Full Proposals for IPY 2007-2008 Activities

Proposed IPY Activity Details

1.0 PROPOSER INFORMATION

(Activity ID No: 34)

1.1 Title of Activity
Impact of CLImate induced glacial melting on marine and terrestric COastal communities on a gradient along the Western Antarctic PENinsula

1.2 Short Form Title of Proposed Activity
ClicOPEN EoI 193

1.3 Activity Leader Details
doris abele
Alfred Wegener Institute f Polar & Marine Res
Germany

1.4 Lead International Organisation(s) (if applicable)
NULL
NULL
NULL
NULL

1.5 Other Countries involved in the activity
Argentina
Canada
Poland
Ukraine
Australia
Chile
Russia
Uruguay
Brazil
Great Britain
Spain
USA
Belgium
Korea
Sweden
NULL

1.6 Expression of Intent ID #'s brought together in this proposed activity
193, 194, 726, 233

1.7 Location of Field Activities
Antarctic

1.8 Which IPY themes are addressed
1. Current state of the environment
2. Change in the polar regions
4. Exploring new frontiers
5. The polar regions as vantage points

1.9 What is the main IPY target addressed by this activity
1. Natural or social science

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2.0 SUMMARY OF THE ACTIVITY

Rapid regional warming of air temperature on the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) observed over the last 50 yrs is exceptional and unprecedented within the past 500 yrs records of ice core data (Vaughan et al. 2001, Science 293). At Vernadsky Station (former Faraday, Beascochea Bay) aerial warming averages 0.56°C per decade since the 1950s (Turner et al. 2005, Int. J. Climatol. 25: 279-294). The glacial systems of the Antarctic Peninsula show direct responses to the climatic changes, including retreat of ice fronts and increased melt water production. The broad pattern of glacial retreat over time reflects the trend of atmospheric warming in the peninsula region since the 1940s: the magnitude of glacial retreat (average change in m a-1) increases towards the southern sectors (Cook et al. 2005, Science 308). It results that changes of terrestrial as well as marine ecosystems along the Peninsula are expected to be more subtle and graded in the North and more radical at the South-Western coasts of the WAP. A directly and plausibly relatable effect of glacial retreat along WAP is the opening of newly ice-free areas for the colonization of terrestrial and intertidal plant vegetation and animals. The ClicOPEN initiative is aimed at investigating the response of terrestrial and marine coastal systems to ongoing climate change in 4 areas of interest along the WAP. Comparative work can be carried out at Mac Murdo, Ross Sea, where climate change is far less (0.1°C/decade, Kejna & Lagun, Polish Polar Studies, 2004).
Rationale of ClicOPEN: Locally increased import of fresh water from melting glaciers and increased sediment import from rock abrasion (by both, glacial melting and aerosol transport) are anticipated primary effects in coastal marine ecosystems. Warming and freshening of surface waters will impact shallow intertidal habitats. Freshening and shading induced changes of benthic and pelagic primary production and the alterations in the phytoplankton community composition are prone to alter quality and quantity of food supply for zooplankton, as well as for benthic filter and detritus feeders. This may entail important changes of trophic coupling in the coastal food webs. In the terrestrial sphere, an impact of glacial retreat and climate warming on the genetic diversity and evolutionary fitness of sessile lichens and bryophytes through range shifts and associated bottleneck effects is expected, and will be investigated using molecular markers. The climatic changes that propagate glacial melting on the WAP are prone also to impinge on Antarctic bottom communities and sediment composition in more remote areas of the Southern Ocean (e.g. South Georgia, South Orkneys, Weddell Sea). Loss of sea ice has been observed in several places beginning in the 1970s (Parkinson 2002). The reduction in sea ice correlates with a loss of krill stock density, likely to entail severe changes within coastal Antarctic food webs (Loeb et al. 1997, Nature 387, Atkinson et al. 2004, Nature 432). The ClicOPEN project aims to link the effects of glacial melting at the coast and the processes in key habitats at the shelf ice edge under focus in other EoIs like, CCAMLR (IPY 148), HABIPOL (IPY 543) and "Census of Antarctic Marine Life (CAML)". The objectives within the ClicOPEN approach are dual:
A) to analyze and quantify effects of glacial melting and increased rock erosion on terrestrial and near shore marine ecosystems on a latitudinal gradient along the Western coast of the Antarctic Peninsula.
B) to provide a basis for a mechanistic understanding of climate change processes at the peninsula that will serve to draw a link to present and future changes in more remote shelf regions of the Southern Ocean.
ClicOPEN is land based and uses existing Antarctic research stations in 4 different areas of the Antarctic Peninsula as platforms for synoptic field and laboratory studies during the IPY. Comparative work at McMurdo, Ross Sea is intended. A station based programme enables us to include many scientists into cooperative and comparative work, make use of the existing logistic background provided by field stations and home institutions, and also to draw from historical data sets in locations of long-term scientific records, including temperature records and documented contours of ice caps and glaciers.

