Physical Sciences

Physical sciences iconWithin the physical realm, processes at the interfaces between ice, ocean, land and atmosphere are critical to our ability to describe and predict the response to climate change. Outstanding uncertainties will require continued research directed at improving understanding of ice sheet dynamics, extracting climate records from the ice sheet, exploring processes and changes in sea-ice and ocean circulation, and improving understanding of atmospheric dynamics and chemistry and the role of the ozone hole in Antarctic climate. A distinct component of physical sciences research in Antarctica is based on the unique properties of the continent that favour its use as a platform for astronomical and solar-terrestrial observations.

Physical Sciences Activities within SCAR are designed to coordinate international scientific research across several fields:

  1. The Antarctic continent and the Southern Ocean play key roles in global climate change, and observations of climate parameters and their evolution over time there are crucial to understand and predict local and global change.
  2. Antarctica is a key environment for studies of all aspects of the cryosphere, including deriving the history of climate change from ice cores.
  3. The position of the magnetic South Pole makes Antarctica (like the Arctic in the north) a region where interactions between a variable star, our Sun, and the Earth can be best monitored from the ground.
  4. The characteristics of the site (dry, cold, and wind free at some locations, especially on the high domes of the polar plateau) make Antarctica one of the places on Earth where astronomical research is expected to be best conducted.
  5. Lack of human habitation makes Antarctica a pristine environment in which slight contamination from human activities and from distant volcanic eruptions can readily be observed and related to global physical processes.
For Physical Sciences Group leadership, see PS Group Members.

Physical Sciences Scientific Research Programmes:

AntClimNow Project Mosaics

Near-term Variability and Prediction of the Antarctic Climate System (AntClimNow)

AntClimnow will investigate the prediction of near-term conditions in the Antarctic climate system on timescales of years to multiple decades. They will take an integrated approach, looking beyond climate projections of the physical system to consider the Antarctic environment as a whole.

Ant ICON Project Dry Valleys TeraudsIntegrated Science to Inform Antarctic and Southern Ocean Conservation (Ant-ICON)

The Ant-ICON SRP will answer fundamental science questions (as identified by the SCAR Horizon Scan), relating to the conservation and management of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean and focus on research to drive and inform international decision-making and policy change.

INSTANT project AvdP iceberg calvingINStabilities & Thresholds in ANTarctica (INSTANT)

The INSTANT SRP will address a first-order question about Antarctica’s contribution to sea level. It encompasses geoscience, physical sciences and biological sciences, of the way in which interactions between the ocean, atmosphere and cryosphere have influenced ice-sheets in the past, and what expectations will be in the future with a special focus on quantifying the contributions to global sea level change. They aim to quantify the Antarctic ice sheet’s contribution to past and future global sea-level change.

For previous Physical Science SRPs, see Former Research Programmes.

 

Physical Sciences Action and Expert Groups:

ACA Project AAA IceCube M.WolfAntarctic Clouds and Aerosols – ACA

This Action Group aims to organise an international large scale campaign to investigate clouds and aerosols in Antarctica through a series of special observing periods when intensive ground-based measurements would be made at the same time as in-situ measurements using instrumented aircraft.

 

ANGWIN Project SunsetANtarctic Gravity Wave Instrument Network – ANGWIN

This Action Group aims to develop a network of Antarctic gravity wave observatories, operated by different nations working together in a spirit of close scientific collaboration, in order to address scientific processes on a polar scale.

 

AntArchitecture Project AntClim21 DSC0212AntArchitecture Action Group

This Action Group aims to develop a continent‐wide, age‐depth model of Antarctica’s ice using the internal layers and surfaces imaged by radar‐sounding and use this to determine the stability of the Antarctic Ice Sheets over past glacial cycles.

 

ANTOS Project ANTOS C.CaryAntarctic Near-shore and Terrestrial Observing System – ANTOS

This Expert Group aims to establish a biologically focussed, integrated and coordinated Antarctic-wide observation system, to identify and track environmental variability and change at biologically relevant scales, and to use this information to inform biological, physical, and earth science studies. This group is co-sponsored by SCAR’s Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Geosciences Groups.

 

ASPeCt Project BEPSII D.LannuselAntarctic Sea-ice Processes and Climate – ASPeCt

This Expert Group aims at improving our understanding of the Antarctic sea ice zone through focussed and ongoing field programmes, remote sensing and numerical modelling.

