EAGER: An On-ice GNSS Research Experimental Network for Greenland

在理解格陵兰冰盖的大范围变化时，需要广泛的报道。虽然飞机和卫星产生了广泛的海拔变化数据集，区域气候模型预测了高分辨率的降雪，但这两个系统都需要通过冰上手段进行校准和验证。因此，格陵兰需要广泛的冰上海拔测量数据，通常使用全球定位系统(GPS)收集。陆基导线在收集这种冰上信息方面取得了很大的成功。同样，冰上静态GPS站也被安装在短期冰川学项目中。然而，这两种方法都遭遇了重大缺陷。首先是成本。地面导线在后勤上是复杂和昂贵的。对于传统的静态空间站，高昂的成本与硬件和大量电池的运输有关，因为这些空间站需要电力来度过黑暗的冬天。第二个是空间和时间覆盖范围的限制。导线提供了极好的空间覆盖，但在时间上，导线路线上只有一张时间快照。相反，静态观测站提供极好的时间分辨率，但工作在固定点上，因此空间分辨率有限。该项目将在格陵兰岛创建一个密集的静态冰上GPS站网络。新的GPS技术通过利用最新一代芯片组来降低成本，这些芯片组提供极低的功耗。虽然这些芯片组目前还没有被证明可以收集冰盖上的科学数据，但现在已经集成到了当代无人机(UAV)中，当在这些情况下使用实时运动学(RTK)校正操作时，声称具有厘米级的定位精度。该项目将分三个阶段：1)在研究区域安装一个观测站网络；2)开发一个独立的全球导航卫星系统接收站，以便在原有网络之外部署；以及3)在格陵兰冰盖上部署一个更广泛的观测站网络。该项目还将通过支持一名将积极参与该项目所有方面的研究生，并通过与女性参与科学项目合作，在该项目每一年为期20周的实习期间培训一名一年级的女本科生，从而将研究和教育结合在一起。该奖项反映了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。

In understanding the large-scale changes of the Greenland Ice Sheet, wide coverage is needed. While aircraft and satellites produce extensive elevation-change datasets, and regional climate models predict snowfall at high resolution, both systems require calibration and validation by on-the-ice means. Hence, there is a need for extensive on-ice elevation survey data in Greenland, typically collected using the Global Positioning System (GPS). Ground-based traverses have been highly successful in collecting such on-ice information. Similarly, on-ice static GPS stations have been installed for short-term glaciology projects. Both approaches, however, suffer significant drawbacks. The first is cost. Ground traverses are logistically complex and expensive. For traditional static stations, the high cost is associated with the hardware and the transport of large numbers of batteries due to the power required to run these stations through the dark winter. The second is limitations in spatial and temporal coverage. Traverses offer excellent spatial coverage, but temporally only a single snapshot in time over the traverse route. Conversely, static stations offer excellent temporal resolution, but operate at a fixed point and thus limited spatial resolution. This project will create a dense network of static on-ice GPS stations in Greenland. New GPS technology allows for a reduction in costs by leveraging the newest generation of chipsets, which offer extremely low power consumption. While currently unproven for collecting science data on ice sheets, these chipsets are now integrated in the current generation of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and, when operated using Real Time Kinematic (RTK) corrections in these situations, claim centimeter-scale positioning accuracy. Over three phases, the project will 1) install a network of stations in the study area; 2) develop a standalone GNSS receiver station for deployment outside the original network; and 3) deploy a wider network of stations on the Greenland Ice Sheet. This project will also integrate research and education by supporting a graduate student who will be actively involved in all aspects of the project, and by partnering with the Women in Science Project to train a first-year female undergraduate student during a 20-week internship in each year of the project.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.