AP）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）和阿根廷南极计划的额外后勤支持，该项目将把冰冰学家、海洋学家、海洋地质学家和生物学家聚集在一起，共同努力解决有关气候变化的跨学科问题。该项目将包括从格雷厄姆地的布鲁斯高原收集一份新的、高分辨率的古气候记录，并用它来比较全新世——可能还有冰川期——与现代时期的气候；调查残存的拉森冰架的稳定性和破碎后冰川的快速反应？特别是地表融化和冰海相互作用在加速和后退中的作用；观察海洋系统对冰架解体和冰-冰川相互作用的贡献和响应。船上的直升机支持将允许进入拉森海湾附近的大范围冰川和地质区域。在这些地点，将建立长期的冰川原位监测、均衡隆起和冰流GPS站点，并使用先前测试过的轻型钻井设备获得高分辨率冰芯记录。通过将近源观测与远源集中流出点联系起来，深水流出的长期监测将首次与冰架范围和厚度、底水形成和多层次环流的变化相结合。这项国际多学科努力的更广泛影响是，它将大大提高我们对极地地区地球系统之间联系的理解，并在国际参与（英国、西班牙、比利时、德国和阿根廷）和跨学科参与的情况下提出，真正体现了国际极地年（IPY）的精神。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发生的气候变化的影响。该研究团队长期以来一直致力于让本科生参与研究，培养表现优异的研究生，并为K-12教育和公共媒体论坛提供创新和引人入胜的推广产品。此外，在科学和国际南极项目中建立新的联系，将在国际极地年之外，为增进对南极的了解与合作提供持续的遗产。

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.