 

EOAG Project ESA satellitesEarth Observation Action Group – EOAG

This Action Group aims to be a permanent advocate for acquiring satellite data over the Antarctic and and Southern Ocean region from multiple space agencies, to recommend the type observations needed to measure climate variables and to recommend how best to preserve earth observation data long term.

 

FRISP Project SORP L.Talley Climate CentralForum for Research into Ice Shelf Processes – FRISP

This Expert Group aims to coordinate the community engaged in research on the glaciological, oceanic and atmospheric processes governing the behaviour of ice shelves that are key to the ice sheet contribution to sea level change.

 

ImPACT monitoringInput Pathways of persistent organic pollutants to AntarCTica – ImPACT

This Action Group aims to facilitate coordinated investigation of chemical input to the Antarctic region, monitoring the routes through which toxic, environmental contaminants reach the continent.

 

IPICS Project IPICS T.FlemingInternational Partnership in Ice Core Sciences – IPICS

This Expert Group aims to coordinate international collaboration between ice core scientists, engineers, and drillers to aid in providing information about past climate and environmental conditions on timescales from decades to hundreds of millennia. This group is supported by the Past Global Changes (PAGES), SCAR and the International Association of Cryospheric Sciences (IACS).

 

ISMASS Project AntClim21 ncIce Sheet Mass Balance and Sea Level – ISMASS

This Expert Group aims to promote research on the estimation of the mass balance of ice sheets and its contribution to sea level, facilitate coordination among the different international efforts focused in this field, propose directions for future research, integrate the observations and modelling efforts, as well as the distribution and archiving of the corresponding data, and contribute to the diffusion, to society and policy makers, of the current scientific knowledge and the main achievements in this field of science. This group is co-sponsored by SCAR, the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) and the WCRP Climate and Cryosphere Project (CliC).

 

 

OpMet Project OpMet ncOperational Meteorology in the Antarctic – OpMet

This Expert Group aims to establish and nurture links between groups working in the area of operational meteorology in Antarctica, such as the Antarctic Meteorological Observation, Modelling, and Forecasting Workshop Group, and the WMO EC-PHORS (Panel of Experts on Polar and High Mountain Observations, Research and Services), helping to facilitate monitoring of the meteorological observations that come from Antarctica.

 

PRAMSO Project ice shelf edgePaleoclimate Records from the Antarctic Margin and Southern Ocean – PRAMSO

This Action Group aims to provide a forum to initiate, promote and coordinate scientific research drilling around the Antarctic margin and the Southern Ocean to improve the accuracy and precision of predictions of future changes in temperatures and sea level rise.

 

RINGS Project FF ice marginRINGS – ice sheet margin

This Action Group aims to clarify the current knowledge gap on ice sheet thickness across all the margins of Antarctica and assess the impacts of new data filling these knowledge gaps.

 

SORP Project SORP L.Talley Climate CentralSouthern Ocean Region Panel – SORP

This Expert Group aims to coordinate the discussion and communication of scientific advances in the understanding of climate variability and change in the Southern Ocean, and advise CLIVAR, CliC, and SCAR on progress, achievements, new opportunities and impediments in Southern Ocean research. This group is co-sponsored by WCRP Climate and Ocean –
Variability, Predictability, and Change (CLIVAR), WCRP Climate and Cryosphere Project (CliC), and SCAR.

 

TATE Project TATE J.SimoesTropical Antarctic Teleconnections – TATE

This Action Group aims to examine climate processes linking the Tropics to Antarctica.

 

For previous Physical Science Action and Expert Groups, see Former Groups.

Former Scientific Research Programmes:

AAA Project AAA Z.Shang telescope fieldworkAstronomy and Astrophysics from Antarctica – AAA

The AAA Scientific Research Programme ended in 2018 and became an Expert Group directly under the Executive Committee.  It aims to coordinate astronomical activities in Antarctica in a way that ensures the best possible outcomes from international investment in Antarctic astronomy, and maximizes the opportunities for productive interaction with other disciplines.

Related Groups:

BEDMAP3 Project graphicBedmap3 Action Group (Topographical model of Antarctica)

Bedmap3 is a collaborative community project with the aim of producing a new map and datasets of Antarctic ice thickness and bed topography for the international glaciology and geophysical community. Additionally Bedmap3 with act as a repository and portal for standardized RES data for the glaciology and Geophysics community.