Collaborative Research: RUI: A Half Century of Changing Glacier Dynamics at Athabasca Glacier

到达冰川底部的融水就像润滑剂一样，导致快速的下坡运动。在炎热的年份，研究表明，冰川移动相对缓慢，因为融水渗透冰川形成大型冰下河流，使基底表面失去融水。然而，很难从现有的短期数据集对冰川行为进行长期预测，因为我们知道冰川对融水到达河床的反应方式可能会改变。这项研究将开发一个独特的长期数据集，以研究水介导的冰川运动的速度和模式如何随着冰川的变化而变化？它的形状和管道系统可以适应不断变化的气候。这项工作将有助于更好地预测未来的冰川变化，并加深对冰川如何在地质时期塑造景观的理解。我们将在实地和实验室研究实践中培养本科生和研究生，为他们的科学生涯做好准备。我们将与纪录片制片人和碧玉国家公园（加拿大阿尔伯塔）合作，制作教育材料，向公园游客展示冰川和科学研究对人类社会的重要性。了解百年尺度的基础运动变化是至关重要的预测世界如何？南极冰川将对气候变暖做出反应，这将对海平面上升和下游栖息地质量和水资源产生影响。研究人员将重新访问阿萨巴斯卡冰川，以提供自20世纪60年代在那里进行的开创性冰川学研究以来，随着冰川变薄和退缩，冰川基底运动如何演变的详细图片。我们将收集钻孔测斜和水压、冰川表面速度、基于雷达的冰厚和水文气象数据，以及其他基于实地和遥感的观测数据。我们将使用数值冰川流模型来解释这些数据。我们的重点将使我们能够扩展在阿萨巴斯卡冰川获得的洞察力到世界其他地方？该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Meltwater reaching the base of a glacier behaves like a lubricant, resulting in fast downslope movement. In hot years, studies have shown that glaciers move relatively slow, as meltwater infiltrating the glacier form large subglacial rivers, that deprive the basal surface of meltwater. However, it is difficult to make long-term predictions of glacier behavior from existing, short datasets, because we know the way a glacier responds to meltwater reaching the bed can change. This research will develop a unique long-term dataset to investigate how the speed and pattern of water-mediated glacier motion changes as a glacier?s shape and plumbing system adjust to a changing climate. The work will allow better prediction of future glacier change and enhance understanding of how glaciers shape landscapes over geologic time. We will train undergraduate and graduate students in field and laboratory research practices, preparing them for careers in science. We will partner with a documentary filmmaker and Jasper National Park (Alberta, Canada), which hosts our field site, to develop educational materials that will show park visitors the importance of glaciers and scientific research to human society. Understanding centennial scale changes in basal motion is essential for predicting how the world?s glaciers will respond to climate warming, with implications for sea level rise and downstream habitat quality and water resources. The investigators will revisit Athabasca glacier to offer a detailed picture of how the glacier basal motion has evolved as the glacier has thinned and retreated since seminal glaciology research conducted there in the 1960s. We will collect borehole inclinometry and water pressure, glacier surface velocity, radar-based ice thickness, and hydrometeorological data, among other field-based and remotely sensed observations. We will use a numerical glacier flow model to interpret these data. Our focus will allow us to extend insight gained at Athabasca Glacier to the rest of the world?s warm-bedded glaciers.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.