Documents

Antarctic and Southern Ocean Future Drilling Workshop

Portland, Oregon, USA

13 – 14 of July 2012

Summary:

Valuable insights into the future sensitivity of the Antarctic cryosphere to atmospheric and oceanic warming can be gained from long-term geologic records of how it changed during past warm periods. While paleoclimate records spanning hundreds of thousands of years have been obtained from Antarctic ice cores, continental outcrops and margin to deep ocean sediments cores provide records of contemporaneous changes in ice sheet extent and oceanographic conditions, that extend farther back in time, including periods with atmospheric CO₂ levels and temperatures similar to those that are likely to be reached in the next 100 to 200 years.

Based on the existing data and the current knowledge, successful projects with a multi-leg, multi-platform approach can be developed (e.g. transects involving a combination of ANDRILL, seabed drilling and JOIDES Resolution sites). The purpose of the workshop, held in Portland (Oregon, USA) on 13 and 14 of July 2012, was to stimulate new Antarctic and Southern Ocean drilling proposals and ensure coordination among existing ones, so that regional, scientific objectives are tackled through a unified approach. The workshop held before the SCAR Open Science Conference 2012, with the financial support of the SCAR/ACE program, was attended by 50 participants (annex 1) from all over the world, with a wide range of geoscience skills, technology expertise and project management experience. It offered an ideal opportunity to hold open discussions to guide and stimulate concerted international action to ensure a robust plan for Antarctic scientific drilling during the next phase of IODP.

The strategy followed that of the IODP Science Plan in addressing outstanding scientific questions by drilling several depth and latitudinal transects in different sectors of the East and West Antarctic margin, where the ice sheet is grounded below sea level and is considered to be unstable. These questions are also relevant to three of the IODP Science Themes (Theme 1 in particular):

1. Climate and Ocean Change: Reading the past informing the future.
   • Challenge 1: How does Earth’s climate system respond to elevated levels of atmospheric pCO2?
   • Challenge 2: How do ice sheets and sea level respond to a warming climate?
   • Challenge 3: What controls regional patterns of precipitation, such as those associated with Monsoons or El Niño? (in areas where ultra-high resolution Holocene records exist – e.g., Wilkes Land, Prydz Bay, Antarctic Peninsula e.g. Palmer Deep, Maxwell Bay)
2. Earth Connections: Deep-processes and their impact on Earth’s subsurface environment
3. Biosphere Frontiers: Deep life, biodiversity, and environmental forcing of ecosystems

Main questions underpinning future scientific drilling around Antarctica and in the Southern Ocean, and tied to the IODP Science themes, are:

1. How will the Antarctic Ice Sheets respond to elevated temperatures and atmospheric pCO2? What is the contribution of Antarctic ice to past and future sea level changes in terms of rate and magnitude?
2. What did a “greenhouse world” look like in Antarctica? Can Antarctica sustain any ice sheets when the atmosphere is above 1000 ppm CO2?
3. What were the patterns, causes, and consequences of Gondwana breakup (recorded in large igneous provinces and continental fragments of the Southern Ocean)? What was the timing of rifting and subsidence controlling the opening of ocean gateways and the initiation of the circumpolar current system?

The ANDRILL program has demonstrated the ability to recover >98% of the drilled sediments at continental shelf sites. In addition, despite the low recovery from drilling continental shelf sediments at some sites, drilling at others on DSDP 28, ODP 188 and the recent IODP Expedition 318 of the Wilkes Land margin has shown that ship-based riser-less drilling can achieve good recovery (60-100%) from glacially-influenced continental rise sediments. In order to maximize recovery it is essential that sufficient and good-quality site surveys are carried out, that the most appropriate drilling tools are used with regard to the expected sedimentary facies, that clear weather/ice contingencies and accurate drilling time are estimated, and that an adequate number of alternate sites are planned (i.e. operational flexibility and good site surveys). Technological advances, such as drilling from a stable platform (e.g. the ANDRILL deep drilling and the MeBo shallow drilling) and a riser system (employed by Chikyu, ANDRILL, and the petroleum industry), could allow greater improvements to the recovery from the continental shelf.

