Collaborative Research: Stable Isotopes of Ice in the WAIS Divide Deep Ice Core

该奖项支持在拟议的西南极冰盖分水岭（WAIS）深冰芯中分析水、dD、d18 O和氘过量的稳定同位素。该项目将对新岩芯的稳定同位素比率进行连续和高分辨率的重建。dD和d18 O值提供了冰芯现场温度变化的估计值。氘过量提供了对海洋表面状况的估计，例如在水分来源地区的海洋表面温度。这个新的冰芯是解决从冰盖稳定性到气候突变等问题的理想地点。WAIS分水岭有足够高的降雪率来记录年度到十年时间尺度的气候变化。它也应该有足够古老的冰来详细记录最后一次间冰期。随着现代气候变暖和海平面上升，南极西部冰盖成为人们密切关注的对象。冰盖释放的冰会导致海平面上升吗？了解冰盖在过去是如何应对气候变化的，这个项目收集的数据将有助于评估，这对回答这个问题至关重要。WAIS分水岭核心的高时间分辨率将为两极之间千年尺度气候变化的相互比较提供现有的最佳基础，从而更好地了解快速气候变化事件的空间表现和动态。 最后，这个核心的位置在西南极洲的太平洋部分，使它处于有利地位，研究热带太平洋对南极洲气候的影响，在更长的时间尺度比从仪器气候记录。 分析将包括在核心的最高部分的次年度分辨率的同位素变化的测量，在过去的10,000年和在此之前的快速气候变化期间的年度分辨率的测量，以及在此期间收集和处理的核心的整个长度的50年分辨率的测量。我们预计，这将是预计钻取的全部岩心的一半左右。在更广泛的影响方面，PI将分享两名研究生的建议，他们将把这个冰芯作为他们论文项目的重点。 它将在一个创新的多校区的方法，旨在促进更广泛的教育经验。如上所述，本提案产生的数据和解释将涉及气候变化问题，不仅具有直接和直接的科学意义，而且具有直接和直接的政策意义。

This award supports analyses of stable isotopes of water, dD, d18O and deuterium excess in the proposed West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide (WAIS) deep ice core. The project will produce a continuous and high-resolution reconstruction of stable isotope ratios for the new core. dD and d18O values provide estimates of temperature change at the ice core site. Deuterium excess provides estimates of ocean surface conditions, such as sea surface temperature, at the moisture source areas. This new ice core is ideally situated to address questions ranging from ice sheet stability to abrupt climate change. WAIS Divide has high enough snowfall rates to record climate changes on annual to decadal time scales. It should also have ice old enough to capture the last interglacial period in detail. The West Antarctic ice sheet is the subject of great scrutiny as our modern climate warms and sea level rises. What are the prospects for added sea level rise from ice released by this ice sheet? Understanding how this ice sheet has responded to climate change in the past, which the data collected in this project will help to assess, is critical to answering this question. The high temporal resolution available in the WAIS Divide core will provide the best available basis for inter-comparison of millennial-scale climate changes between the poles, and thus a better understanding of the spatial expression and dynamics of rapid climate change events. Finally, the location of this core in the Pacific sector of West Antarctica makes it well situated for examining the influence of the tropical Pacific on Antarctica climate, on longer timescales than are available from the instrumental climate record. Analyses will include the measurement of sub-annually resolved isotope variations in the uppermost parts of the core, measurements at annual resolution throughout the last 10,000 years and during periods of rapid climate change prior to that, and measurements at 50-year resolution throughout the entire length of the core that is collected and processed during the period of this grant. We anticipate that this will be about half of the full core expected to be drilled. In terms of broader impacts, the PIs will share the advising of two graduate students, who will make this ice core the focus of their thesis projects. It will be done in an innovative multi-campus approach designed to foster a broader educational experience. As noted above, the data and interpretations generated by this proposal will address climate change questions not only of direct and immediate scientific interest, but also of direct and immediate policy interest.