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，以获得冰样品在选定的间隔复制和验证的有效性和空间代表性的关键结果在WAIS分水岭冰芯，并获得更多的冰样品在激烈的科学兴趣的领域，需求很高。 美国冰芯工作组在2003年建议NSF寻求采取重复样品的方法，称为“重复取芯”。这一建议是一项协议的一部分，该协议旨在将（当时的）新钻探系统（DISC钻）岩心的直径减少到12.2厘米，以减轻后勤负担，科学界接受了冰样本的减少，但认为重复取芯将能够在关键间隔提供额外的样本量。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，西澳大利亚大地震勘探系统分水岭的工作将特别受益于重复取芯;因此，建议在西澳大利亚大地震勘探系统分水岭采用重复取芯。 此外，对冰样的科学需求一直并将继续分布极不均匀，在具有高度科学意义的深度区间（例如，气候突变、火山硫酸盐层、流星撞击层），冰芯档案已完全耗尽。 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。火山对大气化学和气候的影响也可能会得到更好的理解。这种理解可能最终有助于改善气候模型和预测地球系统对未来几个世纪人类干扰的反馈反应。关于气候变化的外联和公众教育是参与者活动的组成部分，拟议的工作将加强这些努力。更广泛的影响还包括2名博士后学者和1名研究生的教育和培训，以及研究生和本科生的宝贵实地经验，他们可能会组成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.