Project Title

Antarctic firn aquifers: Extent, characteristics, and comparison with Greenland occurrences

Summary

Event Number:
I-344-E

Program Manager:
Dr. Paul Cutler

ASC POC/Implementer:
Samina Ouda / Cara Ferrier

Principal Investigator(s)

Dr. Theodore Scambos
tascambos@colorado.edu
University of Colorado Boulder
CIRES
Boulder, Colorado

Location

Supporting Stations: Special Project
Research Locations: Wilkins Ice Shelf, George VI Ice Shelf

Description

Researchers will investigate areas in the Antarctic Peninsula where water from summer melting of snow drains down into the deeper snow (firn) and remains as a water-flooded snow layer throughout the Antarctic winter. These zones are called firn aquifers. The project aims to confirm indications from satellite data that these areas exist on the Wilkins Ice Shelf and the George VI Ice Shelf coast. Persistent water in the upper layers of an ice shelf can destabilize the ice shelf and cause it to fracture and disintegrate or, on a non-floating ice sheet, can cause it to flow faster by draining to the bottom of the ice and reducing the friction between bedrock and glacier. Under warmer conditions in the future, the extent of these firn aquifer areas could spread to regions in front of major outlet glaciers.

Field Season Overview

One participant will deploy to Rothera Station by Dash-7 aircraft and will then fly by Twin Otter to the Wilkins and George VI Automated Meteorology Ice Geophysics Observation System (AMIGOS) Mk1 sites to download recorded data on the AMIGOS storage chips, make a series of distributed temperature sensor (DTS) measurements, and retrieve all the equipment for retrograde. A British Antarctic Survey (BAS) field guide with climbing gear will ascend the AMIGOS towers to retrieve the storage chips.

Deploying Team Members