Improved paleonvironmental and dating methods have been developed through the ANDRILL project and by drilling more continuous sections from continental rise sediment drifts. In some cases the improved chronology allows insights into ice sheet dynamics at orbital scale through Miocene and Pliocene times. It is also important to recognize that there are still large time intervals and regions around Antarctica in which no data exist, and even 20-30% recovery from these can still significantly advance our understanding of ice sheet history

Workshop Conveners:

• Laura De Santis (geophysics) – Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e Geofisica Sperimentale (OGS), Trieste, Italy [email protected]
• Karsten Gohl (geophysics) – Alfred Wegener Institute, (AWI), Bremerhaven, Germany [email protected]
• Rob Larter (geophysics) – British Antarctic Survey (BAS), UK [email protected]
• Carlota Escutia (geophysics and paleoceanography, ESSAC chair and SCAR/ACE leader) – University of Granada (Spain) [email protected]
• Minoru Ikehara (paleoceanography) Center for Advanced Marine Core Research, Kochi University (Kochi Core Center : KCC), Nankoku Japan [email protected]
• Jongkuk Hong (geophysics) , Korean Polar Research Institute KOPRI, Korea. [email protected]
• Tim Naish (paleoceanography) – Antarctic Research Centre Victoria University of Wellington, NZ. [email protected]
• Peter Barrett (paleoceanography) Antarctic Research Centre Victoria University of Wellington, NZ. [email protected]
• Frank Rack (Executive Director ANDRILL Science Management Office) University of Nebraska – Lincoln, USA [email protected]
• Julia Smith Wellner (paleoceanography) University of Houston, USA [email protected]

Contact person: Laura De Santis, OGS, Trieste, Italy. [email protected]

Invest White Paper: Proposal for Future Antarctic Margin Paleoclimate Scientific Drilling under the IODP

2009

Laura De Santis¹, Richard Levy², Tim Naish^2,3, Frank Rack⁴, Robert DeConto⁵ and Carlota Escutia⁶ on behalf of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, Antarctic Climate Evolution Project (SCAR-ACE).

1. Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale – OGS, Borgo Grotta Gigante 42/C, 34010, Sgonico, Italy, [email protected]
2. GNS Science, PO Box 30368, Lower Hutt, New Zealand,
   [email protected]
3. Antarctic Research Centre, Victoria University of Wellington, P.O. Box 600, Wellington, New Zealand, [email protected]<
4. ANDRILL Science Management Office, University of Nebraska – Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA, [email protected]
5. Department of Geosciences, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Amherst, MA, USA, [email protected]
6. Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra CSIC-Univ. of Granada, Spain, Fuentenueva s/n, 18002 Granada, Spain, [email protected]

Abstract

We present the core of a multinational, multiplatform scientific drilling strategy to recover key physical evidence constraining past and future Antarctic Ice Sheet behavior, which is aimed at addressing key knowledge gaps about the role of Antarctic ice sheets in climate change as identified by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (AR4, IPCC, 2007). A Workshop on Developing an Integrated Strategy to Recover Paleoclimate Records from the Antarctic Margin and Southern Ocean, was held on 12-13 of September 2009 in Granada, Spain, following the First SCAR-Antarctic Climate Evolution (ACE) Symposium . Conveners were: Laura De Santis (OGS, Trieste, Italy), Richard Levy (GNS Science, Wellington, New Zealand,), Tim Naish (Victoria Univ., GNS Science, Wellington, New Zealand), and Frank Rack (Univ. of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA). Results of the workshop are summarized in this White Paper. The outcomes of the SCAR-ACE Symposium and workshop provide a broad perspective from the Antarctic community that outlines important scientific questions and strategies for Antarctic scientific drilling as a contribution to the INVEST meeting.

Workshop Proposal: IODP-751Full (Ross Sea) Proposal Revision Workshop: June 12-16, 2013, St. Petersburg, FL.

The leadership team and steering committee of the PAIS SRP.

Key papers published during the PAIS programme.

First Circular of the 5th Polar Marine Diatom Workshop.

University of Salamanca (Spain), 19-24 July 2015.

Summary Report of the MOCA Joint Model-data workshop for the Late Pleistocene evolution of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets

LGGE, Grenoble, May 22nd-24th, 2014

Latest advances and future research priorities for the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) Past Antarctic Ice Sheet Dynamics (PAIS) Strategic Research Programme (SRP):
A strategic white paper outlining future research directions

Draft

Paleoclimate Records from the Antarctic Margin and Southern Ocean (PRAMSO) workshop.

Auckland (New Zealand) 23rd of August 2014.

Report prepared by Frank Rack and Laura De Santis.

Past Antarctic Ice Sheet Dynamics (PAIS) Implementation Plan 2013

Introduction:

The overarching goal of PAIS is to improve confidence in predictions of ice sheet and sea level response to future climate change and ocean warming. For this, PAIS aims to improve understanding of the sensitivity of East, West, and Antarctic Peninsula Ice Sheets to a broad range of climatic and oceanic conditions. PAIS builds on the success of SCAR-ACE (Antarctic Climate Evolution), but with a new focus on the ice sheet rather than palaeoclimate reconstructions. Study intervals span a range of timescales, including past “greenhouse” climates warmer than today, and times of more recent warming and ice sheet retreat during glacial terminations. The PAIS research philosophy is based on data-data and data-model integration and intercomparison, and the development of “ice-to-abyss” data transects, extending from the ice sheet interior to the deep sea. The data-transect concept will link ice core, ice sheet-proximal, offshore, and far-field records of past ice sheet behaviour and sea level, yielding an unprecedented view of past changes in ice sheet geometry, volume, and ice sheet- ocean interactions. These integrated data sets will enable robust testing of a new generation of coupled Glacial Isostatic Adjustment-Ice Sheet-Atmosphere-Ocean models that include new reconstructions of past and present ice bed topography and bathymetry.

