PostDoctoral Research Fellowship

该奖项是根据2009年《美国复苏和再投资法案》(公法111-5)提供资金的。这一博士后奖学金支持一个项目，以确定变质雪的空间范围，以及由于南极高原东部降雪的变质作用而导致的颗粒生长量。这将与基于卫星的测绘和从地面导线获取的雷达剖面数据结合起来，以增进对沉积过程及其对来自大范围积雪变质地区的雷达信号特征的影响的实际了解。这项研究的学术价值在于，它结合了以前在东南极高原降雪变质作用方面的表面工作，以及最近基于导线和遥感的关于降雪物理性质和表面地形的丰富信息。其目的是充分记录高原上大沙丘地区的位置和特征，并为大沙丘的发生创造一个全面的、全高原范围的背景。这项工作的更广泛影响是，它将向PI介绍遥感技术的使用，从而为她提供技术和职业发展机会，这些技术为了解她以前研究过的FIRN的沉积和变质过程提供了空间背景。这种跨学科的方法结合了以前在新汉普郡大学遥感研究方面的工作和指导，以及赞助科学家马克·法内斯托克。这项研究还将有助于理解南极东部的质量积累--这是试图了解目前冰盖质量平衡的研究人员面临的一个基本问题。该项目还将涉及非正式的科学宣传，重点是北极社区。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). This post-doctoral fellowship award supports a project to determine the spatial extent of metamorphosed snow, and the amount of grain growth due to metamorphism in firn on the East Antarctic Plateau. This will be combined with satellite-based mapping and data from surface traverse-acquired radar profiles in order to improve the physical understanding of depositional processes and their impact on the character of radar signals from areas of extensive snow metamorphism. The intellectual merit of the research is that it combines previous surface work on firn metamorphism on the East Antarctic Plateau with the wealth of recent traverse and remote-sensing based information on firn physical properties and surface topography. The objective is to fully document the location and character of megadune areas on the Plateau and create a comprehensive, plateau-wide context for megadune occurrence. The broader impacts of this work are that it will provide technical and career development opportunities for the PI by introducing her to the use of remote sensing techniques that provide spatial context for understanding the depositional and metamorphic processes in firn that she has previously studied. This interdisciplinary approach combines previous work with mentoring in remote sensing research at the University of New Hampshire with sponsoring scientist Mark Fahnestock. The research will also make a contribution toward understanding mass accumulation over East Antarctica - a fundamental problem faced by researchers trying to access the present mass balance of the ice sheet. The project will also involved informal science outreach, with emphasis on Arctic communities.