Collaborative Research: Toward Dense Observation of Geothermal Fluxes in Antarctica Via Logistically Light Instrument Deployment

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Nontechnical AbstractStudies in Antarctica are, at present, severely limited by the costs of placing measurement instruments within and beneath thousands of meters of ice. Our aim is to enable dense, widespread measurement-networks by advancing development of low-cost ice melt probe technology to deploy instruments. Ice melt probes use electrical energy to descend through thick ice with little support structure on the ice surface. We are extending previous technology by using anti-freeze to maintain a partially open melt-hole above a descending probe, deploying as we go a new a new fiber-optic technology to measure ice temperature. Ice temperature measurements will reveal spatial patterns of heat welling up from the Earth beneath the ice, which in turn will contribute greatly to finding ancient ice that contains global climate records, and to understanding how ice flow may raise sea levels. Our immediate objective in this 1-year project is to test and refine our anti-freeze-based method in a 15 meter-tall ice column at the University of Wisconsin, so as to reduce technical risk in future field tests. Technical AbstractThe overarching aim of our development is to enable widespread, spatially dense deployments of instruments within and beneath the Antarctic Ice Sheet for a variety of investigations, beginning with observations of basal temperature and geothermal flux at the base of the ice sheet. Dense, widespread deployment requires logistical costs far below current costs for ice drilling and coring. Our approach is to extend ice melt probe technology (which is inherently light, logistically) to allow the progressive deployment of cable for Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS) from the ice surface as the probe descends, without greatly increasing logistical costs. Our extension is based on arresting refreezing of the melt-hole above the probe (at a diameter a few times the cable diameter) by injecting anti-freeze - specifically, ethanol at temperature near 0C - a few meters above the probe during descent. After thermal equilibration of the liquid ethanol/water column with the ice, DTS measurements yield the depth-profile of ice sheet temperature, from which basal temperature and (over frozen beds) geothermal flux can be inferred. We have carried out initial trials of our approach in a cold-room laboratory, but field work based only on such small-scale tests may still involve unnecessary risk. We therefore propose further testing at a facility of the Ice Drilling Design and Operations (IDDO) facility in Madison, WI. The new trials will test our approaches to melt-hole control and probe recovery in the taller column, will test cable and cable-tension-management methods more nearly approximating those needed to work on ice sheets, and will demonstrate the Distributed Temperature Sensing in its field configuration.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.