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1 Introduction
Pages 11-24

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From page 11...
... The circulation of the Southern Ocean's circumpolar current along the continental shelf plays an important role in ice sheet stability and coastal glacial melt, particularly for the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) where ocean temperatures can range from 2-4°C.
From page 12...
... NSF SUPPORT FOR ANTARCTIC RESEARCH The U.S. Antarctic Program (USAP)
From page 13...
... Between 2016 and 2020, total annual funding for Antarctic facilities and logistical support has ranged from $269 million to $303 million.4 This facilities and logistics funding supports three Antarctic research stations -- McMurdo Station on the Ross Sea, Palmer Station on Anvers FIGURE 1-1 Locations of U.S. Antarctic Program research stations and other key U.S.
From page 14...
... These aircraft are used for heavy-lift capabilities to access well-established and maintained runways (e.g., South Pole Station or large, full-season field camps, such as the West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide)
From page 15...
... supporting large expeditionary science, sustaining extended monitoring programs, and providing infrastructure that supports research across many federal agencies, nongovernmental organizations, and researchers. NATIONAL ACADEMIES' 2015 STRATEGIC PRIORITIES In 2015, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine released the consensus report A Strategic Vision for NSF Investments in Antarctic and Southern Ocean Research (NASEM, 2015)
From page 16...
... Palmer is used for marine access to remote locations in both West and East Antarctica and operates year-round in the Southern Ocean, including in the Weddell Sea, Antarctic Peninsula, East Antarctica, and Ross Sea regions. It has 45 berths for scientists and technical staff.
From page 17...
... also strongly recommended continued use of a two-ship operational model within the USAP to support polar and Southern Ocean science and logistical support requirements. Recently, the Director of NSF approved NSF OPP's Antarctic Research Vessel Project to move forward to the Conceptual Design stage of the Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction (MREFC)
From page 18...
... ." "The Committee felt strongly that it should not define a priori what proposals for individual research projects should be favored; rather, such decisions should instead be left to the standard NSF review process." In addition to continued support for a broad core program of investigator-driven research, the report recommended that NSF actively look for opportunities to gain efficiencies and improve coordination and data sharing among independent studies. Priority I: The Changing Antarctic Ice Sheets Initiative The West Antarctic Ice Sheet and some major basins of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet have sectors located upon reverse-sloped bedrock that lie below sea level and are potentially vulnerable to runaway collapse.
From page 19...
... NASEM (2015) recommended this research component to address "major gaps in scientific understanding of the processes and rates of ice sheet collapse, stemming from lack of observations in critical areas in the ocean and beneath the ice surface, and from still-evolving understanding of ice sheet/shelf dynamics and of critical changes in Antarctic climate and atmospheric circulation." Key elements include: • Multidisciplinary studies of key processes to advance understanding of complex ice, oceanic, and atmospheric interactions; • Systematic measurement of key drivers of change in West Antarctica, for instance, including in situ observations of atmospheric and oceanic circulation, sea ice changes and influences, ice sheet flow and accumulation rates, and the sub-ice-shelf and grounding-line environment; • Mapping the unknown terrains beneath the major ice shelves and the critical regions beneath the ice sheet, with technologies such as airborne radar, geophysical imaging, active seismic surveys, and sub-ice rovers, as well as traditional coastal and on-ice surveys; and • Advancing development of coupled atmosphere–ocean–sea ice–ice sheet models, and climate models optimized for the Antarctic environment.
From page 20...
... Evolutionary cold adaptation/specialization and future evolutionary adaptive potential." The 2015 report proposed an Antarctic genomics initiative to tackle the goal of decoding the genomic and functional basis of organismal adaptation in a changing environment through analysis of existing samples, new collection of biological samples and environmental data, and field-based experimentation. The report also called for support for bioinformatics advancements.
From page 21...
... The committee was asked to: • Assess progress in addressing research goals outlined in the 2015 report, and • Identify significant recent advances in scientific understanding and/or technical capabilities (e.g., observational, analytical, computational) that present important new opportunities for progress in addressing the mission of NSF's Antarctic Sciences Section.
From page 22...
... The committee was not charged or constituted to address pandemic logistical and public health strategies, and given the continually evolving health risks and strategies, the committee judged that any near-term recommendations for pandemic response related to Antarctic research would likely be outdated by the time of report release. Instead, the committee focused its recommendations broadly on the remaining 5 years of the decadal strategic vision, understanding that NSF will need to consider these recommendations in the context of funded research efforts have been postponed or delayed due to the pandemic and public health risks that are continuing to evolve.
From page 23...
... In Chapter 5, the committee evaluates the potential impacts of the priorities on the broad Antarctic research portfolio, outside of the priority areas. In Chapter 6, cross-cutting opportunities are addressed.


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