SGER Proposal:Glaciological change in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica

该奖项支持探索性研究小额赠款(SGER)，用于研究南极洲麦克默多干河谷的冰川变化，类别为“在既定研究课题上应用新的专业知识或新方法”。该项目的目的是评估分类图像在研究作为气候变化指标的冰川范围和湖泊面积的大小和变化速度方面的应用。由于与非分类图像的分辨率相比，冰川范围和湖泊面积的变化率都很小，因此显然需要提高分类图像的分辨率。获取1米或更高分辨率的分类图像将提供一个基线测量，可以与未来的变化进行比较。将最大限度地利用存档的图像，但如有必要，将提出一项请求，要求提供新的图像，以补充现有的档案。这项工作将支持正在进行的现场测量，这些测量是麦克默多干河谷长期生态研究(LTER)场地的一部分，但受到后勤限制，一年中的有限时间只能进行几次测量。如果成功，从这个项目中获得的信息将使研究人员能够更好地指导他们的努力，以确定控制山谷变化的重要物理过程。在实施这一项目中获得的信息将向公众公布，并使用适当的安全程序对数据进行解密。拟议工作的“探索性”和“高风险”性质及其对南极冰川研究领域产生重要“影响”的“潜力”，都是支持这项工作作为南极冰川研究中心的适当理由。

0086645FountainThis award supports a Small Grant for Exploratory Research (SGER) to study glaciological change in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica under the category of "application of new expertise or new approaches to established research topics". The purpose of the project is to assess the application of classified imagery to the study of the magnitude and rate of change of glacier extent and lake area as an indicator of climate change. Because the rate of change of both glacier extent and lake area is small compared to the resolution of unclassified imagery, the increased resolution of classified imagery is clearly needed. Access to classified imagery with 1 meter or better resolution will provide a baseline measurement against which future changes can be compared. Maximum use will be made of archived imagery but if necessary, one request will be made for new imagery to supplement the existing archive. This work will support on-going field measurements which are part of the Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) site in the McMurdo Dry Valleys but which are limited by logistic constraints to only a few measurements during limited times of the year. If successful, the information gained in this project will enable researchers to better direct their efforts to identify the important physical processes controlling the changes in the valleys. The information acquired in conducting this project will be made available to the public, using appropriate security procedures to declassify the data. The "exploratory" and "high risk" nature of the proposed work and its "potential" to make an important "impact" on the field of Antarctic glacier studies are all reasons that this work is appropriate to support as an SGER.