Project Title

Collaborative Research: How to Trace Glacial Meltwater in the Ocean by Shipboard Hydrographic Analysis of Dissolved Neon and Krypton

Summary

Event Number:
O-363-N
OCE-1924140

Program Director:
Dr. William Ambrose

ASC POC/Implementer:
Kenneth Vicknair / Jamee Johnson

Principal Investigator(s)

Dr. Brice Griffith Loose
bloose@uri.edu
University of Rhode Island
Graduate School of Oceanography
Narragansett, Rhode Island

Location

Supporting Stations: Research Vessel
Research Locations: Western Antarctic Peninsula

Description

This project will build a new instrument to measure meltwater from glaciers in the ocean. Distinguishing glacier melt from sea ice, snow melt, and rain is a difficult but important task, because melting glaciers pose significant and acute risks, including chronic flooding and sea level rise. The causes and impacts of melting glaciers are a challenge to observe and predict, because they unfold in complex and hard-to-reach places (e.g., beneath miles of ice, under floating ice shelves, and during the coldest times of the year). This project aims to increase oceanographer's capacity to measure and map glacier melt in the ocean by 300%-400%, while reducing costs and providing near real-time results. This increase in measurement capacity will permit comparison of regional and seasonal changes in the glacier melt from the ice-covered land masses of Antarctica and Greenland. The instrument will be field-validated in Rhode Island coastal waters then used to measure glacier melt near Palmer Station on the Antarctic Peninsula. The partnership between the University of Rhode Island and SRI International presents an important public-private partnership that will encourage the use of private sector technology for open access research.

Field Season Overview

Two participants will join the Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) biannual cruise to collect glacial meltwater samples and test a prototype mass spectrometer. They will conduct conductivity, temperature, depth (CTD) casts in Marguerite Bay, as close to the terminus of the George VI Ice Shelf as possible. Collected seawater will be analyzed for noble gasses, particularly krypton and helium. The science team will run samples through a custom-built mass spectrometer and collect and ship cold-welded noble gas shipments back to the US.

Deploying Team Members