Collaborative Research: Uncovering the Ross Ocean and Ice Shelf Environment and Tectonic setting Through Aerogeophysical Surveys and Modeling (ROSETTA-ICE)

罗斯冰架是南极洲现存最大的冰架，目前正在稳定南极大陆顶部的大部分陆冰。冰架从陆地冰漂浮在海洋上的地方开始，因此，罗斯冰架与下面的海洋和海底以及后面的陆地冰相互作用。目前，罗斯冰架减缓或支撑着西南极冰盖(WAIS)快速流动的冰流，WAIS是一种海洋冰盖，如果融化，将使全球海平面上升3-4米。罗斯冰架的平均冰层厚度约为350米，覆盖面积约为48.7万平方公里，略大于加利福尼亚州。罗斯冰架在之前的间冰期已经消失，这表明它未来可能会再次消失。因此，要了解西南极冰盖的动态、稳定性和未来，就需要深入了解罗斯冰架。Rosetta-ICE项目汇集了来自4个美国机构和新西兰地质与核科学研究所有限公司(GNS Science)的科学家。Rosetta-ICE关于冰架、冰架下的水和下面的岩石的数据将使人们能够更好地预测罗斯冰架将如何应对气候变化，从而更好地预测WAIS未来的行为。跨学科的Rosetta-ICE团队将对本科生和高中生进行尖端研究技术培训，并将通过一系列将Rosetta-ICE科学与南极研究的科学和人类历史相结合的小插曲来教育公众。Rosetta-ICE调查将获得重磁数据，以确定冰架下的水深。雷达、激光雷达和图像系统将用于绘制罗斯冰架的厚度和精细结构、裂缝、水道、碎片、海冰的表面堆积和分布。南极罗斯冰架地区上空的高分辨率航空地球物理数据将使用安装在南极麦克默多站运行的LC-130飞机上的冰舱传感器套件获取。实地活动将包括在南极的两个野外季节使用LC-130飞机进行约36次飞行。IcePod仪器套件利用了纽约空军国民警卫队在南极洲运作的独特经验，用于NSF的科学研究以及基础设施和后勤。该项目将回答有关罗斯冰架在未来气候中的稳定性以及作为西南极裂谷系统的关键组成部分的罗斯冰架地区的大地构造演化的问题。获得的综合基准数据集将使广泛的跨学科分析和建模成为可能，这也将作为项目的一部分进行。Rosetta-ICE将在系统接近关键时刻时照亮罗斯冰盖-冰架-海洋动力学，但仍完好无损。通过与在线数据可视化工具互动，并比较Rosetta-ICE数据和早期研究的结果，我们将吸引学生和年轻研究人员，使他们具备研究影响全球气候的关键地球系统的新能力。

The Ross Ice Shelf is the largest existing ice shelf in Antarctica, and is currently stabilizing significant portions of the land ice atop the Antarctic continent. An ice shelf begins where the land ice goes afloat on the ocean, and as such, the Ross Ice Shelf interacts with the ocean and seafloor below, and the land ice behind. Currently, the Ross Ice Shelf slows down, or buttresses, the fast flowing ice streams of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS), a marine-based ice sheet, which if melted, would raise global sea level by 3-4 meters. The Ross Ice Shelf average ice thickness is approximately 350 meters, and it covers approximately 487,000 square kilometers, an area slightly larger than the state of California. The Ross Ice Shelf has disappeared during prior interglacial periods, suggesting in the future it may disappear again. Understanding the dynamics, stability and future of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet therefore requires in-depth knowledge of the Ross Ice Shelf. The ROSETTA-ICE project brings together scientists from 4 US institutions and from the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences Limited, known as GNS Science, New Zealand. The ROSETTA-ICE data on the ice shelf, the water beneath the ice shelf, and the underlying rocks, will allow better predictions of how the Ross Ice Shelf will respond to changing climate, and therefore how the WAIS will behave in the future. The interdisciplinary ROSETTA-ICE team will train undergraduate and high school students in cutting edge research techniques, and will also work to educate the public via a series of vignettes integrating ROSETTA-ICE science with the scientific and human history of Antarctic research.The ROSETTA-ICE survey will acquire gravity and magnetics data to determine the water depth beneath the ice shelf. Radar, LIDAR and imagery systems will be used to map the Ross Ice Shelf thickness and fine structure, crevasses, channels, debris, surface accumulation and distribution of marine ice. The high resolution aerogeophysical data over the Ross Ice Shelf region in Antarctica will be acquired using the IcePod sensor suite mounted externally on an LC-130 aircraft operating from McMurdo Station, Antarctica. Field activities will include ~36 flights on LC-130 aircraft over two field seasons in Antarctica. The IcePod instrument suite leverages the unique experience of the New York Air National Guard operating in Antarctica for NSF scientific research as well as infrastructure and logistics. The project will answer questions about the stability of the Ross Ice Shelf in future climate, and the geotectonic evolution of the Ross Ice Shelf Region, a key component of the West Antarctic Rift system. The comprehensive benchmark data sets acquired will enable broad, interdisciplinary analyses and modeling, which will also be performed as part of the project. ROSETTA-ICE will illuminate Ross ice sheet-ice shelf-ocean dynamics as the system nears a critical juncture but still is intact. Through interacting with an online data visualization tool, and comparing the ROSETTA-ICE data and results from earlier studies, we will engage students and young investigators, equipping them with new capabilities for the study of critical earth systems that influence global climate.