Expressions of Intent for IPY 2007-2008 Activities

Expression of Interest Details

PROPOSAL INFORMATION

International Partnerships in Ice Core Science-International Polar Year Initiative  (IPICS-IPY)

Outline
Ice cores have contributed substantially to understanding climate change. They provide convincing evidence of large, abrupt climate changes, and demonstrate the tight link between greenhouse gases and climate. However, there is a great deal more to learn. In 2004, representatives of all major ice coring nations agreed on a common agenda for the next decade. This agenda looks beyond established projects and includes coring over all available timescales, with highest feasible resolution. IPY provides an opportunity to launch this initiative. Other ice coring efforts, including some that are part of IPICS, are the subject of separate IPY submissions, as indicated below. IPCIS related events planned for IPY include: 1. Searching for oldest possible ice core. Before 800-900 kyr, earth’s climate had a 40 kyr glacial-interglacial period, rather than the current 100 kyr. IPICS aims to find a 1.2 Myr record and help discover why the frequency changed. During IPY, initial survey work will occur as part of the IDEA ice divides traverses (separate proposal), by French/Italian/Russian teams in the Dome C-Vostok-Dome B region, and by US-led radar and remote sensing teams. IPICS will collate results to recommend drilling sites. 2. Initiation of coring to recover the last interglacial and older ice from Greenland. The last interglacial was probably warmer than the present and is an analogue for an anthropogenically-warmed world. We need to learn about the behaviour of climate and the Greenland ice sheet during this time. The oldest reliable core only partly penetrates the last interglacial. Drilling in NW Greenland would start, and possibly finish, in IPY. Danish, US, French, and German groups have expressed interest, and others are expected to join. 3. Starting a detailed spatial network of deep and intermediate-depth Antarctic ice cores. The spatial pattern of change is key to climate dynamics. We have cores from central East Antarctica and from a few coastal regions, but additional data are needed from other key areas, including the northern part of Lake Vostok, coastal Antarctica, the Antarctic peninsula, and West Antarctica. High-resolution data that allow precise comparison of Antarctic climate variability and changes in greenhouse gases are particularly critical. The WAIS Divide Program (U.S. program with international collaboration) and European drilling at Talos Dome in east Antarctica will take place during IPY. These are the initial stages of the larger effort to fully sample Antarctic spatial climate variability on all possible time scales. 4. Late Holocene climate change in high resolution in both polar regions. Future change can only be assessed in the context of natural climate variability. Highly resolved compilations of past global climate (timescale up to 2000 years) critically lack polar data. The SCAR project, ITASE, produced about 250 cores that primarily cover the last 250 years. Extending this time scale to the last millennium, and expanding the scope in the Arctic, are critical. IPY will engage all countries to complete work in Antarctica and continue the effort in the Arctic.

What significant advance(s) in relation to the IPY themes and targets can be anticipated from this project?
IPICS will enhance understanding of both polar regions by generating data relevant to a multitude of climate and environmental change problems. IPICS is most relevant to IPY Themes 1-5. During IPY, we will take the first steps in this decade-long effort, by: • Identifying sites for a > 1 Ma ice core. • Drilling through the last interglacial in Greenland. • Obtaining a high resolution 100,000 year Antarctic climate record (WAIS Divide) • Establishing the framework for a network of ice cores to examine climate variability on thousand year time scales. • Building international teams of existing and new researchers.

What international collaboration is involved in this project?
IPICS developed from an international meeting (Washington, April 2004). It builds on existing successful multinational projects such as GRIP, EPICA, Vostok, NGRIP, and ITASE. The IPICS science plan will guide sub-groups about locations of survey and drilling activities. IPICS has a small steering committee, and has established two international writing groups. The initial IPICS meeting included scientists from Great Britain, Denmark, France, Russia, United States, Germany, Japan, China, Switzerland, Italy, and Australia. q2_1_Location : Central East Antarctica (survey for deep core), NW Greenland (deep core), West Antarctica (deep core), coastal Antarctica, Greenland and Arctic islands (intermediate cores), entire polar regions (shallow cores).

FIELD ACTIVITY DETAILS

Geographical location(s) for the proposed field activities:
Central East Antarctica (survey for deep core), NW Greenland (deep core), West Antarctica (deep core), coastal Antarctica, Greenland and Arctic islands (intermediate cores), entire polar regions (shallow cores).

