Collaborative Research: An Ice Core from Hercules Dome, East Antarctica

合作研究：南极洲东部大力神圆顶的冰芯

• 批准号: 1841879
• 负责人: Murat Aydin
• 金额: $ 33.04万
• 依托单位: University of California-Irvine
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-07-15 至 2027-06-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1841879&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Ice; Core; Hercules

The goal of this project is to drill and recover an ice core from Hercules Dome, Antarctica. The geographic setting of Hercules Dome makes it well-situated to investigate changes in the size of the West Antarctic ice sheet over long time periods. The base of the West Antarctic ice sheet lies below sea level, which makes this part of Antarctica vulnerable to melting from the relatively warm deep water of the Southern Ocean. An important research question is whether the West Antarctic Ice Sheet collapsed during Earth's last prolonged warm period, about 125,000 years ago, when the ocean was warmer and sea level was several meters higher than today. Evidence for or against such a collapse will be recorded in the chemistry and physical properties of the ice. The Hercules Dome ice core will be obtained over three to four field seasons in Antarctica using efficient drilling technology. This grant includes support for project management, pre-drilling science community engagement, ice-core recovery, and education and outreach activities. Hercules Dome is located at the edge of the East Antarctic ice sheet, south of the Transantarctic Mountains at 86 degrees South, 105 degrees West. Glaciological conditions at Hercules Dome are simple, with well-defined layering to the bed, optimal for the recovery of a deep ice core reaching to the last interglacial period at depths between 1600 and 2800 meters. An ice core from Hercules Dome will provide a research opportunity for ice-core analysts and others to make progress on a number of science priorities, including the environmental conditions of the last interglacial period, the history of gases and aerosols, and the magnitude and timing of changes in temperature and snow accumulation over the last 150,000 years. Together with the network of ice cores obtained by U.S. and international researchers over the last few decades, results from Hercules Dome will yield improved estimates of the boundary conditions necessary for the implementation and validation of ice-sheet models critical to the projection of future Antarctic ice-sheet change and sea level.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.

该项目的目标是在南极洲的大力神穹顶钻探和回收冰芯。大力神穹顶的地理环境使其能够很好地研究西南极冰盖在很长一段时间内的大小变化。西南极冰盖的底部低于海平面，这使得南极洲的这一部分容易被南大洋相对温暖的深水融化。一个重要的研究问题是，西南极冰盖是否在地球上最后一个漫长的暖期--大约12.5万年前--期间坍塌了，当时海洋更温暖，海平面比现在高出几米。支持或反对这种崩塌的证据将被记录在冰的化学和物理性质中。大力神穹顶冰芯将在南极使用高效的钻探技术在三到四个野外季节内获得。这笔赠款包括对项目管理、钻探前科学界参与、冰芯回收以及教育和外联活动的支持。大力神穹顶位于南极东部冰盖的边缘，位于南纬86度，西经105度的横贯北极山脉的南面。大力神穹顶的冰川条件很简单，在床上有明确的分层，最适合在1600米到2800米深处恢复到最后一次间冰期的深层冰芯。来自大力神穹顶的冰芯将为冰芯分析员和其他人提供一个研究机会，以便在一些科学优先事项上取得进展，包括上一次间冰期的环境条件、气体和气溶胶的历史，以及过去15万年来温度和积雪变化的幅度和时间。与美国和国际研究人员在过去几十年中获得的冰芯网络一起，Hercules Dome的结果将改进对实施和验证冰盖模型所需边界条件的估计，这些模型对预测未来南极冰盖变化和海平面至关重要。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。