2.1 What is the evidence of inter-disciplinarity in this activity?
ClicOPEN investigates ecosystem responses to local air warming. This involves 19 work packages (WPs) from different scientific disciplines and with focus on different ecosystem compartments. Sampling will be carried out on a predefined grid to ensure compatibility of data from different WPs, within, but also between areas of interest (see 2.3) along the WAP. Work packages include sedimentology, glaciology, glacial hydrology. Geophysical and biophysical remote sensing of glacier ablation sediment plumes, complemented with new permanent sampling stations of sediment discharge at King-George Island and Esperanza for continuous record of sediment discharge of selected glaciers over time. Sea floor mapping of recent sediment fascies. Sediment core analyses to reconstruct past biotic and environmental changes based on dating tracers (210Pb, 137Cs), tephrachronology, granulometric and mineral composition, organic matter, biogenic silica and plant pigments as well as diatoms, forams and ostracod distribution in sediment profiles. Terrestrial ecosystems: colonization and succession, gene flow of lichens, mosses and cyanobacteria on newly ice-free areas. Active colonization and passive dispersal (by animals, wind) of invertebrate micro- and mesofauna on newly ice-free areas. Genetic heterogeneity on newly occupied spaces. Aerosol transport of dust and trace elements, affecting marine biota. Water column stratification, primary production and organic carbon flux to the benthos. Effects of glacial melt on zooplankton species composition and feeding ecology. Colonization of newly ice-free areas and changes of algal depth distribution in response to changing light climate. Algal (micro-, macro) physiological response to environmental light and sedimentation changes, as well as iron overload and UVB effects. Macro- and meiofauna species diversity, distribution and gene flow in newly ice-free areas, larval recruitment, colonization of artificial hard substrates in newly ice-free areas. Ecology of long lived suspension feeders (growth, lifespan, coupling to local environmental variability, coupling to large scale oceanographic cycles) on a North-South gradient along WAP (population dynamics, proxy archives in carbonate shells). Changes in Antarctic food webs at different trophic levels, up to the top order predator populations (seals), by using stable isotopes to characterise changes in food sources and trophic hierarchies. Also: Assessment of stress susceptibility by a) analysis of physiological stress response, especially with respect to heavy metal exposure, warming and fresh water exposure of intertidal species; b) by correlating genotypic and phenotypic diversity of mollusc larvae at different areas varying in the magnitude of environmental change (North vs. South Peninsula, vs. Mc Murdo Station, Ross Sea) and studies of stress markers in macrobenthic invertebrates (food web key species like L. elliptica or N. concinna).

2.2 What will be the significant advances/developments from this activity? What will be the major deliverables? What are the outputs for your peers?
ClicOPEN is an interdisciplinary and international activity that investigates past and present ecosystem response to regional warming on a gradient along Western Antarctic Peninsula. It brings together scientists from many countries, working on different bases in a coordinated action and delivers a coordinated starting point for long-term observations and modelling of future ecosystem changes as warming and glacial melting continue. Deliverables:
•Quantification of first order warming effects, i.e. area of glacial retreat, sediment rock erosion and changes of the depositional environment, as well as sediment discharge into marine environments.
•Identification and understanding of key effects of warming on WAP coastal systems
•Status quo of system structure and functioning at different positions on the climatic gradient
•Conceptual models of ecosystem reactions to warming to enable predictability of future system development at the WAP and the sea ice margins of the Southern ocean.
•Updating bathymetry will improve several marine charts in the area
At present it involves field and laboratory work directed to different system compartments, but also the analysis of interactions (energy flux, symbiotic organisms) between these compartments in a synoptic manner. In several compartments (e.g. the microphytobenthos) virtually no data exist that describe their role in Antarctic ecosystems. Scientific groups will be given the opportunity to sample in different areas of the WAP system, or to receive samples taken by others within the cooperative network.
A large amount of data will be generated during ClicOPEN, almost all of which will be referenced to a geographic location. The data will be stored in appropriate long-term archiving facilities. However, it is currently very difficult for a scientist in one discipline to use data from another one. Our goal is to establish a regional on-line gateway to WAP data that allows scientists to analyze spatial and temporal relationships across discipline-specific data bases. Widespread access to and integration of the data will be facilitated by the use of advanced spatially enabled web services that are build on open standards (OGC, ISO TC211, and the like). This makes the project data interoperable with other data bases and allows to build generic portals, interactive map interfaces, and novel data visualization and data mining tools.

