Collaborative Research of Earth's Largest Icebergs

该奖项支持对地球上最大的冰山漂移和破碎的研究，这些冰山最近由于从罗斯冰架崩解而被释放到南极洲的罗斯海。这项研究的科学目标是在洋流、风和海冰的动态背景下确定冰山运动的物理特性，这些因素决定了驱动冰山运动的力量，以及冰山与地理和地形决定的冰山可以着陆的固定点之间的关系。此外，还将研究冰山影响当地环境的过程（例如，南极洲附近的海冰状况、进入企鹅栖息地的途径、冰山边缘的海气热交换和上升流、营养物质通量）。还将研究冰山产生全球深远的海洋声学信号的过程，这些信号在全球地震（地震）传感网络中被探测到。科研活动的一个重要组成部分将是在罗斯海目前漂浮或即将漂浮的几座最大的冰山上部署自动气象站、地震仪阵列和gps跟踪站。生成的数据通过卫星传送到中西部的家庭机构将激发理论分析和计算机模拟；并将被保存在“冰山”网站（http://amrc.ssec.wisc.edu/amrc/iceberg.html）上，供科学家和公众访问。在最广泛的层面上，这项研究是合理的，因为南极冰盖释放的冰山代表了自然环境中最大的淡水运动（例如，被研究的几个冰山，B15、C19和其他自公元2000年以来崩解的冰山，代表了超过6000立方公里的淡水——大约相当于尼罗河100年的流量）。更好地了解冰山漂移对环境的影响，特别是对海洋分层和混合的影响，对于了解冰河时期由代理人见证的全球气候突变以及未来温室变暖条件下的关注至关重要。在更具体的层面上，这项研究将产生一个知识库，有助于更好地管理南极后勤资源（例如，通往麦克默多站的航道），这些资源偶尔会受到冰山对海冰状况的不利影响的影响。

This award supports the study of the drift and break-up of Earth's largest icebergs, which were recently released into the Ross Sea of Antarctica as a result of calving from the Ross Ice Shelf. The scientific goals of the study are to determine the physics of iceberg motion within the dynamic context of ocean currents, winds, and sea ice, which determine the forces that drive iceberg motion, and the relationship between the iceberg and geographically and topographically determined pinning points on which the iceberg can ground. In addition, the processes by which icebergs influence the local environments (e.g., sea ice conditions near Antarctica, access to penguin rookeries, air-sea heat exchange and upwelling at iceberg margins, nutrient fluxes) will be studied. The processes by which icebergs generate globally far-reaching ocean acoustic signals that are detected within the global seismic (earthquake) sensing networks will also be studied. A featured element of the scientific research activity will be a field effort to deploy automatic weather stations, seismometer arrays and GPS-tracking stations on several of the largest icebergs presently adrift, or about to be adrift, in the Ross Sea. Data generated and relayed via satellite to home institutions in the Midwest will motivate theoretical analysis and computer simulation; and will be archived on an "iceberg" website (http://amrc.ssec.wisc.edu/amrc/iceberg.html) for access by scientists and the general public. At the most broad level, the study is justified by the fact that icebergs released by the Antarctic ice sheet represent the largest movements of fresh water within the natural environment (e.g., several of the icebergs to be studied, B15, C19 and others calved since 2000 CE, represent over 6000 cubic kilometers of fresh water-an amount roughly equivalent to 100 years of the flow of the Nile River). A better understanding of the impact of iceberg drift through the environment, and particularly the impact on ocean stratification and mixing, is essential to the understanding of the abrupt global climate changes witnessed by proxy during the ice age and of concern under conditions of future greenhouse warming. On a more specific level, the study will generate a knowledge base useful for the better management of Antarctic logistical resources (e.g., the shipping lanes to McMurdo Station) that can occasionally be influenced by adverse effects icebergs have on sea ice conditions.