Expressions of Intent for IPY 2007-2008 Activities

Expression of Interest Details

PROPOSAL INFORMATION

Bipolar Climate Machinery – A study of the interplay of northern and southern polar processes in driving and amplifying global climate variability  (BIPOMAC)

Outline
Paleoclimatic research has outlined the extraordinary significance of processes in polar regions in driving and amplifying global climate variability at centennial to millenial time scales. This includes biological and physical processes in the polar oceans, the distribution of sea ice, and the volume and stability of continental ice. Polar and subpolar oceans represent major High-Nutrient-Low-Chlorophyll (HNLC) areas during warm climate modes having strong potential to represent major CO2 sink during glacial conditions, when increased input of the micronutrient iron results in biological productivity regimes that enhances the biological pump. Changes in the extent and the seasonal variability of sea ice exert strong influence on the Earth´s albedo, generation of water masses, the ocean-atmosphere exchange of heat and gas, as well as biological productivity. Ocean density disturbances via melt water pulses have been identified to induce distinct and rapid climate change. The effect of such regional events in the Arctic Ocean, the North Atlantic and the Southern Ocean is believed to be propagated globally via ocean circulation through the operation of the so-called “bipolar seesaw”. New data point to a less stable Antarctic ice volume than generally presumed even during cold climate periods and sheds new light on the vulnerability of the Antarctic ice sheets and their effect on global sea level development. The emerging view of a complex “bipolar climate machinery” urgently calls for a major international research effort to decipher and quantify the interplay of bipolar ice-ocean-atmosphere processes in climate evolution and sea level change during warm and cold climate conditions. BIPOMAC will combine (i) “process studies” based on an iron fertilization experiment to test the effect of iron addition as a mean for CO2 sequestration and to better understand and quantify the significance of resulting sedimentary proxies, (ii) “ground truthing” based on well synchronized northern and southern polar high resolution (102-103y) paleoceanographic, paleolimnological, paleoatmospheric and continental ice volume/extent records (time window: mid-late Pleistocene climate cycles, Holocene), and (iii) “numerical modeling” of ice-atmosphere-ocean processes to decipher the complex pathway and timing of climate development, its internal amplification and propagation mechanisms (ice/ocean/atmosphere) and the effect of external forcing (insolation/solar activity). These initiatives will be the base for the generation of models for realistic estimates of future climate and sea level development under different anthropogenic impact scenarios. The latter is of major socio-economic relevance in a world of growing human population and increasing coastal area settlement.

What significant advance(s) in relation to the IPY themes and targets can be anticipated from this project?
BIPOMAC requires close and well-tuned collaboration of biologists, paleoceanographers, paleolimnologists, geophysicists, glaciologists and modelers. It also requires a multinational operational endeavor for further collection of terrestrial, ice and marine records from as yet insufficiently investigated key areas in polar regions. This can be accomplished by recently developed technologies but also urges for major further technological development (e.g. deep drilling through ice shelf). IPY 07/08 represents a perfect home to amalgamate international multidisciplinary scientific, technological and logistical expertise needed to successfully approach and complete BIPOMAC.

What international collaboration is involved in this project?
BIPOMAC amalgamates multidisciplinary scientific and logistical expertise from institutions in Austria, Belgium, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, RS Africa, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, UK and the United States.

FIELD ACTIVITY DETAILS

Geographical location(s) for the proposed field activities:
The BIPOMAC related field work includes or is linked with the following marine and terrestrial expeditions proposed for the: Southern Ocean - RV Polarstern, South Pacific ACC, latitudinal sections between 180°W and 170°W and between 130°-100°W (“HIPAS”, Gersonde et al.) - RV Polarstern, South Pacific ACC (“Tec-SedHIPAS”, Gohl et al.) - RV Marion Dufresne, South Pacific ACC, latitudinal section at 150°W (“PSP”, Gersonde et al.) - RV Marion Dufresne, Drake Passage region, see IPY-EOI “Paleo-Drake” (Ninnemann et al.) - RV Polarstern, central Scotia Sea, see IPY-EOI “IFESS” (Smetacek et al.) Arctic Oceans - RV Sonne, Subarctic Pacific (“INOPEX” Gersonde et al.) - RV Polarstern, “Kara Sea continental margin” (Stein et al.) - Arctic Basin “VERITAS” and “ARCTIC SNAPSHOT” Antarctic continent and Patagonia - Ross Ice Shelf, ANDRILL (Harwood et al.) ? West Antarctic Ice Sheet (Taylor et al.) ? Patagonian lakes (Zolitzschka et al., Schäbitz et al.) Sibiria - Central Chukotka, see IPY-EOI “Lake El´gygytgyn Deep Drilling” (Melles et al.) - northern and central Yakutia, see IPY-EOI “SibLake” (Diekmann et al.) - shelf and coastal lowlands between 130° and 150°E, see IPY-EOI“Past Permfrost”, (Schirrmeister et al.)

