Workshop Proposal: WAIS Workshops and Science Plan Development, 2013-2016

Scambos/1340261该奖项为未来三年(2013-2015年)将在不同地点举办的一系列三个西南极冰盖(WAIS)讲习班提供部分支持。这笔资金将支持设在NSIDC(国家冰雪数据中心)的一个组织委员会，负责沟通、议程、摘要和文件管理、网站维护以及年轻研究人员和学生参加会议的旅行支持。美国宇航局每年将向主办组织者提供额外的支持，以支付场馆费用。在过去二十年中(自1993年以来)，世界南极信息系统的讲习班非常成功地为科学界提供了一个论坛，讨论和规划旨在回答有关西南极冰盖历史和动态的基本问题的复杂实地方案。这些跨学科讲习班导致对气候和地球系统与西南极冰盖相互作用的各个组成部分的研究，以及对生物和古气候的研究。这些项目的最终目标是通过确定控制它们的关键过程，更好地了解海洋冰盖、可变出口冰川和冰架的动态，并衡量它们对气候变化的反应。世界气候变化大会讲习班开展的工作改进了对未来海平面上升的预测，并为政府间气候变化专门委员会(气专委)的一系列报告提供了信息。WAIS研讨会一直是领先研究人员进行前沿、高调科学演讲的论坛，它们在培养和鼓励研究生和职业生涯早期的极地科学家方面也表现出色。这一奖项的更广泛影响不仅包括对职业生涯早期科学家的支持，还包括这项工作将对更好地了解南极冰盖的未来做出的贡献。由这些讲习班演变而来的西南极冰盖研究产生了重要的发现，为公共政策提供了依据，它们将继续提供一个分享数据的论坛，并带头支持所有人都能获得数据的机制。WAIS讲习班与支持南极冰川数据中心(AGDC)的一笔单独赠款具有协同作用。非洲农业发展中心的工作人员总是参加世界农业信息系统讲习班，并与私营部门合作，不仅制定数据管理协议，而且为他们提供一种简单的数据和元数据存档机制。WAIS这一系列讲习班的主要目标是：1)更新科学计划，更多地侧重于有助于预测WAIS未来变化的冰-大气-海洋综合研究；2)吸引新学生，包括来自传统上不参与WAIS会议的学科的科学家；3)支持和鼓励开发新技术，用于以前未曾探索过的南极洲地区；以及4)鼓励为所有WAIS科学家实地获取的数据提交数据和良好的元数据做法。

Scambos/1340261This award provides partial support for a series of three West Antarctic ice sheet (WAIS) workshops to be held in different locations over the next three years (2013-2015). The funding will support an organizing committee based at NSIDC (National Snow and Ice Data Center) for communication, agenda, abstract and document management, website maintenance, and travel support for young investigators and students to attend the meetings. Additional support from NASA will be provided each year to the host organizer to cover venue costs. The WAIS workshops have been highly successful over the last two decades (since 1993) in providing a forum for the science community to discuss and plan complex field programs designed to answer fundamental questions about the history and dynamics of the West Antarctic ice sheet. These interdisciplinary workshops have lead to studies of various components of the climate and earth system interacting with the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, as well as biological and paleoclimate studies. The ultimate goal of these programs has been to better understand the dynamics of marine ice sheets, variable outlet glaciers, and ice shelves by identifying the key processes that govern them, and measure their response to a changing climate. The work that has developed out of the WAIS workshops has lead to improved projections of future sea level rise and has informed the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) series of reports. The WAIS workshops have been a forum for cutting-edge, high profile science presentations by leading researchers and they have also excelled at fostering and encouraging graduate students and early-career polar scientists. The broader impacts of this award include not only the support for early-career scientists but also the contributions that this work will make to a better understanding of the future the Antarctic ice sheet. The West Antarctic ice sheet research that has evolved out of these workshops has led to important findings that have informed public policy and they will continue to provide a forum for sharing of data and leading the way in the support of a mechanism for all to have access to the data. The WAIS workshops are synergistic with a separate grant that supports the Antarctic Glaciological Data Center (AGDC). The AGDC staff always attend the WAIS workshop and work with PIs to develop not only data management protocols but also provide them an easy mechanism for archiving of data and metadata. The primary goals for this series of WAIS workshops are to: 1) Update the science plan, with a greater focus on integrated ice-atmosphere-ocean studies that will help predict future changes of the WAIS; 2) Engage new students and include scientists from disciplines that have traditionally not been involved in the WAIS meetings; 3) Support and encourage the development of new technologies for use in previously unexplored regions of Antarctica; and 4) Encourage data submission and good meta-data practices for field-acquired data from all WAIS scientists.