Mid-Term Assessment of Progress on the
2015 Strategic Vision for
Antarctic and Southern Ocean Research
Committee on a Mid-Term Assessment of NSF Progress on the 2015
Strategic Vision for Antarctic and Southern Ocean Research
Polar Research Board
Division on Earth and Life Studies
A Consensus Study Report of
THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS
Washington, DC
www.nap.edu
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This activity was supported by a contract between the National Academy of Sciences and the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 2022844. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of any organization or agency that provided support for the project.
International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-309-26807-3
International Standard Book Number-10: 0-309-26807-9
Digital Object Identifier: https://doi.org/10.17226/26338
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Image credits (front cover):
Left: Paul Cziko, University of Oregon, and Chi-Hing Christina Cheng, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Center: Jim Yungel, NASA
Right: Keith Vanderlinde, National Science Foundation
Background: Oscar Schofield, Rutgers University, committee member
Copyright 2021 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America
Suggested citation: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. Mid-Term Assessment of Progress on the 2015 Strategic Vision for Antarctic and Southern Ocean Research. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/26338.
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COMMITTEE ON A MID-TERM ASSESSMENT OF NSF PROGRESS ON THE 2015 STRATEGIC VISION FOR ANTARCTIC AND SOUTHERN OCEAN RESEARCH
OSCAR SCHOFIELD (Chair), Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ
AMY BARGER, University of Wisconsin–Madison
KELLY BRUNT,1 NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
ROBERT CLAUER, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg
INDRANI DAS, Columbia University, New York, NY
WILLIAM DETRICH, Northeastern University, Boston, MA
MICHAEL GOOSEFF, University of Colorado Boulder
KEN HALANYCH, University of North Carolina, Wilmington
MARK HALPERN, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
ALISON MURRAY, Desert Research Institute, Reno, NV
ERIC RIGNOT (NAS), University of California, Irvine
AMELIA SHEVENELL, University of South Florida, St. Petersburg
HELIO TAKAI, Pratt Institute, New York, NY
TERRY WILSON, The Ohio State University, Columbus
ERIC WOLFF, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Staff
STEPHANIE JOHNSON, Study Director
LAURIE GELLER, Senior Program Officer, Polar Research Board
STEVEN MOSS, Program Officer, Board on Life Sciences
CALLA ROSENFELD, Senior Program Assistant
___________________
1 Resigned from the committee on June 24, 2021.
POLAR RESEARCH BOARD
DIANA WALL (Chair), Colorado State University, Fort Collins
LAWSON BRIGHAM, University of Alaska Fairbanks
PABLO CLEMENTE-COLÓN, National/Naval Ice Center, Suitland, MD
MICHAEL GOOSEFF, University of Colorado Boulder
NAGRUK HARCHAREK, UIC Lands, Barrow, AK
THEODORE A. SCAMBOS, University of Colorado Boulder
KRISTEN ST. JOHN, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA
LYNNE TALLEY, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, San Diego, CA
MERRITT TURETSKY, University of Colorado Boulder
ROSS VIRGINIA, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
MARGARET WILLIAMS, World Wildlife Fund, Washington, DC
Ex-Officio
MATTHEW DRUCKENMILLER (Alternate U.S. Delegate to IASC), University of Colorado Boulder
DENEB KARENTZ (U.S. Delegate to SCAR), University of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
ANDREY PETROV (Alternate U.S. Delegate to IASC), University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls
ALLAN WEATHERWAX (Alternate U.S. Delegate to SCAR), Merrimack College, North Andover, MA
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Staff
AMANDA STAUDT, Board Director
LAURIE GELLER, Program Manager
LAUREN EVERETT, Senior Program Officer
APRIL MELVIN, Senior Program Officer
RITA GASKINS, Administrative Coordinator
ROB GREENWAY, Program Associate
Reviewers
This Consensus Study Report was reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in making each published report as sound as possible and to ensure that it meets the institutional standards for quality, objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process.
We thank the following individuals for their review of this report:
CHARLES AMSLER, University of Alabama at Birmingham
ROBIN BELL, Columbia University
AMY BENDER, Argonne National Laboratory
CHRISTO BUIZERT, Oregon State University
JAMES T. HOLLIBAUGH, University of Georgia
CHRISTINA HULBE, University of Otago
TIMOTHY NAISH, Victoria University of Wellington
SEAN PLACE, Sonoma State University
CRISTINA TAKACS-VESBACH, University of New Mexico
ALLAN WEATHERWAX, Merrimack College
ROBERT WELLER, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Although these reviewers provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions and recommendations nor did they see the final draft of the report before its release. The review of this report was overseen by W. BERRY LYONS (The Ohio State University) and KATHERINE H. FREEMAN (The Pennsylvania State University). They were responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and that all review comments received full consideration. Responsibility for the final content of this report rests entirely with the authoring committee and the National Academies.
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Contents
NSF Support for Antarctic Research
National Academies’ 2015 Strategic Priorities
Metrics for Committee Evaluation
2 Priority I: Changing Antarctic Ice Sheets
Key Implementation Challenges Across Priorities I.i and I.ii
Opportunities to Improve Progress
Conclusions and Recommendations
3 Priority II: Using Genomics to Understand How Antarctic Biota Evolve and Adapt
Scientific Community and Partnerships
Opportunities to Improve Progress
Conclusions and Recommendations
4 Priority III: How Did the Universe Begin?
Opportunities to Improve Progress
Conclusions and Recommendations
5 Broad-Based Investigator-Driven Antarctic Research
Key Implementation Challenges: Logistics
6 Cross-Cutting Research-Wide Issues
Acronyms and Abbreviations
| AGU | American Geophysical Union |
| AISS | Antarctic Integrated System Science |
| AOE | Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems |
| ATAC-seq | Assay for Transposase-Accessible Chromatin using sequencing |
| AUV | autonomous underwater vehicle |
| BART | BICEP Array Replacement Tower |
| BICEP | Background Imaging of Cosmic Extragalactic Polarization |
| BRP | U.S. Antarctic Program Blue Ribbon Panel |
| CMB | cosmic microwave background |
| CMB-S4 | CMB Stage IV |
| CRISPR | clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats |
| DEI | diversity, equity, and inclusion |
| DOE | U.S. Department of Energy |
| EAIS | East Antarctic Ice Sheet |
| GIA | glacial isostatic adjustment |
| GNSS | Global Navigation Satellite System |
| GRACE | Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment |
| IDP | Ice Drilling Program |
| INCLUDES | Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science |
| INSTANT | SCAR Instabilities and Thresholds in Antarctica |
| IODP | International Ocean Discovery Program |
| IPCC | Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change |
| ITGC | International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration |
| LTER | Long-Term Ecological Research |
| MAPO | Martin A. Pomerantz Observatory |
| MSRI | Mid-Scale Research Infrastructure |
| NASA | National Aeronautics and Space Administration |
| NERC | UK Natural Environment Research Council |
| NIH | National Institutes of Health |
| NOAA | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration |
| NSF | National Science Foundation |
| OPP | Office of Polar Programs |
| PAUC | Palmer Area Users’ Committee |
| POLENET | Polar Earth Observing Network |
| R&D | research and development |
| RCN | Research Coordination Network |
| ROV | remotely operated vehicle |
| SCAR | Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research |
| SOCCOM | Southern Ocean Carbon and Climate Observations and Modeling |
| SPT | South Pole Telescope |
| STEM | science, technology, engineering, and mathematics |
| USAP | U.S. Antarctic Program |
| WAIS | West Antarctic Ice Sheet |