Approximate timeframe(s) for proposed field activities:
Arctic: 05/07 to 09/07      05/08-09/08      Ongoing for following decade
Antarctic: 11/07 to 3/08      11/08 to 3/09      Ongoing for following decade

Significant facilities will be required for this project:
Aircraft for airborne survey and traverses, and drill camps (LC130 and other). Ice core drill(s) and drilling crews. Drilling camps potentially can offer support for other activities on the ice sheets. No large advances in technology are envisioned, apart from advances in ice drilling and analytical tools.

Will the project leave a legacy of infrastructure?
1. Location for the oldest possible Antarctic ice core. 2. Drilling camp and possibly core through the full interglacial in Greenland. 3. The backbone of a major network of cores. 4. A “toolkit” of ice drilling technology. 5. The next generation of ice core scientists.

How is it envisaged that the required logistic support will be secured?
Own national polar operator
Another national polar operator
National agency
Military support
Commercial operator
Own support
Other sources of support

It is anticipated that the Antarctic survey will be carried out by one or more national operators; the Greenland drilling by one or more national operators, and components of the remaining network by a coordinated consortium of individual operators at each site or group of sites. Analysis of cores and data for the Antarctic and Greenland projects will likely involve additional international partners within IPICS.

Has the project been "endorsed" at a national or international level?
The project was agreed as a consensus plan at the IPICS meeting in April 2004. The U.S. Ice Core Working Group has also endorsed the IPICS plan. The PAGES International Project Office has expressed enthusiasm for the proposed efforts and welcomes opportunities to facilitate international links to IPICS activities.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND STRUCTURE

Is the project a short-term expansion (over the IPY 2007-2008 timeframe) of an existing plan, programme or initiative or is it a new autonomous proposal?
New
IPICS has emerged as the next step after the success of projects such as GRIP/GISP2, EPICA, Vostok, ITASE, NGRIP, and Dome Fuji. IPY gives a focus for starting IPICS. Some of the components have been discussed at national levels previously, and some are in initial stages of implementation, but the internationalization of the efforts described here is new.

How will the project be organised and managed?
Organisation will be discussed fully at a meeting to be arranged by ESF in 2005, and at subsequent meetings. The existing steering committee (set up initially to organise the first meeting) will be expanded. Its role will be to define the target drill sites, collate the outcomes, and maintain overall IPICS structure and momentum. Individual activities will be organised and run by separate national and international consortia – a method that has worked well in successive previous projects.

What are the initial plans of the project for addressing the education, outreach and communication issues outlined in the Framework document?
1) IPICS steering committee will coordinate outreach. 2) Individual projects will develop outreach with organizations that specialize in these efforts. 3) Print, television and other media will visit IPICS field and laboratory sites. 4) Individual investigators will conduct local outreach. 5) IPICS projects will recruit graduate students, postdocs, and junior researchers.

What are the initial plans of the project to address data management issues (as outlined in the Framework document)?
Major ice coring projects have traditionally deposited their datasets at WDC for Paleoclimate in Boulder, USA, Pangaea, and/or NSIDC in Boulder. This will continue for the IPICS elements. The IPICS steering committee will take an active role in creating effective data management structures.

How is it proposed to fund the project?
As with previous ice core drillings, funds will be obtained for each sub-component from national operators, as well as from international funding sources such as the EU. Coordination of funding and project logistics between nations will be required.

Is there additional information you wish to provide?
Individual sub-components of IPICS that are fairly well developed in terms of planning may choose to submit separate, more detailed proposals that also contribute to this overall umbrella. At this writing, the Greenland Deep Drilling project (Dorthe Dahl-Jensen, University of Copenhagen, lead contact), the WAIS Divide Ice Core (Ken Taylor, Desert Research Institute, lead contact), the North Vostok Drilling Project, and the IDEA traverses are subjects of draft IPY submissions.

PROPOSER DETAILS

Dr Edward Brook
104 Wilkinson Hall
Oregon State University
Corvallis, OR
97331
USA

Tel: 541 737 8197
Mobile:
Fax: 541 737 1200
Email:

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