Approximate timeframe(s) for proposed field activities:
Arctic: 03/2007 - 06/2009            
Antarctic: 11/2006 -04/2009            

Significant facilities will be required for this project:
The different expeditions require ice and heavy weather going research vessels, ice breakers, transportation to land locations (ships, helicopters). Marine geoscientific expeditions may include biological and oceanographic surveys from other projects.

Will the project leave a legacy of infrastructure?
The project will not leave a legacy of infrastructure

How is it envisaged that the required logistic support will be secured?
Consortium
Own national polar operator
Another national polar operator
National agency

Has the project been "endorsed" at a national or international level?
BIPOMAC has been endorsed by the German IPY committee. BIPOMAC has been recommended for IPY by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR).

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
BIPOMAC is new project. BIPOMAC will primarily address the study of the interplay of northern and southern polar processes in driving and amplifying global climate variability as recorded in Pleistocene-Holocene marine, terrestrial and ice core records. As such it serves as umbrella for a number of individual IPY initiatives (e.g. “PaleoDrake”, “IFESS”, “Veritas”, “Lake El´gygytgyn Deep Drilling”, “SibLake”, “PastPermfrost”), portions of the NFS funded “ANDRILL” and it includes additional ship-based expeditions (e.g. “HIPAS”, “Tec-SedHIPAS”, “INOPEX”). .

How will the project be organised and managed?
Timely and successful accomplishment of the multidisciplinary and international BIPOMAC initiative requires the establishment of an international scientific steering committee. The steering committee will establish a joint science and action plan, build and guide a BIPOMAC scientific network (including science meetings), manage data exchange, guide the education/outreach components of the project, help with logistical problems and organize the timely publication of the scientific outcome in peer-reviewed journals. The steering committee will include lead scientists of the individual components of BIPOMAC, including biologists, paleoceanographers, paleolimnologists, glaciologists and modelers. Each member of the steering committee will be responsible for the operation and successful completion of her/his BIPOMAC component.

What are the initial plans of the project for addressing the education, outreach and communication issues outlined in the Framework document?
Education: Expedition participants will include a number of students who will receive intense exposure to interdisciplinary earth system science. BIPOMAC scientists will contribute to student summer schools (e.g. IPY-EOI “STUDEX”) BIPOMAC scientists will given open lectures at universities. Outreach and communication: Expedition participation of television teams and journalists. Internet contact with schools and journalists.

What are the initial plans of the project to address data management issues (as outlined in the Framework document)?
BIPOMAC data will be made public available through the information system PANGAEA which is operated by the ICSU World Data Center for Marine Environmental Sciences (WDC-MARE) Data exchange/storage with PANGAEA data bank.

How is it proposed to fund the project?
Funding will be requested through national polar programs or national funding agencies and ministries. A number of proposals for expeditions have already been submitted. The included portions of ANDRILL are funded through an international consortium including NSF.

Is there additional information you wish to provide?
BIPOMAC provides the umbrella for international and multidisciplinary efforts to the study the interplay of northern and southern polar processes in driving and amplifying global climate variability as recorded in high-resolution (Pleistocene-Holocene) marine, terrestrial and ice core records. Besides the projects labeled in section 2.1, it may also host projects outlined in other IPY-EOIs, e.g. “APEX” (Jakobssonetal.), “GEOARCS” (Lehmkuhletal.), and projects that may rise from other Arctic and Antarctic initiatives, such as the SCAR-ACE program. It could serve as an umbrella of bipolar high-resolution paleoclimate projects complementary to the IPY-EOI “POLARGATES” (Gohletal.) that primarily addresses processes on tectonic time scales.

PROPOSER DETAILS

Dr Rainer Gersonde
Alfred-Wegener-Institute for Polar and Marine Research
Postbox 120161
Bremerhaven
27515
Germany

Tel: +49-(0)471-4831-1203
Mobile:
Fax: +49-(0)471-4831-1923
Email:

Other project members and their affiliation

Other Information