Collaborative Research: Replicate Coring at WAIS Divide to Obtain Additional Samples at Events of High Scientific Interest

1043421/ severinghaus该奖项支持一个项目，在选定的时间间隔内获取冰样本，以复制和验证WAIS Divide冰芯中关键结果的有效性和空间代表性，并在科学兴趣强烈、需求高的地区获取额外的冰样本。2003年，美国冰芯工作组建议美国国家科学基金会采用重复取样的方法，称为“重复取样”。这一建议是协议的一部分，该协议旨在将（当时的）新钻井系统（DISC钻头）的岩心直径减少到12.2厘米，以减轻后勤负担，科学界接受了冰样品的减少，并理解重复取心将能够在关键间隔提供额外的样样量。由于预期气体记录的独特质量以及气体和气体同位素所需的大量样品，WAIS Divide的工作将特别受益于重复取心；因此，建议在WAIS分界处采用重复取心。此外，对冰样品的科学需求分布非常不均匀，而且将继续如此，在具有高度科学兴趣的深度区间（例如，气候突变、火山硫酸盐层、流星撞击层），冰芯档案已经完全枯竭。拟议研究的更广泛影响可能包括确定格陵兰、热带和南极气候变化之间的领先和滞后，从而能够对气候突变机制的假设进行关键检验。对火山对大气化学和气候影响的进一步了解也可能出现。这种认识可能最终有助于改进气候模式，并预测未来几个世纪地球系统对持续的人类扰动的反馈反应。关于气候变化的宣传和公众教育是私人机构活动的组成部分，拟议的工作将加强这些努力。更广泛的影响还包括教育和培训2名博士后学者和1名研究生，并为研究生和本科生提供宝贵的实地经验，他们可能构成WAIS Divide的核心处理团队。

1043421/SeveringhausThis award supports a project to obtain samples of ice in selected intervals for replication and verification of the validity and spatial representativeness of key results in the WAIS Divide ice core, and to obtain additional ice samples in areas of intense scientific interest where demand is high. The US Ice Core Working Group recommended in 2003 that NSF pursue the means to take replicate samples, termed "replicate coring". This recommendation was part of an agreement to reduce the diameter of the (then) new drilling system (the DISC drill) core to 12.2 cm to lighten logistics burdens, and the science community accepted the reduction in ice sample with the understanding that replicate coring would be able to provide extra sample volume in key intervals. The WAIS Divide effort would particularly benefit from replicate coring, because of the unique quality of the expected gas record and the large samples needed for gases and gas isotopes; thus this proposal to employ replicate coring at WAIS Divide. In addition, scientific demand for ice samples has been, and will continue to be, very unevenly distributed, with the ice core archive being completely depleted in depth intervals of high scientific interest (abrupt climate changes, volcanic sulfate horizons, meteor impact horizons, for example). The broader impacts of the proposed research may include identification of leads and lags between Greenland, tropical, and Antarctic climate change, enabling critical tests of hypotheses for the mechanism of abrupt climate change. Improved understanding of volcanic impacts on atmospheric chemistry and climate may also emerge. This understanding may ultimately help improve climate models and prediction of the Earth System feedback response to ongoing human perturbation in coming centuries. Outreach and public education about climate change are integral components of the PIs' activities and the proposed work will enhance these efforts. Broader impacts also include education and training of 2 postdoctoral scholars and 1 graduate student, and invaluable field experience for the graduate and undergraduate students who will likely make up the core processing team at WAIS Divide.