PI | Institute/Department | |
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Walden, Von |
Washington State University, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
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Bennartz, Ralf |
U of Wisconsin, Madison
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Marshall, Hans-Peter |
Boise State University, Geosciences Department
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Hawley, Robert |
Dartmouth College, Department of Earth Sciences
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Shupe, Matthew |
U of Colorado, Boulder, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences
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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) Bennartz (2137152, University of Wisconsin-Madison) and Marshall (2137120, Boise State University) 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. 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 twice-daily radiosonde balloon releases.
In 2022, a science field team will travel to Summit Station for project measurements and for routine service of their instrumentation. The PAERI instrument will temporarily be shipped from Summit Station to the US for major service and will then return to Summit Station later in the summer. Also in 2022, Battelle ARO will develop an insulated, towable shelter with a renewable-energy power system and satellite data connection. The science team will integrate their science instruments with the shelter to create an autonomous science platform. The platform will be tested by the science team in Boulder, CO.
In 2023, a science team will again travel to Summit Station to perform routine maintenance on the science instruments. They will also install the science platform that will operate autonomously for 3.5 months of testing at Summit Station. The team will return at the end of the summer to winterize the platform for storage in Kangerlussuaq. In 2024, the science team will travel to Kangerlussuaq to prepare the platform for summer operations and transport it to Raven via ANG. The science team will camp on the ice sheet while setting up the science platform and will conduct snowmobile-based GPR observations within 1 km of the platform site. They will then depart Raven via ANG flight and leave the platform operating autonomously for approximately 3 months. The science team will return to Raven at the end of the summer to prepare the platform for ANG transport to Kangerlussuaq. The science platform will be decommissioned in Kangerlussuaq. At Summit Station in 2024, the science team will travel at the end of the summer to decommission the science instrumentation at the site.
Battelle ARO will provide Air National Guard (ANG) coordination for passengers and cargo; COVID-19 mitigation support, lodging, Summit Station user days, equipment from NSF inventory; science technician and rigger support, heavy equipment, and construction support; snowmachines (Raven), satellite phone, med kit, physical space, power/power system, and network connection/satellite communications, and supplies for radiosonde releases. The PIs will make all other arrangements and pay for them through their respective grants.
Season | Field Site | Date In | Date Out | #People |
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2022
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Greenland - Summit
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7
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2023
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Greenland - Summit
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7
|
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2024
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Greenland - Summit
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7
|