| PI | Institute/Department | |
|---|---|---|
| Walden, Von |
Washington State University, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
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| Shupe, Matthew |
U of Colorado, Boulder, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences
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| Hawley, Robert |
Dartmouth College, Department of Earth Sciences
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| L'Ecuyer, Tristan |
University of Wisconsin, Department of Atmospheric and Ocean Sciences
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| Marshall, Hans-Peter |
Boise State University, Geosciences Department
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| Bennartz, Ralf |
U of Wisconsin, Madison
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This is a project that is jointly funded by the National Science Foundation’s Directorate of Geosciences (NSF/GEO) and the National Environment Research Council (UKRI/NERC) of the United Kingdom (UK) via the NSF/GEO-NERC Lead Agency Agreement. This Agreement allows a single joint US/UK proposal to be submitted and peer-reviewed by the Agency whose investigator has the largest proportion of the budget. Upon successful joint determination of an award, each Agency funds the proportion of the budget and the investigators associated with its own proposals and component of the work.
This research project continues an 11-year field experiment called the Integrated Characterization of Energy, Clouds, Atmospheric state, and Precipitation at Summit (ICECAPS) and adds measurements along Lagrangian transects (ICECAPS-MELT). The project is an international collaboration that has been operating ground-based instruments at Summit Station in Greenland since 2010, taking observations of the atmosphere to advance understanding of cloud properties, radiation and surface energy, and precipitation processes over the Greenland Ice Sheet. It is an important time to make these observations because Greenland is undergoing changes due to rapid shifts in Arctic climate. The current project continues the observations made at Summit Station and expands measurements along transects to another important region of Greenland called the percolation zone. In this zone, melt water is generated at the surface, where it can percolate down into the snow and then refreeze. This creates ice layers that can cause additional melt water to move horizontally rather than vertically. It is important to understand these processes because melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet is a significant contributor to global sea level, which is predicted to impact humans significantly over the next century.
This new ICECAPS-MELT project complements the ICECAPS Summit observatory by building a new mobile observatory for measuring parameters of the surface mass and energy budgets of the Greenland Ice Sheet. This observatory uses a novel approach for unattended, autonomous operation by supporting instruments that require moderate power and internet bandwidth yet are quite like those operated at Summit Station. The new observatory measures surface mass and energy budget parameters, including precipitation, cloud properties, radiative and turbulent fluxes, near-surface meteorology, and subsurface temperatures and structure. To do this, the ICECAPS-MELT team deploys a precipitation radar, a cloud lidar, a microwave radiometer, a ground-penetrating radar, and an automated surface flux station, which consume approximately 500 W of power under normal conditions. The project will lead to new insights into how parameters of the surface mass and energy budgets co-vary in space and time between this new observatory and the ongoing measurements at Summit. Trajectory analyses track the changes in air parcels as they ascend the Greenland Ice Sheet and pass over the two observational sites. The mobile observatory will be deployed in successive summers at Summit Station in the dry-snow zone and at the DYE-2 station in the percolation zone. If this project is successful, a network of these observatories will be proposed for future deployment in southwestern Greenland, which will provide new insights into how atmospheric properties and processes are coupled both spatially and temporally to the ice sheet’s surface and subsurface conditions over Greenland.
Researchers on this collaboration between Walden (2137083, lead, Washington State University), Shupe (2137091, University of Colorado at Boulder), Hawley (2137098, Dartmouth College) L’Ecuyer (2137152, University of Wisconsin-Madison), and Marshall (2137120, Boise State University), with collaboration from non-NSF award Neely (NE/X002403/1, University of Leeds), will continue research conducted under NSF grants 0856773, 1414314, and 1801764. The Integrated Characterization of Energy, Clouds, Atmospheric state, and Precipitation at Summit (ICECAPS) project has been continuously operating at Summit Station since 2010. The project entails year-round operation of a sophisticated suite of ground-based instruments for observing clouds, precipitation, and atmospheric structure, including radar, lidar, ceilometer, microwave radiometers, solar and longwave radiometers, infrared spectrometer, sodar, precipitation sensors, and radiosondes from. Starting in 2018, this project also included a collaboration with the University of Leeds to provide aerosol spectrometers and surface energy flux instrumentation. The research team will continue the operation of existing ICECAPS instrumentation and radiosonde releases at Summit Station. Throughout the project, a Battelle ARO science technician will monitor project instruments and oversee radiosonde balloon releases.
In 2022, a science field team travelled to Summit Station to resume project measurements in May and to perform routine service of the project instrumentation. The PAERI instrument was temporarily shipped from Summit Station to the US for major service and was returned to Summit Station in September. In 2023, the team travelled to Summit Station in May to perform routine instrument maintenance and install an autonomous science platform for 3 months of testing. Between July and August, another field team deployed to Summit Station to raise instruments on the Met Tower and fly a “helikite” tethered balloon-kite hybrid to support an instrument package. A final field team travelled to Summit Station in August to perform maintenance for the MMCR instrument, uninstall the autonomous science platform, and ship the platform back to the University of Colorado in Boulder, CO. In 2024, a science team travelled to Raven Camp in early-May to install the ICECAPS-MELT Surface-Layer Environmental Instruments for Greenland Hydrology (SLEIGH) and supporting Minimum Viable Power supply (MVP) in the Raven science area. The team operated out of a self-supported and collocated field camp for approximately 3 weeks while installing the instrumentation and collecting complementary measurements of snow characteristics. The science platform operated autonomously from May through August, when science team participants returned to Raven Camp for approximately one week to uninstall the equipment. Project support continued at Summit Station and a member of the science team travelled to Summit Station in July to perform routine instrument maintenance and make snow science measurements.
In 2025, under a no cost extension, the project will continue to receive science technician and facility support at Summit Station for ongoing science measurements through August. Four members of the science team will travel to Summit Station in August to remove ICECAPS instrumentation from the Mobile Science Facility (MSF), Atmospheric Watch Observatory (AWO), and Summit Mobile Garage (SMG) and to prepare equipment for shipment back to the respective home institutions in the United States. Select instruments owned by the University of Leeds on the Summit Station Met Tower will continue to operate with science technician and facility support into 2026.
Battelle ARO will provide Air National Guard (ANG) coordination for passengers and cargo travelling to Summit Station and Raven Camp (2024 only); lodging in Kangerlussuaq; field equipment allocations from NSF inventory; and satellite communication equipment and service for the autonomous science platform (2024 only). At Summit Station, Battelle ARO will provide Summit Station user days; science technician support; physical space, power, and network connection in the Mobile Science Facility (MSF), Atmospheric Watch Observatory (AWO), and Met Tower; outgoing network bandwidth of 700 MB/day; liquid nitrogen; and supplies for radiosonde releases. In 2025, Battelle ARO will also provide construction support for decommissioning efforts. The PIs will make all other arrangements and pay for them through their respective grants.
| Season | Field Site | Date In | Date Out | #People |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
2022
|
Greenland - Summit
|
|
|
1
|
|
2022
|
Greenland - Summit
|
|
|
2
|
|
2022
|
Greenland - Summit
|
|
|
5
|
|
2023
|
Greenland - Summit
|
|
|
2
|
|
2023
|
Greenland - Summit
|
|
|
5
|
|
2024
|
Greenland - Summit
|
|
|
1
|
|
2025
|
Greenland - Summit
|
|
|
4
|
|
2026
|
Greenland - Summit
|
0
|