| NSF Org: |
OPP Office of Polar Programs (OPP) |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | May 2, 2017 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | May 2, 2017 |
| Award Number: | 1741833 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Cynthia Suchman
csuchman@nsf.gov (703)292-2092 OPP Office of Polar Programs (OPP) GEO Directorate for Geosciences |
| Start Date: | May 1, 2017 |
| End Date: | October 31, 2018 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $49,777.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $49,777.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
520 LEE ENTRANCE STE 211 AMHERST NY US 14228-2577 (716)645-2634 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
126 Cooke Hall Buffalo NY US 14260-0001 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | ANS-Arctic Natural Sciences |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.078 |
ABSTRACT
The stability of the Greenland Ice Sheet has important implications for possible future sea level rise. Recent observational data suggest an acceleration of mass loss, and consequent global sea level rise, from Greenland. There is, though, no consensus on what future trends may be. Thus, there is urgency in defining priorities for addressing the Greenland Ice Sheet stability problem. Funds are provided for a workshop on the stability of the Greenland Ice Sheet. A community of experts will be assembled to assess the current state of knowledge of Greenland Ice Sheet history and sensitivity to climate forcing. The group also will suggest key research priorities that would promote traction on the problem of Greenland Ice Sheet stability. Improved understanding of Greenland Ice Sheet history, the associated processes, and its possible future will significantly impact our ability to predict and mitigate sea level rise. The workshop will guarantee gender and age diversity, thus ensuring the introduction of new members to the national and international community represented at the workshop.
Understanding ice sheet stability is important for understanding and projecting sea level rise. However, we do not currently have data or models that allow for a definitive consensus view of ice sheet variability during the past, much less the future. Recent measurements of cosmogenic isotopes demand the absence of ice at the GISP2 summit drill site for significant portions of the Pleistocene. On the other hand, new and published data from other ice cores in central Greenland and from offshore sediment records have been interpreted to suggest persistence of the ice sheet through the Plio-Pleistocene. While numerical ice sheet simulations reveal a smaller, but relatively intact Greenland Ice Sheet during the Last Interglaciation, new discoveries from the glacial dynamics community reveal processes that could lead to the collapse of continental ice in Greenland. Thus, the workshop will focus on assessing and reconciling the state of knowledge and understanding of four important sub-disciplines - ice coring, stratigraphic records, ice sheet modeling, and ice sheet processes.
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.
How the Greenland Ice Sheet responds to climate change is important for society for a number of reasons, least of which is sea level rise. Understanding ice sheet stability is central to this effort. However, we do not currently have data or models that allow for a definitive consensus view of ice sheet variability during the past.
The PI led a workshop on the stability of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Starting with assembling a steering committee, followed by inviting keynote speakers, and finally announcing the workshop and choosing the best cross section of the community to attend, the workshop was held in September, 2017.
The goals of the workshop were two-fold: (1) With a community of experts, both senior and junior, bring different datasets and approaches together to see if consensus can be reached on the current state of knowledge of Greenland Ice Sheet history and sensitivity to climate forcing, and (2) Develop key research priorities that will help guide future efforts to make significant traction on the problem of Greenland Ice Sheet stability.
To tackle the issue of Greenland Ice Sheet stability requires input from a range of disciplines. These include ice coring, ice sheet modeling, glaciology, geophysics, geodesy, glacial geology, paleoceanography, geochronology, geochemistry, sea level studies, and others. These disciplines have focused on four major (and integrated) approaches that collectively hold most promise for going forward: (1) ice and bedrock coring, (2) stratigraphy and chronology, (3) ice sheet modeling, and (4) ice sheet processes.
The steering committee included Richard Alley, Michael Bender, Jason Briner (chair), Beata Csatho, Kristin Poinar, Joerg Schaefer. The local organizing committee included: Jason Briner, Barbara Catalano, Allison Cluett, Alia Lesnek, Avriel Schweinsberg, Elizabeth Thomas. Invited keynote presentations were given by Dorthe Dahl-Jensen (U Copenhagen), Sophie Nowicki (NASA Goddard), Jeremy Fyke (Los Alamos Nat?l Lab). There were 54 attendees for the two-day workshop, with 41 presentations and an afternoon break-out group discussion. 16 of the 41 presentations were delivered by women; 10 participants were early career and received support for attending the workshop
After the workshop, a white paper was submitted to NSF-Arctic Natural Sciences program officers. The paper was received input by 19 workshop attendees. The workshop website, where some of these details and the white paper are posted, is here: http://www.glyfac.buffalo.edu/Faculty/briner/greenlandworkshop/. The website also contains video footage of the entire program, and photographs of the workshop.
Last Modified: 02/21/2019
Modified by: Jason P Briner
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