| NSF Org: |
OPP Office of Polar Programs (OPP) |
| Recipient: |
|
| Initial Amendment Date: | January 11, 2016 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | January 11, 2016 |
| Award Number: | 1619793 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Paul Cutler
pcutler@nsf.gov (703)292-4961 OPP Office of Polar Programs (OPP) GEO Directorate for Geosciences |
| Start Date: | October 20, 2015 |
| End Date: | June 30, 2017 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $53,186.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $53,186.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
|
| History of Investigator: |
|
| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
1805 N BROAD ST PHILADELPHIA PA US 19122-6104 (215)707-7547 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
|
| Primary Place of Performance: |
Philadelphia PA US 19140-5104 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
|
| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
|
| Parent UEI: |
|
| NSF Program(s): | ANT Glaciology |
| Primary Program Source: |
|
| Program Reference Code(s): | |
| Program Element Code(s): |
|
| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.078 |
ABSTRACT
Alley/1142085
This award supports a project to continue the collection and analyses of firn temperature data from three automated firn thermal profiling units deployed in Dronning Maud Land sector of East Antarctica as part of the Norway-US IPY Traverse project between 2007 and 2009. The intellectual merits of this project are as follows: 1) to constrain and improve the parameterization of firn thermal properties (thermal conductivity and specific heat capacity) that are required for the borehole paleothermometry, 2) to study the change in firn temperature since the deployment of thermal profiling units ~5 years ago and derive the surface temperature trend for that time period, and 3) to compare and contrast the surface temperatures and their trends derived from the measured firn temperatures and satellite thermal infrared data for the past three decades. The project also involves acquiring and deploying an automated system to record transient temperatures at multiple depths in the top 16 meters of the shallow borehole at Dome Fuji, to provide useful data and to prepare for the possibility of conducting temperature-logging in the existing deep (3035 m) and shallow (112 m) boreholes at Dome Fuji in the near future. The preparation of the shallow borehole and the installation of the automated system will be carried out by collaborators from the Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition (JARE) in 2012-13 Antarctic field season. The data collected by this automated system will be used to constrain the thermal properties of upper firn layer at Dome Fuji, as well as comparing with data from other sites, increasing the geographic extent of these studies. The broader impacts of the project include presentation of results at scientific conferences and publication of results in peer-reviewed journals. Public outreach will include targeted work with science teachers and middle school students.
PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
The recent climatic trend of East Antarctic interior is not understood well because long-term instrumental records are sparse. When there are no instrumental records available, borehole temperature data are often used to reconstruct the past surface-temperature history. This award supported a project to continue the collection and analyses of firn-temperature data collected in 80- to 90-m deep boreholes in Dronning Maud Land sector of East Antarctica using three Automated Thermal Profiling Units deployed as part of the Norway-US IPY Traverse project between 2007 and 2009. The firn-temperature data collected by this project fill the large gap in the instrumental records in East Antarctica and provide one of the only few in situ datasets to reconstruct the decadal-time-scale surface-temperature history.
A previous study used the firn temperatures collected up to 2009 and showed that an area near the crest of East Antarctica Ice Sheet (altitudes in excess of 3500 m above sea level) experienced significant warming of 1 to 1.5 °C between ~1960-70s and 2009, while a region at lower altitudes (less than 3000 m above sea level) experienced no change to slight cooling in the same time period. We analyzed the ~10-year record from three sites, one of which is near the crest of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet and the other two situated off the crest at lower altitudes. We found high year-to-year variability and no apparent trends in the temperatures from the surface to 16 m deep, while temperatures between 24 and 40 m deep increased by ~0.10-0.15°C. For the lower-altitude sites, the increases in these deeper temperatures appear to have begun around 2011-2012, and the warming rate is around 0.1°C per decade. This is an indication that the surface temperatures at these lower-altitude sites were not increasing in a few decades prior to 2009, when the earlier study was conducted, because the temperature variations at the ice-sheet surface take at least a few years to reach the depth of ~20 m and deeper. We conclud, therefore, that there was a shift in the surface temperature trend in parts of East Antarctica from no change or slight cooling up to ~2009 to warming since then, and that the warming trend in East Antarctica is now more wide spread.
This project contributed to the development of human resources by supporting a starting tenure-track faculty at Temple University and his graduate student. The PI gained valuable experience in project management and execution, and student mentoring. The graduate student learned computer programming and data processing, which prepared the student for a STEM career.
The PI visited middle and high schools in the local area throughout the project period, introducing the project results, polar research in general and STEM career. Notably, the PI was able to connect with a science teacher in Philadelphia school district and reach out to students from groups underrepresented in STEM disciplines, particularly in geosciences.
Last Modified: 10/02/2017
Modified by: Atsuhiro Muto
Please report errors in award information by writing to: awardsearch@nsf.gov.
