Collaborative Research: Replicate Coring at WAIS Divide to Obtain Additional Samples at Events of High Scientific Interest

1043421/Severinghaus该奖项支持一个项目，该项目在选定的时间间隔内获取冰样，以复制和验证世界地质调查局分水岭冰芯的主要结果的有效性和空间代表性，并在需求较高的具有强烈科学意义的地区获取更多的冰样。美国冰芯工作组在2003年建议美国国家科学基金会采取复制样本的方法，称为“复制取芯”。这项建议是将(当时的)新钻探系统(圆盘钻机)岩心直径减少到12.2厘米以减轻后勤负担的协议的一部分，科学界接受了减少冰样的做法，但有一项谅解，即重复取心将能够在关键时段提供额外的样本量。由于预期天然气记录的独特质量以及气体和气体同位素所需的大样本，WAIS分部的工作将特别受益于重复取心；因此，在WAIS分部采用重复取心的这一建议。此外，对冰样的科学需求一直是，并将继续是非常不均匀的，冰芯档案在具有高度科学价值的深度间隔(例如，突然的气候变化、硫酸盐火山层、流星撞击层)被完全耗尽。拟议研究的更广泛影响可能包括确定格陵兰、热带和南极气候变化之间的领先和滞后，使对气候突然变化机制的假设进行关键测试成为可能。对火山对大气化学和气候影响的了解也可能有所改善。这种理解最终可能有助于改进气候模型和对未来几个世纪地球系统对持续人类扰动的反馈反应的预测。关于气候变化的外联和公众教育是私营部门督察活动的组成部分，拟议的工作将加强这些努力。更广泛的影响还包括教育和培训2名博士后学者和1名研究生，以及为研究生和本科生提供宝贵的实地经验，他们可能构成WAIS Divide的核心处理团队。

1043421/SeveringhausThis award supports a project to obtain samples of ice in selected intervals for replication and verification of the validity and spatial representativeness of key results in the WAIS Divide ice core, and to obtain additional ice samples in areas of intense scientific interest where demand is high. The US Ice Core Working Group recommended in 2003 that NSF pursue the means to take replicate samples, termed "replicate coring". This recommendation was part of an agreement to reduce the diameter of the (then) new drilling system (the DISC drill) core to 12.2 cm to lighten logistics burdens, and the science community accepted the reduction in ice sample with the understanding that replicate coring would be able to provide extra sample volume in key intervals. The WAIS Divide effort would particularly benefit from replicate coring, because of the unique quality of the expected gas record and the large samples needed for gases and gas isotopes; thus this proposal to employ replicate coring at WAIS Divide. In addition, scientific demand for ice samples has been, and will continue to be, very unevenly distributed, with the ice core archive being completely depleted in depth intervals of high scientific interest (abrupt climate changes, volcanic sulfate horizons, meteor impact horizons, for example). The broader impacts of the proposed research may include identification of leads and lags between Greenland, tropical, and Antarctic climate change, enabling critical tests of hypotheses for the mechanism of abrupt climate change. Improved understanding of volcanic impacts on atmospheric chemistry and climate may also emerge. This understanding may ultimately help improve climate models and prediction of the Earth System feedback response to ongoing human perturbation in coming centuries. Outreach and public education about climate change are integral components of the PIs' activities and the proposed work will enhance these efforts. Broader impacts also include education and training of 2 postdoctoral scholars and 1 graduate student, and invaluable field experience for the graduate and undergraduate students who will likely make up the core processing team at WAIS Divide.