Technology Developments to Advance Antarctic Research: A Workshop

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Research in the Antarctic region poses tremendous challenges due to the region’s remoteness, isolation, and extreme weather. The U.S. Antarctic Program is responsible for helping the scientific community find ways to overcome these challenges, and operate safely and effectively in this unique terrain. The proposed workshop activity will help NSF identify and explore a variety of cutting-edge technological advances that facilitate Antarctic research and the logistics that support this research. The types of technological developments that may be explored include, for instance, those related to new environmental sensors; data and communications technologies; electronics, batteries, and power systems for cold-weather environments; transportation and housing; and ‘autonomous’ instruments that can operate without human presence. Advances in these areas will allow Antarctic research to be carried out in a way that is more efficient, safe, and reliable, and over a greater spatial/temporal range, while minimizing costs and environmental impacts. The types of research that such advances would enable can benefit society in numerous ways—for instance, leading to better predictions of how sea level rise will unfold over time; greater capacity to monitor and foresee disruptive space weather events; stronger understanding of changes in biological and ecological communities that can ripple across food webs; and insights into the capacity of the Southern Ocean to absorb carbon and heat and thus drive the rate of climate change. To help NSF better address Antarctic challenges, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine proposes to organize a workshop that will explore how cutting-edge technology developments can be harnessed to build a stronger foundation for expanding scientific discovery--at lower cost, with a smaller environmental impact, and with greater safety and efficiency--across all fields of Antarctic and Southern Ocean research. A committee will be convened to organize an online/virtual workshop forum that is designed to solicit broad community input to this topic—drawing upon insights from within and beyond the Antarctic research community. The workshop will explore opportunities to advance areas such as: observing systems for geological, biological, atmospheric, cryospheric, oceanic environments; astronomy, astrophysics, space weather research sensors; data and communications technologies; low-temperature electronics and system components, batteries, and power systems for cold-weather environments; remote logistics; and robotics and autonomous instrument engineering. This effort will build upon the extensive networks of expertise and contacts from the Academies’ Polar Research Board, and several other relevant National Academies Boards. National Academies' staff will author a workshop proceedings, which will provide an overview of the information shared, and a general synthesis of key ideas arising in the discussions.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.