RAPID: International Collaborative Airborne Sensor Deployments near Antarctic Ice Shelves

南极洲周边的冰架阻挡了内陆冰层，这些冰层有可能使全球海平面上升数米。冰川学的一个中心问题是，这种情况可能会发生多少，发生的速度有多快。这些冰架的底部与海洋接触，有迹象表明，海水变暖正在导致这些冰架的融化和后退，这直接影响到海平面的上升。该项目将抓住一个紧急机会，与澳大利亚和韩国的同事合作，获取海洋温度、盐度和速度的快照轮廓，并在没有先前数据的情况下改进测深知识。该团队将在三个冰川附近工作，这些冰川从南极东部和西部的冰盖中排出具有巨大海平面潜力的冰。目标是东南极洲的沙克尔顿冰架和库克冰架，以及西南极洲的斯韦茨冰川。一名本科生将通过斯克里普斯本科生研究奖学金计划参与进来，该团队将通过斯克里普斯教育联盟计划寻找教育外展机会，通过这些机会建立社区对该项目的参与。团队将使用高分辨率大气环流模式模拟来优化传感器定位(将从直升机和固定翼飞机上部署)，并评估冰下淡水排放和海洋强迫对冰下融化速度的相对作用。其目的是为了更好地理解为什么尽管数据显示南极西部地点的环境海洋温度变暖，但东南极地点的接地线融化速度却更高。这种行为可以通过将冰川下的淡水排放到冰架洞穴中来解释，但目前没有足够的数据来检验这一假设。该团队的目标是与韩国、澳大利亚和美国的同事一起，在正在进行的国际合作的航空海洋采样的基础上再接再厉。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。

The ice shelves around the perimeter Antarctica hold back inland ice that has the potential to raise global sea level by meters. By how much and how rapidly this could occur is a central question in glaciology. The underside of these ice shelves is in contact with the ocean, and there are signs that warming of ocean water is causing melting and retreat of these shelves, with direct implications for sea-level rise. This project will seize an emergent opportunity to work with Australian and South Korean colleagues to acquire snapshot profiles of ocean temperature, salinity, and velocity, and improve bathymetric knowledge, where no prior data exist. The team will work near three glaciers draining ice with substantial sea-level potential from the East and West Antarctic Ice Sheets. The targets are Shackleton and Cook Ice Shelves in East Antarctica, and Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica. An undergraduate student will be engaged through the Scripps Undergraduate Research Fellowship program and the team will work through the Scripps Educational Alliances program to identify educational outreach opportunities through which to build community engagement in this project.The team will use high-resolution general circulation model simulations to optimize sensor targeting (to be deployed from helicopter and fixed-wing aircraft) and evaluate the relative roles of subglacial freshwater discharge and ocean forcing on subglacial melt rates. The aim is to better understand why grounding-line melt rates are higher at the East Antarctic sites despite data indicating warmer ambient ocean temperatures at the West Antarctic sites. Such behavior could be explained by discharge of subglacial freshwater into ice-shelf cavities, but insufficient data currently exist to test this hypothesis. The team aims to build on ongoing international, collaborative airborne oceanographic sampling with colleagues in the Republic of Korea, Australia, and the United States.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.