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2 Opportunities and Challenges of Antarctic and Southern Ocean Research
Pages 25-44

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From page 25...
... . Together, the ice sheets in East and West Antarctica hold the largest reserve of freshwater on the planet that if fully melted is capable of raising sea level globally by nearly 60 m.
From page 26...
... D ­ ating of the exposed rock and ancient deposits high in the Transantarctic Mountains have offered insights into past changes in atmospheric temperature and how the ice sheets and alpine glaciers responded to these changes. A large collaborative program that instrumented much of Antarctica with GPS instruments and seismometers (POLENET)
From page 27...
... The surface of Mars is known better than the topography beneath the Antarctic ice sheet and its floating ice shelves. The ocean cavities beneath Antarctica's peripheral ice shelves in particular are critical environments where warming ocean water and ice meet, and yet are almost completely unmapped and unmeasured.
From page 28...
... Whether the Ross Ice Shelf can disappear quickly and trigger a collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet was an important open question until the NSF-supported project ANDRILL (Antarctic Geological Drilling) recovered key sediment beneath the ice shelf.
From page 29...
... ; that is, the AFPs that inhibit ice growth also inhibit ice from melting, even at temperatures well above the expected melting point. Such "superheated" ice occurs inside Antarctic fishes in their natural environment.
From page 30...
... The temperature contrast between the cold Antarctic atmosphere and warmer regions to the north generates westerly winds over the Southern Ocean, whose variations have a profound impact on the formation of sea ice, generation of bottom water, air–sea exchange of CO2, and climate variability across the Southern Hemisphere and many parts of the Northern Hemisphere. Wind and currents in the Southern Ocean.
From page 31...
... For instance, the 10-m South Pole Telescope (SPT) and the BICEP and Keck telescopes are designed for observing the faint, diffuse emission from the cosmic microwave background, which provides a wealth of information about the origin and evolution of the universe.
From page 32...
... New ice-capable floats also extend cover age to the poorly studied sea ice region south of the polar front. These developments will aid the development of global climate and ocean models.
From page 33...
... • Antarctic climate changes observed in recent decades, especially warming of the Antarctic Peninsula and across West Antarctica (e.g., Nicolas and ­ romwich, B 2014) are influenced by a number of long-distance atmospheric linkages known as "teleconnections" (see Figure 2.3)
From page 34...
... . Radio-based neutrino detectors that also take advantage of the unique quality of the ice sheet at the South Pole, most notably the Askaryan Radio Array (Allison et al., 2012)
From page 35...
... For instance, arrays of magnetic observatories are deployed at dozens of locations around the world, to investigate the dynamic varia tions of the field produced by the changing electrical current systems in the m ­ agnetosphere and ionosphere. The polar regions, and Antarctica in particu lar, are particularly critical nodes in these networks, and these Antarctic-based observational sites would be much less valuable if not planned and utilized as part of the broader global networks.
From page 36...
... • Cosmic microwave background studies and the IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole are key experiments in multiagency, multinational efforts to understand the fundamental workings of time and space, and the origin and evolution of the universe. These experiments complement work being done around the world, in high-energy physics collider experiments, dark matter searches, large surveys of the sky across the electromagnetic and particle spectra using ground-based, balloon-based, and satellite platforms.
From page 37...
... • DOE's Climate–Ocean–Sea Ice Modeling project develops high-performance, multiscale models of the ocean, sea ice, ice sheets, and the ocean and cryo sphere components of the Community Earth System Model and Accelerated Climate Model for Energy. The goal is to improve modeling of high-latitude climate change and its impacts on ice sheets, sea level rise, sea ice changes, Southern Ocean circulation, and high-latitude ocean–ice ecosystems.
From page 38...
... As discussed in Chapter 4, the community engagement discussions point to a variety of ways in which interagency cooperative efforts could be expanded to better leverage resources toward reaching USAP research goals. INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION IN ANTARCTIC AND SOUTHERN OCEAN RESEARCH Antarctica is the only continent on Earth set aside just for international cooperative science, and international cooperation in scientific research is a cornerstone of the Antarctic Treaty System.
From page 39...
... Bottom: All countries' Antarctic research stations. SOURCE: Australian Antarctic Data Centre.
From page 40...
... • The Polar Earth Observing Network (POLENET) , which collects GPS and seismic data from autonomous observing systems across the Antarctic ice sheets, has been supported by participation by or contributions from 28 nations.
From page 41...
... The specific mode of international cooperation supported by NSF varies widely -- from informal collaboration between individual scientists, to formal proposal calls that specifically outline the need for international partnerships. For instance, during the International Polar Year 2007-2008 the NSF funding call required international collaboration and robust scientific partnerships.
From page 42...
... The British Antarctic Survey has been a close partner with NSF in projects from the difficult-to-access Amundsen Sea and deep interior of East Antarctica, to the western Antarctic Peninsula where they are a formal partner in NSF's Palmer LTER (Long Term Ecological Research) program.
From page 43...
... in support of access to research sites; and continued maintenance and improvement of science support items such as laboratory facilities and data transmission capacities; -- Maintenance of strategic observational efforts, including NSF leadership in coordinating and expanding international and interagency activities; -- Comprehensive management of Antarctic research data, and active educa tion and public outreach efforts -- both of which can significantly expand the return on investment for all PLR research activities. The next chapter discusses the first two of these components, including our recommendations for the high-priority, large-scale research initiatives.


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