Arctic Field Projects
Project Title: The sensitivity of the Greenland Ice Sheet to climate change: Reconstructing the response of the Jakobshavn Isbrae during the Little Ice Age and Holocene thermal maximum (Award# 0752848)
PI: Briner, Jason (jbriner@buffalo.edu)
Phone: (716) 645.6800 ext. 3986
Institute/Department: U at Buffalo, Department of Geology
IPY Project? NO
Funding Agency: US\Federal\NSF\SBE\BCS
Program Manager: Dr. Kenneth Young (kryoung@nsf.gov)
Discipline(s): | Meteorology and Climate\Paleoclimatology |
| Project Web Site(s): |
| NSF_Award_Info: http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward.do?AwardNumber=0752... |
| Logistics: http://www.polar.ch2m.com/Files/PDFs/Briner0752848PlanFinal2... |
| Logistics: http://www.polar.ch2m.com/Files/PDFs/BrinerCsatho0752848Plan... |
Science Summary:
The response of the cryosphere to global warming has significant ramifications for society. The ability to predict rates of global climatic change, glacier melt, and sea-level rise through the next century requires an accurate understanding of glacier and ice sheet response to climatic change. Forecasts of the pattern and rate of future ice sheet retreat are extremely uncertain. The research will link the paleo-record with historical data on the behavior of the Greenland Ice Sheet’s fastest and most dynamic outlet glacier, Jakobshavn Isbræ, to quantify its sensitivity to temperature change. The pilot project has two objectives: 1) Determine the rate of retreat of the Jakobshavn margin during the early and middle Holocene, a period that was warmer than today; and 2) determine the timing of advance/retreat of the Jakobshavn ice margin during the Little Ice Age, quantify associated volumetric changes, and estimate the sensitivity of the margin to temperature change (?volume per °C). This project will place constraints on the sensitivity of the Greenland Ice Sheet to temperature change, knowledge that is urgent in the face of rapid contemporary changes in the ice sheet, by using four state-of-the-art approaches: 1) 10Be dating of ice-scoured bedrock surfaces to constrain ice sheet retreat rates during the warmer-than-present early/middle Holocene, 2) 14C dating above and below glacier-derived sediments in lake-sediment cores to constrain the timing of ice margin advance during the Little Ice Age, 3) chironomid-based paleothermometry to generate a local temperature record spanning the Holocene, and 4) 3D mapping of trimlines and moraines to quantify changes in ice volume associated with recent ice margin fluctuations.
Logistics Summary:
To gather information on the Greenland ice sheet’s sensitivity to temperature change, the PI will field a team in Greenland during 2008 and 2009. There, researchers will spend up to a month annually collecting data on Holocene-era ice sheet changes in the vicinity of Jakobshavn Glacier and the town of Ilulissat, in western Greenland. A 4-person team will begin the research in late summer, 2008. An advance team of two will arrive in late July, and, basing from Ilulissat, make day trips to their science sites. After the rest of the team arrives in Ilulissat, they will put in to their field site via helicopter and establish a tent camp. They will collect scoured bedrock samples, conduct 3D mapping activities and take lake surface cores at several research sites, moving between locations and then departing the research area via helicopter. In 2009, a 4-person team (including an REU student participant) will return in early July for helicopter-based sampling, including lake sediment coring. They will be joined by co-PI Csatho later in the month during a camp move. After a 4 August pull-out three the team members will return to the US via an ANG109th flight, while two team members will continue fieldwork around Aasiaat. All logistics costs for this mid-season excursion are the responsibility of the team members and not part of NSF funding. Also in 2009, in mid August, co-PI Axford plus 3 assistants will arrive in Greenland via ANG 109th flight. They will travel to Ilulissat and join the the team of two returning from their mid-season excursion. The team of four will establish a helicopter-supported camp nearby for one more week of field studies. After their Ilulissat work is done they will return to Kangerlussuaq. While they await their return to the US via ANG 109th flight, they plan a short camping expedition to the ice margin. The researchers will pay directly for transportation to and from the ice margin for this trip.
For a field team of up to six persons, CPS will provide ANG arrangements, travel within Greenland (commercial travel to/from Ilulissat and helicopter support); user days in Kangerlussuaq and lodging in Ilulissat; camping equipment; an inflatable boat; fuel; and communications and safety gear. The PI will arrange all other logistics and pay for them via his grant, including the forllong 2009 elements: the Aasiaat excursion, the ice margin camping trip, and the 7th field team member.
| Season | Field Site | Date In | Date Out | #People |
| 2008 | Greenland - Ilulissat | 07 / 28 / 2008 | 08 / 26 / 2008 | 4 |
| 2008 | Greenland - Jakobshavn Glacier | 07 / 28 / 2008 | 08 / 25 / 2008 | 4 |
| 2008 | Greenland - Kangerlussuaq | 07 / 27 / 2008 | 08 / 28 / 2008 | 4 |
| 2009 | Greenland - Ilulissat | 07 / 08 / 2009 | 08 / 25 / 2009 | 7 |
| 2009 | Greenland - Jakobshavn Glacier | 07 / 10 / 2009 | 08 / 24 / 2009 | 7 |
| 2009 | Greenland - Kangerlussuaq | 07 / 07 / 2009 | 08 / 28 / 2009 | 7 |
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