Understanding the Integrity of Deep Ice in East Antarctica from Geophysical Data Sets and Physical Models

该奖项支持一个项目，以更好地了解发生在南极冰盖上和冰盖内部的过程，这些过程可能会破坏地层学，并可能混淆对深冰芯中古气候信号的解释。该项目将使用现有的雷达数据，以及基于过程的建模，来了解冰盖的基本热特征，以及发生在冰盖表面的折叠和沉积历史。具体而言，将使用南极东部的现有数据集提取层信息和近床过程特征，以帮助评估未来深层冰芯钻探的潜在旧冰点。这项工作的智力价值在于，它将有助于找到可以发现最古老冰的地点，并将促进对深层冰和影响其保存过程的理解。更广泛的影响涉及发展对过去气候的更好理解，以及在地球物理技术方面对本科生的培训和教育，这些影响延伸到课堂之外。这项工作将包括在拉蒙特-多尔蒂学院正在进行的公共宣传项目中。这项研究的主要目标是利用地球物理数据为深冰过程的物理模型提供信息，并了解深冰地层是如何变得不可解释的，以及在哪里可以找到原始冰。研究人员将解释南极洲东部广大地区现有的地球物理数据集，以确定深层连续地层和变形层。这项工作将有助于建立力学、热力学的物理模型，以及发生在基地和深冰中的过程。这些模型将以过程为导向，重点关注系统行为，并将这些过程映射回冰盖。这项研究将集中在南极洲东部中部的Dome A地区，但将从那里扩展，利用南极地区和高海拔、低积累地区的其他数据集。该项目满足了社区对深层和古老冰盖地层学完整性的更多信息的需求。本项目将资助两名早期职业科学家、一名博士后科学家和几名本科生助理。这个项目不需要在南极进行实地考察。

Creyts/1643970This award supports a project to better understand the processes that occur both on and within the Antarctic ice sheet and which can create disruptions in the stratigraphy and potentially confound the interpretation of paleoclimate signals in deep ice cores. The project will use existing radar data, as well as process-based modeling, to understand the basal thermal characteristics of the ice sheet, as well as the folding, and depositional history which occur at the surface of the ice sheet. Specifically, an existing dataset from East Antarctic will be used to extract layer information and characteristics of near-bed processes in order to aid in the evaluation of potential old ice sites for future deep ice core drilling. The intellectual merit of the work is that it will contribute to helping to find locations where oldest ice can be found and will advance understanding of the deep ice and the processes that affect its preservation. The broader impacts relate to developing a better understanding of past climate as well as training and education of undergraduates in geophysical techniques that extend beyond the classroom. The work will be included in public outreach programs already underway at Lamont-Doherty. The main goals of the research are to use geophysical data to inform physical models of deep ice processes and to understand how deep ice stratigraphy becomes uninterpretable and where pristine ice could be found. The investigators will interpret existing geophysical datasets over broad areas of East Antarctica to identify deep continuous stratigraphy as well as deformed layers. The work will contribute to developing physical models of mechanics, thermodynamics, and processes occurring along the base and in the deep ice. The models will be process-oriented focusing on system behaviors with the intention of mapping those processes to back to the ice sheet. The research will focus on the Dome A area in central East Antarctica, but will spread from there, utilizing other datasets in the South Pole area and high altitude, low accumulation areas. The project fills a community need for more information on the integrity of the deep and old ice sheet stratigraphy. Two early career scientists, a postdoctoral scientist, and several undergraduate assistants will be funded through this project. This project does not require fieldwork in the Antarctic.