PAIS will accomplish its objectives by: 1) facilitating the planning of new data-acquisition missions using emerging technologies; 2) encouraging data sharing and integration of spatially targeted transect data with modelling studies; and 3) initiating/expanding cross linkages among Antarctic research communities. The PAIS Scientific Programme will be led by a Steering Committee (SC) of 15-20 persons (Appendix I). The steering committee has a wide knowledge of thematic issues and has appropriate regional (field), technical and logistical experience. The SC will include a Data Coordinator and a member from APECS. SC members will serve for a 3-year term, with the possibility of extension depending on contribution and performance. The founding co-chairs will stand down in 2016, to avoid complete rotations of the SC. The SC will meet at least once a year in coordination with major international symposia including AGU and EGU.

Six subcommittees have been established to implement the scientific objectives of PAIS:

• Palaeoclimate Records from the Antarctic Margin and Southern Ocean (PRAMSO)
• Palaeotopographic-Palaeobathymetric Reconstructions
• Subglacial Geophysics
• Ice Cores and Marine Core Synthesis
• Recent Ice Sheet Reconstruction
• Deep-Time Ice Sheet Reconstructions

The subcommittees provide the overall leadership, direction and management for their respective topics. Membership of these committees allows PAIS to widen involvement in the programme in terms of expertise, gender and nationality. In addition, a PAIS sub-committee on Data Management, guided by the Data Coordinator, will 1) engage in cross-linkage activities and the facilitation of cross- SRP data sharing via web-based utilities, and 2) maintain ongoing communication with national funding programmes, currently expanding their emphasis on responsible and cost-effective data management, protection, archiving, and sharing. During the life of PAIS, it is expected that new subcommittees will be established as needed to fulfil PAIS objectives

Past Antarctic Ice Sheet Dynamics (PAIS) Scientific Research Project Proposal

Abstract

The proposed SCAR Scientific Research Programme PAIS (Past Antarctic Ice Sheet dynamics) aims to improve understanding of the sensitivity of East, West, and Antarctic Peninsula Ice Sheets to a broad range of climatic and oceanic conditions. PAIS builds on the success of SCAR-ACE (Antarctic Climate Evolution), but with a new focus on the ice sheet rather than palaeoclimate reconstructions. Study intervals span a range of timescales, including past “greenhouse” climates warmer than today, and times of more recent warming and ice sheet retreat during glacial terminations. The PAIS research philosophy is based on data-data and data-model integration and intercomparison, and the development of “ice-to- abyss” data transects, extending from the ice sheet interior to the deep sea. The data- transect concept will link ice core, ice sheet-proximal, offshore, and far-field records of past ice sheet behaviour and sea level, yielding an unprecedented view of past changes in ice sheet geometry, volume, and ice sheet-ocean interactions. These integrated data sets will enable robust testing of a new generation of coupled Glacial Isostatic Adjustment-Ice Sheet- Atmosphere-Ocean models that include new reconstructions of past and present ice bed topography and bathymetry. PAIS will accomplish its objectives by: 1) facilitating the planning of new data-acquisition missions using emerging technologies; 2) encouraging data sharing and integration of spatially targeted transect data with modelling studies; and 3) initiating/expanding cross linkages among Antarctic research communities. The overarching goal of PAIS is to improve confidence in predictions of ice sheet and sea level response to future climate change and ocean warming.

Past Antarctic Ice Sheet Dynamics

SCAR Scientific Programme External Performanace Review

2015

IODP-PAIS Antarctic School
IODP Gulf Coast Repository, College Station, TX
10–14 June 2019

The primary goals of the IODP-PAIS Antarctic School were to introduce early-career scientists to Antarctic sediment cores, analytical techniques and data interpretation, and results from previous Antarctic expeditions. 25 graduate students and post-doctoral researchers were introduced to legacy Antarctic sediment cores through lectures and hands on activities using cores and other data.

Sailing through Changing Oceans: Ocean and Polar Life and Environmental Sciences on a Warming Planet

A Science Position Paper from the European Science Foundation

ISBN: 978-2-36873-014-0

In the current context of global change, sustainable and responsible exploitation of the oceans can be realised only through a deep understanding of the ocean processes and of the associated ecosystems spanning every latitude of Planet Earth.

Sea Riser Modelling of combination Glass Reinforced Epoxy and Steel tubing for Offshore Drilling in Antarctica.

Alex R Pyne, Antarctic Research Centre, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand

September 2019