Award Abstract # 1744852
Collaborative Research: Investigating Ice Sheet - Solid Earth Feedbacks in West Antarctica: Implications for Ice Sheet Evolution and Stability

NSF Org: OPP
Office of Polar Programs (OPP)
Recipient: COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY
Initial Amendment Date: September 7, 2018
Latest Amendment Date: November 18, 2024
Award Number: 1744852
Award Instrument: Continuing Grant
Program Manager: David Porter
dporter@nsf.gov
 (703)292-2930
OPP
 Office of Polar Programs (OPP)
GEO
 Directorate for Geosciences
Start Date: September 15, 2018
End Date: August 31, 2025 (Estimated)
Total Intended Award Amount: $181,873.00
Total Awarded Amount to Date: $290,680.00
Funds Obligated to Date: FY 2018 = $162,785.00
FY 2019 = $19,088.00

FY 2020 = $36,258.00

FY 2023 = $36,175.00

FY 2025 = $36,374.00
History of Investigator:
  • Richard Aster (Principal Investigator)
    Rick.Aster@ColoState.edu
Recipient Sponsored Research Office: Colorado State University
601 S HOWES ST
FORT COLLINS
CO  US  80521-2807
(970)491-6355
Sponsor Congressional District: 02
Primary Place of Performance: Colorado State University
801 S. Howes St.
Fort Collins
CO  US  80523-1482
Primary Place of Performance
Congressional District:
02
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): LT9CXX8L19G1
Parent UEI:
NSF Program(s): ANT Earth Sciences
Primary Program Source: 0100CYXXDB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
0100XXXXDB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
Program Reference Code(s): 097Z, 5294
Program Element Code(s): 511200
Award Agency Code: 4900
Fund Agency Code: 4900
Assistance Listing Number(s): 47.078

ABSTRACT

The earth's surface in West Antarctica is rising at extremely high rates in response to unloading of ice sheet mass. This research (1) improves the spatial coverage and accuracy of measurements of surface uplift using the Global Positioning System (GPS) and (2) probes the structure of the deep earth using seismology. These observations will be integrated into a state-of-the-art, 3-D ice sheet model to simulate the past and future behavior of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and assess its vulnerability. Project results will allow assessment of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet's rate of change and the time frame for its accelerating contribution to global sea-level rise, which is predicted to have an amplified impact for U.S. coastlines. This research program builds on and leverages prior investments in autonomous observational infrastructure through technological advances and international partnerships. Archived open-access data from the project will facilitate a range of studies that will advance basic knowledge of the Antarctic continent and its ice sheet cover. The project will train and mentor an interdisciplinary cohort of polar scientists through field work, workshops, and a summer school leveraged by an online resource library.

The POLENET-ANET autonomous GPS and seismic network will be reconfigured to acquire higher-resolution in situ data focused around the Amundsen Embayment to capture spatially varying crustal motions and Earth structure in a region where the ice sheet is rapidly changing. The pattern and scale of lateral variations in mantle temperature, viscosity, and lithospheric elastic thickness at the resolution necessary to characterize this system will be established from seismological studies incorporating the new instrumentation footprint. Absolute mantle viscosity values will be independently determined using crustal motion data from high-precision GPS time series together with West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) surface mass balance and ice history information. Where mantle viscosity varies over short spatial scales and bedrock topography below the ice sheet is complex, as is hypothesized for West Antarctica, both positive and negative feedbacks between the ice sheet and the solid earth may occur, acting to stabilize or destabilize ice dynamics by raising or lowering the grounding line and reducing or increasing retrograde bed slopes below major outlet glaciers. New constraints on 3-D Earth structure will be built into innovative 3-D glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) models and coupled models of climate-cryosphere-solid Earth systems. These advanced models, constrained by the new observations obtained in this project, will simulate the past and future evolution of the WAIS to improve estimates of changing ice mass in West Antarctica, establish where the WAIS may be stabilized by ongoing Earth deformation, and reduce uncertainties in projections of future sea level change.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH

