Investigation of the Stratigraphy and Time Scale of the WAIS Divide Ice Core Using Electrical Methods

该奖项支持的一个项目是西南极冰盖划分(WAIS Divide)计划的一部分；该计划是一个多学科、多机构的计划，旨在调查气候自然变化的原因、西南极冰盖对海平面的影响以及深层冰的生物学。WAIS分水岭冰芯在南极冰芯中将是独一无二的，因为它在过去40,000年里将有可识别的年层。该计划的一个关键要素是确定冰层的年龄，这样在岩芯上测量的气候指标就可以用年龄来解释，而不仅仅是深度。该项目将进行电学测量，以识别年层。这些信息将与来自其他调查人员的信息结合起来，形成过去40,000年来每年可分辨的时间尺度。这一时间尺度将成为解释近期气候记录的基础。电学测量还将用于产生冰芯地层学的二维图像；使冰芯具有异常地层学的部分得以识别。该项目的更广泛影响包括让不同的本科生和研究生群体接触冰芯研究，并协助华盛顿特区的史密森国家自然历史博物馆开发古气候/冰芯展示。

This award supports a project that is part of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide (WAIS Divide) program; which is a multi-disciplinary multi-institutional program to investigate the causes of natural changes in climate, the influence of the West Antarctic ice sheet on sea level, and the biology of deep ice. The WAIS Divide core will be unique among Antarctic ice cores in that it will have discernable annual layers for the last 40,000 years. A critical element of the program is to determine the age of the ice so that the climate proxies measured on the core can be interpreted in terms of age, not just depth. This project will make electrical measurements that can identify the annual layers. This information will be combined with information from other investigators to develop an annually resolved timescale over the last 40,000 years. This timescale will be the foundation on which the recent climate records are interpreted. Electrical measurements will also be used to produce two-dimensional images of the ice core stratigraphy; allowing sections of the core with abnormal stratigraphy to be identified. The broader impacts of this project include exposing a diverse group of undergraduate and graduate students to ice core research and assisting the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C to develop a paleoclimate/ice core display.