2.3 Outline the geographical location(s) for the proposed field work (approximate coordinates will be helpful if possible)

2.4 Define the approximate timeframe(s) for proposed field activities?

2.5 What major logistic support/facilities will be required for this project?
Existing field stations
New field station
Multi-instrumented platforms
Remotely Operated Vehicle

Further details – multi-instrumented platform = fishing boat “slon morski” at King-George Island, supplied by the Polish Academy of Science, Antarctic Department, which can go to very shallow areas of minimal 1.5 m water depth. The boat is to be used for sea floor mapping sedimentology.

2.6 How will the required logistics be supplied? Have operators been approached?

2.7 If working in the Arctic regions, has there been contact with local indigenous groups or relevant authorities regarding access?

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3.0 STRUCTURE OF THE ACTIVITY

3.1 Origin of the activity
This activity is the start of a new programme that will outlive IPY

3.2 How will the activity be organised and managed? Describe the proposed management structure and means for coordinating across the cluster
ClicOPEN has a Steering Group, represented by both PIs, and involving 2 principle investigators of each country (1 geologist/glaciologist and 1 biologist) from each of the participating member countries and a data manager. The Steering Group coordinates the following activities:
•Define a science plan for coordinated field work
•Organize collaborative field work and sampling during IPY field seasons
•Integrate unilateral work, that can be done only in one area, into the programme
•Ensure that all sampling is carried out on a pre-defined grid within areas of interest
•Initiate and organize analysis workshop(s) in 2006/07
•Organize data archiving and access within the project
•Form an editorial board which organizes publication of the project in a special issue of Polar Biology etc.
•Register all publications originating from the project
•Organize at least one scientific meeting in 2007 (after the first field season is completed)
•Identify data management and data access requirements within the project community
•Define reporting requirements for project activities
•Appoint a dedicated data manager

3.3 Will the activity leave a legacy of infrastructure and if so in what form?
A new laboratory for oceanographic work is to be constructed in Esperanza Station (Hope Bay) as infrastructure legacy for Argentinean scientists and international cooperating partners.
Monitoring stations implemented in primary catchment areas of glacial discharge will remain for continued monitoring
On the Polish Station Arctowski, the fishing boat “slon morski” will be repaired and can be used as a platform for studies in coastal areas that require multi-instrumented work.
The geographical data base KGIS can be implemented for other than King-George Island areas of interest, where such a system is missing and can be used for future projects in these areas.
The project will establish the baseline to monitor changes in the ecosystems of the Antarctic Peninsula. Project data will be stored in appropriate long-term archiving facilities, mainly the WDC-Mare using the PANGAEA system. An open standards based, spatially enabled Antarctic Peninsula gateway will make the data bases interoperable with other data bases.

3.4 Will the activity involve nations other than traditional polar nations? How will this be addressed?
no

3.5 Will this activity be linked with other IPY core activities? If yes please specify
We will liaise with EoI 178 (Antarctic Peninsula Ice and Climate System Initiative APICS, Ted Scambos), EoI 359 (Mass Balance and Ice Dynamics of Antarctic Peninsula Glaciers, Eric Rignot) and EoI 87 (Glacier benchmark network for monitoring mass-balance and validation of remote sensing based methods on Antarctic Peninsula GLABENAP, Ricardo Jana). These projects assess changes of glacial systems within our region of interest from a glaciological perspective. Sediment discharge monitoring forms part of GLACE (GLAciers, Cryokarst and Environment). Cooperation with ZERO & DRAKE and GEOTRACES (EoI 880) to investigate geochemical influence of the APP on the downstream Antarctic shelf systems. The project also links to CCAMLR (EoI 148, synoptic survey of krill, pelagic fish and plankton biomass and biodiversity in the South Ocean, Volker Siegel) and CAML (EoI 83"Census of Antarctic Marine Life"). Both the latter projects will study system changes at the sea ice margins and ClicOPEN will serve to build the link to processes at WAP.

3.6 How will the activity manage its data? Is there a viable plan and which data management organisations/structures will be involved?
The steering committee will define reporting requirements and data publishing policies for project members according to the IPY data management plan. Metadata will be published in the Antarctic Master Directory following JCADM standards. A dedicated data manager will support the research groups in implementing the data management plan and maintain the liaisons with the IPY DIS.

