Collaborative Research: Climate, Ice Dynamics and Biology using a Deep Ice Core from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet Ice Divide

Taylor/0944348该奖项支持WAIS分区科学协调办公室（SCO）的资金更新。 科学协调办公室（SCO）的成立是为了代表研究界，并通过与负责后勤，钻探和核心管理的支持组织合作来促进该项目。在过去五年中，有26个项目得到了单独资助，以开展这项工作，在该地点总共3 470米的冰中，已收集了1 511米。该提案旨在寻求资金，以继续上海合作组织和相关的实地行动，以完成WAIS分水岭冰芯项目。上海合作组织在第二个五年期间的任务包括规划和监督后勤，钻探和核心管理;协调该领域的研究活动;协助该领域的核心管理;向各个项目分配样品;协调采样工作;收集，归档和分发有关项目的数据和其他信息;举办年度科学会议;并促进研究小组之间的合作。 WAIS分水岭项目的智力价值在于更好地预测人为造成的温室气体增加将如何改变气候，这需要更好地了解过去温室气体的自然变化如何影响气候。关于以往气候变化的信息被用来验证用于预测未来气候的气候模型的物理和结果。南极冰芯是可用于确定二氧化碳浓度的古大气样本的唯一来源。冰芯还记录了气候系统的其他组成部分，如古空气和海洋温度，气溶胶的大气负荷和大气传输的指标。 WAIS分水岭冰芯项目旨在获得最后一个冰川周期（过去~ 10万年）期间温室气体的最佳记录。选择该地点是因为它具有高年降雪量（23厘米冰当量/年），低尘南极冰不损害二氧化碳记录和有利的冰川学的最佳平衡。该项目的主要科学目标是研究温室气体对气候的强迫作用、气候变化的启动、南极西部冰盖的稳定性以及冰芯中的低温生物学。 该项目有许多更广泛的影响。 一个既定的教育材料供应商（教师？域）将开发和分发与项目和气候变化有关的网络资源，供K？12间教室。这些资源将包括视频和交互式图形，解释如何以及为什么收集冰芯，以及它们告诉我们关于未来气候变化的信息。国家媒体成员将被纳入实地工作组，上海合作组织将协助向公众提供信息。将收集该项目的录像，供一般使用。最后，将为冰冻圈学生和早期职业科学家创造一个参与实地活动和核心分析的机会。一个冰芯档案将可用于未来的项目，决策者可以利用该项目的科学发现作出明智的决定。

Taylor/0944348This award supports renewal of funding of the WAIS Divide Science Coordination Office (SCO). The Science Coordination Office (SCO) was established to represent the research community and facilitates the project by working with support organizations responsible for logistics, drilling, and core curation. During the last five years, 26 projects have been individually funded to work on this effort and 1,511 m of the total 3,470 m of ice at the site has been collected. This proposal seeks funding to continue the SCO and related field operations needed to complete the WAIS Divide ice core project. Tasks for the SCO during the second five years include planning and oversight of logistics, drilling, and core curation; coordinating research activities in the field; assisting in curation of the core in the field; allocating samples to individual projects; coordinating the sampling effort; collecting, archiving, and distributing data and other information about the project; hosting an annual science meeting; and facilitating collaborative efforts among the research groups. The intellectual merit of the WAIS Divide project is to better predict how human-caused increases in greenhouse gases will alter climate requires an improved understanding of how previous natural changes in greenhouse gases influenced climate in the past. Information on previous climate changes is used to validate the physics and results of climate models that are used to predict future climate. Antarctic ice cores are the only source of samples of the paleo-atmosphere that can be used to determine previous concentrations of carbon dioxide. Ice cores also contain records of other components of the climate system such as the paleo air and ocean temperature, atmospheric loading of aerosols, and indicators of atmospheric transport. The WAIS Divide ice core project has been designed to obtain the best possible record of greenhouse gases during the last glacial cycle (last ~100,000 years). The site was selected because it has the best balance of high annual snowfall (23 cm of ice equivalent/year), low dust Antarctic ice that does not compromise the carbon dioxide record, and favorable glaciology. The main science objectives of the project are to investigate climate forcing by greenhouse gases, initiation of climate changes, stability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, and cryobiology in the ice core. The project has numerous broader impacts. An established provider of educational material (Teachers? Domain) will develop and distribute web-based resources related to the project and climate change for use in K?12 classrooms. These resources will consist of video and interactive graphics that explain how and why ice cores are collected, and what they tell us about future climate change. Members of the national media will be included in the field team and the SCO will assist in presenting information to the general public. Video of the project will be collected and made available for general use. Finally, an opportunity will be created for cryosphere students and early career scientists to participate in field activities and core analysis. An ice core archive will be available for future projects and scientific discoveries from the project can be used by policy makers to make informed decisions.