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(Showing: 1 - 10 of 16)
Baker, Michael G. and Aster, Richard C. and Anthony, Robert E. and Chaput, Julien and Wiens, Douglas A. and Nyblade, Andrew and Bromirski, Peter D. and Gerstoft, Peter and Stephen, Ralph A. "Seasonal and spatial variations in the ocean-coupled ambient wavefield of the Ross Ice Shelf" Journal of Glaciology , v.65 , 2019 10.1017/jog.2019.64 Citation Details
Dunham, C K and ODonnell, J P and Stuart, G W and Brisbourne, A M and Rost, S and Jordan, T A and Nyblade, A A and Wiens, D A and Aster, R C "A joint inversion of receiver function and Rayleigh wave phase velocity dispersion data to estimate crustal structure in West Antarctica" Geophysical Journal International , v.223 , 2020 https://doi.org/10.1093/gji/ggaa398 Citation Details
Emry, Erica L. and Nyblade, Andrew A. and Horton, Alan and Hansen, Samantha E. and Julià, Jordi and Aster, Richard C. and Huerta, Audrey D. and Winberry, J. Paul and Wiens, Douglas A. and Wilson, Terry J. "Prominent thermal anomalies in the mantle transition zone beneath the Transantarctic Mountains" Geology , v.48 , 2020 https://doi.org/10.1130/G47346.1 Citation Details
Gomez, Natalya and Yousefi, Maryam and Pollard, David and DeConto, Robert M and Sadai, Shaina and Lloyd, Andrew and Nyblade, Andrew and Wiens, Douglas A and Aster, Richard C and Wilson, Terry "The influence of realistic 3D mantle viscosity on Antarcticas contribution to future global sea levels" Science Advances , v.10 , 2024 https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adn1470 Citation Details
Lloyd, A. J. and Wiens, D. A. and Zhu, H. and Tromp, J. and Nyblade, A. A. and Aster, R. C. and Hansen, S. E. and Dalziel, I. W. D. and Wilson, T. J. and Ivins, E. R. and ODonnell, J. P. "Seismic Structure of the Antarctic Upper Mantle Imaged with Adjoint Tomography" Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth , v.125 , 2020 https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JB017823 Citation Details
Lucas, Erica M. and Nyblade, Andrew A. and Accardo, Natalie J. and Lloyd, Andrew J. and Wiens, Douglas A. and Aster, Richard C. and Wilson, Terry J. and Dalziel, Ian W. and Stuart, Graham W. and ODonnell, John Paul and Winberry, J. Paul and Huerta, Audre "Shear Wave Splitting Across Antarctica: Implications for Upper Mantle Seismic Anisotropy" Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth , v.127 , 2022 https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JB023325 Citation Details
Lucas, Erica M. and Nyblade, Andrew A. and Aster, Richard C. and Wiens, Douglas A. and Wilson, Terry J. and Winberry, J. Paul and Huerta, Audrey D. "Tidally Modulated Glacial Seismicity at the Foundation Ice Stream, West Antarctica" Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface , v.128 , 2023 https://doi.org/10.1029/2023JF007172 Citation Details
Lucas, Erica M. and Nyblade, Andrew A. and Lloyd, Andrew J. and Aster, Richard C. and Wiens, Douglas A. and O'Donnell, John Paul and Stuart, Graham W. and Wilson, Terry J. and Dalziel, Ian W. D. and Winberry, J. Paul and Huerta, Audrey D. "Seismicity and Pn Velocity Structure of Central West Antarctica" Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems , v.22 , 2021 https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GC009471 Citation Details
Lucas, Erica M. and Soto, David and Nyblade, Andrew A. and Lloyd, Andrew J. and Aster, Richard C. and Wiens, Douglas A. and O'Donnell, John Paul and Stuart, Graham W. and Wilson, Terry J. and Dalziel, Ian W. and Winberry, J. Paul and Huerta, Audrey D. "P- and S-wave velocity structure of central West Antarctica: Implications for the tectonic evolution of the West Antarctic Rift System" Earth and Planetary Science Letters , v.546 , 2020 https://doi.org/10.1016/J.EPSL.2020.116437 Citation Details
O'Donnell, J. P. and Brisbourne, A. M. and Stuart, G. W. and Dunham, C. K. and Yang, Y. and Nield, G. A. and Whitehouse, P. L. and Nyblade, A. A. and Wiens, D. A. and Anandakrishnan, S. and Aster, R. C. and Huerta, A. D. and Lloyd, A. J. and Wilson, T. an "Mapping Crustal Shear Wave Velocity Structure and Radial Anisotropy Beneath West Antarctica Using Seismic Ambient Noise" Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems , v.20 , 2019 https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GC008459 Citation Details
O'Donnell, J.P. and Stuart, G.W. and Brisbourne, A.M. and Selway, K. and Yang, Y. and Nield, G.A. and Whitehouse, P.L. and Nyblade, A.A. and Wiens, D.A. and Aster, R.C. and Anandakrishnan, S. and Huerta, A.D. and Wilson, T. and Winberry, J.P. "The uppermost mantle seismic velocity structure of West Antarctica from Rayleigh wave tomography: Insights into tectonic structure and geothermal heat flow" Earth and Planetary Science Letters , v.522 , 2019 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2019.06.024 Citation Details
(Showing: 1 - 10 of 16)

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