Project data will be managed by the already operational information system PANGAEA (www.pangaea.de). To leave a lasting legacy raw and calibrated observed and derived data, gridded data, and model outputs are long-term archived at the World Data Center WDC-MARE using PANGAEA. PANGAEA is capable of storing any parameter defined in the project. PANGAEA allows for restricted access to data for an agreed period. PANGAEA also facilitates publishing of the data. Each dataset can be identified, shared and published by a persistent Digital Object Identifier (DOI). Technical operation of the system is ensured by the Alfred-Wegener-Institute for Polar and Marine Research and the Center for Marine Environmental Research (MARUM) on a long term basis.

Understanding that the geographic location is a fundamental element for integrating and communicating the data and knowledge collected under the auspices of ClicOPEN, the data management will make use of SCAR’s emerging Antarctic Spatial Data Infrastructure AntSDI. Widespread access to the data will enabled by the use of basic and advanced web services that are build on open and well defined standards and specifications (ISO TC211, OGC). This makes the project data interoperable with other data bases and allows to build and use generic portals, data visualization and data mining tools. We will build on the experience and developments from SCAR’s KGIS project (www.kgis.scar.org).

3.7 Data Policy Agreement
Will this activity sign up to the IPY draft Data Policy (see website)
Yes

3.8 How will the activity contribute to developing the next generation of polar scientists, logisticians, etc.?
The programme will involve participation of undergraduates and graduate/PhD students from all countries. Exchanges of students between participating nations are encouraged in ClicOPEN, so that the cooperative educational efforts are not restricted to Antarctic field seasons.

We will produce a series of web-based, interactive eLearning modules specifically designed for high school / undergraduate curricula. To do so, we build on the experience, methodology, infrastructure, and content that has been developed and produced over the past five years within the www.webgeo.de project. Webgeo is an on-line eLearning package for Physical Geography that has been applied successfully over the last years in undergraduate teaching. Webgeo content features both a general approach to geomorphology, and climatology as well as regional topics. The Antarctic Peninsula chapter will make visible and explain both the scientific rationale of the research activities, but also the global relevance of the subject of this IPY project.

3.9 How will this activity address education, outreach and communication issues outlined in the Framework document?
ClicOPEN will build up and manage its own homepage (hp), with a special portal for outreach that will contain information from the bases and the project made available for the public. This will be linked to and accessible from already existing Polar-Expedition and Institution homepages in the participating countries.

To make the project activities and results visible to the public, we plan to produce a TV feature focussing on our field work during the IPY. The documentary will be produced by a professional TV team.
A school operating in Esperanza Station will be one important link between children sharing the scientific activities and children in the rest of the world. Children taught here are between 6 and 12 years of age. They could be included in interactive teaching programmes of other countries.
Some institutions in the participating nations have established interactive teaching programmes for school kids (e.g. AWI school-project in Bremerhaven). Our idea is to elaborate selected and comprehensive topics from ClicOPEN scientific content as teaching units for primary and/or high school kids, including fotographic documentation, supply of material (rocks, sediments, shells etc) and description of simple experiments. This will be done in cooperation with school teachers in Germany and elsewhere.

3.10 What are the proposed sources of funding for this activity?
ClicOPEN is a new activity for the IPY and will have to seek funding at the different national and international funding institutions. Housing and laboratory space on the polar bases for scientists involved in the project will be made available by the institutions running the bases. For education and outreach we will try to reach funding from foundations and the private sector.

3.11 Additional Comments
Whereas the main focus of ClicOPEN is on the WAP, several subprojects are also doing work in the Arctic regions (e.g. within GLACE). This also applies to benthos community structure work carried out in the Arctic by different groups involved in ClicOPEN.

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4.0 CONSORTIUM INFORMATION

4.1 Contact Details

Lead Contact
Dr Doris Abele
Alfred-Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research
Building E Am Handelshafen 12
D-27570
Germany

Tel:          +49-(0)471-4831-1567
Mobile:   +49-(0)160-98370774
Fax:         +49-(0)471-4831-1449
Email:       dabele@awi-bremerhaven.de

Second Contact
Dr Irene Schloss
Argentine Antarctic Institute
Cerrito 1248 Buenos Aires
C1010AAZ
Argentina

Tel:          -6458
Mobile:   -15110
Fax:         -6458
Email:      ischloss@dna.gov.ar

4.2 Other significant consortium members and their affiliation