RAPID: Collaborative Research: Marine Ecosystem Response to the Larsen C Ice-Shelf Breakout: "Time zero"

大型冰架下的海洋生态系统被认为含有稀疏、低多样性的浮游生物和海底群落，这是由于来自富有生产力的阳光沃茨的食物供应量很低。过去的研究表明，冰架下的生态系统会因冰架退缩造成的海洋学过程的改变而发生变化。然而，关于冰架下的群落变化和生态系统结构的信息是有限的，因为冰架下的生态系统要么是在冰架破裂多年后取样的，要么是通过小钻孔取样的，产生的空间信息极其有限。最近从西部威德尔海的拉森C冰架的A-68冰山的爆发提供了一个机会，使用基于船舶的研究，以评估底栖生物群落和水柱的特点，在最近空出的一个大的覆盖冰架的区域。这一机会将允许在从冰架下环境过渡到最初暴露于更典型的南极沿海海洋环境条件下的环境时进行空间评估。这一快速项目将有助于确定新近从冰架覆盖物中暴露出来的南极沿海生态系统的状况，并将有助于了解过渡期间群落变化的速度。该项目将进行为期10天的实地项目，将最近因冰架损失而暴露的地区的浮游植物和海底巨型动物群落与数十年来暴露的地区进行对比。该项目将与韩国南极机构KOPRI合作开展，参加2018年3月/5月的巡航。该项目将拉森C区的新信息与拉森A和B冰架在更北的地方破裂后的现有观测结果相结合，预计将产生一个数据集，能够阐明从粮食贫乏的生态系统向粮食丰富的生态系统过渡过程中浮游生物和底栖生物群落发展的基本过程。该项目将为两名研究生、一名博士后助理和一名本科生提供实地经验。该项目的材料将被纳入研究生课程，该项目将通过社交媒体和博客交流日常工作和正在发生的事件，同时探索世界上这一基本上未被探索的领域。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Marine ecosystems under large ice shelves are thought to contain sparse, low-diversity plankton and seafloor communities due the low supply of food from productive sunlight waters. Past studies have shown sub-ice shelf ecosystems to change in response to altered oceanographic processes resulting from ice-shelve retreat. However, information on community changes and ecosystem structure under ice shelves are limited because sub-ice-shelf ecosystems have either been sampled many years after ice-shelf breakout, or have been sampled through small boreholes, yielding extremely limited spatial information. The recent breakout of the A-68 iceberg from the Larsen C ice shelf in the western Weddell Sea provides an opportunity to use a ship-based study to evaluate benthic communities and water column characteristics in an area recently vacated by a large overlying ice shelf. The opportunity will allow spatial assessments at the time of transition from an under ice-shelf environment to one initially exposed to conditions more typical of a coastal Antarctic marine setting. This RAPID project will help determine the state of a coastal Antarctic ecosystem newly exposed from ice-shelf cover and will aid in understanding of rates of community change during transition. The project will conduct a 10-day field program, allowing contrasts to be made of phytoplankton and seafloor megafaunal communities in areas recently exposed by ice-shelf loss to areas exposed for many decades. The project will be undertaken in a collaborative manner with the South Korean Antarctic Agency, KOPRI, by participating in a cruise in March/May 2018. Combining new information in the area of Larsen C with existing observations after the Larsen A and B ice shelf breakups further to the north, the project is expected to generate a dataset that can elucidate fundamental processes of planktonic and benthic community development in transition from food-poor to food-rich ecosystems. The project will provide field experience to two graduate students, a post-doctoral associate and an undergraduate student. Material from the project will be incorporated into graduate courses and the project will communicate daily work and unfolding events through social media and blogs while they explore this area of the world that is largely underexplored.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.