Investigating (Un)Stable Sliding of Whillians Ice Stream and Subglacial Water Dynamics Using Borehole Seismology: A Proposed Component of WISSARD

该奖项为美国国家科学基金会极地计划办公室南极综合系统科学(AISS)计划提供的“利用钻孔地震学研究(Un)惠兰冰流的稳定滑动和冰下水动力学：惠兰冰流冰下通道和研究钻探的一个拟议组成部分”提供支持。该项目将利用冰和冰下水自然产生的声音来了解位于南极罗斯冰架附近的惠兰冰流的冰川动力学。智力上的优点：该项目的变革性部分是，除了被动的地面地震仪外，该团队还将部署一系列井下地震仪。在全球范围内放置地震仪以前从未做过，但预计将提供更好的冰下动力学分辨率(探测较小规模的事件以及探测更大范围的频率)。结合同时进行的WISSARD(Whillans Ice Stream冰川下通道和研究钻探)项目，该小组将能够将冰下过程与冰流动力学的时间变化和冰流的物质平衡联系起来。威兰斯冰流经历了巨大的冰速变化，以响应潮汐触发的粘滑循环以及冰下惠兰斯湖的周期性充填和排出。总体科学目标包括：更好地理解基本滑动过程和粘滞点的作用、冰川下湖泊水文学、小地震的动力学和冰雪的地震性质。广泛影响：综上所述，这里提出的研究将提供关于快速冰移的基本控制的信息，这已被政府间气候变化专门委员会认为是对未来全球海平面上升做出可靠预测所必需的。因此，收集的信息将对全球社会产生更广泛的影响。收集到的信息也将有助于更好地了解地震。在外展方面，该项目将与WISSARD的整体外展协调员合作，向三个受众提供信息：普通公众、中学教师和中学生。该项目还为研究生培训提供资金，其中包括一名女性首席调查员。

This award provides support for "Investigating (Un)Stable Sliding of Whillans Ice Stream and Subglacial Water Dynamics Using Borehole Seismology: A proposed Component of the Whillans Ice Stream Subglacial Access and Research Drilling" from the Antarctic Integrated Systems Science (AISS) program in the Office of Polar Programs at NSF. The project will use the sounds naturally produced by the ice and subglacial water to understand the glacial dynamics of the Whillans Ice Stream located adjacent to the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica.Intellectual Merit: The transformative component of the project is that in addition to passive surface seismometers, the team will deploy a series of borehole seismometers. Englacial placement of the seismometers has not been done before, but is predicted to provide much better resolution (detection of smaller scale events as well as detection of a much wider range of frequencies) of the subglacial dynamics. In conjunction with the concurrent WISSARD (Whillans Ice Stream Subglacial Access and Research Drilling) project the team will be able to tie subglacial processes to temporal variations in ice stream dynamics and mass balance of the ice stream. The Whillans Ice Stream experiences large changes in ice velocity in response to tidally triggered stick-slip cycles as well as periodic filling and draining of subglacial Lake Whillans. The overall science goals include: improved understanding of basal sliding processes and role of sticky spots, subglacial lake hydrology, and dynamics of small earthquakes and seismic properties of ice and firn.Broader Impact: Taken together, the research proposed here will provide information on basal controls of fast ice motion which has been recognized by the IPCC as necessary to make reliable predictions of future global sea-level rise. The information collected will therefore have broader implications for global society. The collected information will also be relevant to a better understanding of earthquakes. For outreach the project will work with the overall WISSARD outreach coordinator to deliver information to three audiences: the general public, middle school teachers, and middle school students. The project also provides funding for training of graduate students, and includes a female principal investigator.