East Antarctic Ice Sheet Instability in the Vestfold Hills, Prydz Bay Region, Antarctica - History and Control

南极洲普里兹湾地区西福尔德山东南部冰盖不稳定 - 历史与控制

• 批准号: 522026835
• 负责人: Professor Dr. Martin Melles
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Institut für Geologie und Mineralogie
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Infrastructure Priority Programmes
• 资助国家: 德国
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/522026835?language=en
• 关键词: East; Antarctic; Ice; Sheet; Instability

The project proposed contributes to an international initiative, which aims at a better understanding of modern and past East Antarctic Ice Sheet Instabilities (EASI), complementing existing findings with new samples and data from three expeditions with the R.V. "Polarstern" (EASI-1, -2 and -3). Focus of the project is put on the ice-free coastal area of Vestfold Hills at the eastern margin of Prydz Bay. In this so-called ´oasis´, field work shall be carried out during the expedition EASI-2 (Nov. 2023 - Jan. 2024), with the recovery of sediment cores from a fjord and several lakes, as well as geomorphological investigations. Based on a multi-disciplinary analysis of the sample and data sets obtained, supported by geodetic and paleobiological investigations by other EASI projects, the glacial history of the Vestfold Hills shall be reconstructed in unprecedented spatial and temporal detail. The reconstructions shall comprise the ice retreat and possible readvances since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), but also the controversial extend of the ice coverage during the LGM and possible ice-free settings prior to the LGM. Besides, the forcing mechanisms for the reconstructed glacial history shall for the first time be investigated systematically, evaluating the factors that influence the ice mass balance via calving as well as subaereal and subaquatic melting. This on the one hand concerns the postglacial variations in local temperature and relative sea level, whose reconstructions shall be improved by the new sediment records. On the other hand, it concerns the history of sea-ice coverage and ocean currents on the adjacent continental shelf, which will be reconstructed by other EASI projects. And finally, it concerns potential impacts by the glaciological and morphological characteristics of the oasis, which shall be evaluated by comparisons with the respective characteristics and individual climatic and environmental histories in other East Antarctic oases.

拟议的项目有助于一项国际倡议，其目的是更好地了解现代和过去的东南极冰盖不稳定性，用“Polarstern”号考察船三次考察（EASI-1、-2和-3）的新样本和数据补充现有的调查结果。该项目的重点是在普里兹湾东缘的韦斯特福尔山的无冰沿海地区。在这个所谓的“绿洲”中，将在EASI-2（2023年11月至2024年1月）考察期间进行实地工作，从峡湾和几个湖泊中恢复沉积物芯，以及地貌调查。基于对所获得的样本和数据集的多学科分析，并得到EASI其他项目的大地测量和古生物学调查的支持，将以前所未有的空间和时间细节重建韦斯特福尔山的冰川历史。重建应包括自末次盛冰期（LGM）以来的冰退缩和可能的再进，但也包括LGM期间有争议的冰覆盖范围和LGM之前可能的无冰环境。此外，将首次系统地研究重建冰川历史的强迫机制，评估通过产犊以及亚空中和亚水中融化影响冰质量平衡的因素。这一方面涉及到冰后期局部温度和相对海平面的变化，其重建将通过新的沉积记录得到改善。另一方面，它涉及海冰覆盖的历史和邻近大陆架上的洋流，这将由EASI的其他项目重建。最后，它涉及绿洲的冰川学和形态学特征的潜在影响，这将通过与其他东南极绿洲的各自特征和个别气候和环境历史的比较来评估。