Arctic Field Projects
Project Title: Collaborative Research: IPY: POLENET/Greenland: Using Bedrock Geodesy to Constrain Past and Present Day Changes in Greenland’s Ice Mass (Award# 0632320)
PI: Bevis, Michael G (mbevis@osu.edu)
Phone: (614) 499.5966
Institute/Department: Ohio State University, Byrd Polar Research Center, Department of Geological Sciences
IPY Project? YES
Funding Agency: US\Federal\NSF\OD\OPP\ARC\ANS
Program Manager: Dr. William Wiseman (wwiseman@nsf.gov)
Discipline(s): | Cryosphere\Solid Earth |
Science Summary:
This project is in collaboration with Csatho, SUNY, Buffalo (0632310). Intellectual Focus. The PIs propose to construct a network (GNET) of 38 continuous GPS stations in Greenland as part the U.S. contribution to the International Polar Year (IPY) and the international Polar Earth Observing Network (POLENET) consortium. The PIs will use this network to map the steady vertical velocity field associated with postglacial rebound (PGR), which will provide the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE), and any successor missions, with an accurate ‘PGR correction’, thereby suppressing by far the largest source of uncertainty in GRACE-based estimates of ice mass changes in Greenland. The PIs also intend to use GNET to ‘weigh’ annual and inter-annual changes in ice mass, obtaining better spatial resolution than GRACE is capable of, using Earth’s instantaneous elastic response to surface load changes. This approach will be calibrated and validated by relating annual or seasonal patterns of loading (the cause) with in-phase seasonal oscillations of adjacent bedrock (the effect). Having calibrated our ‘weighing machine’ in this way, the investigators will be able to very quickly detect and analyze any abrupt increases in long term rates of ice gain or loss. Relevance to IPY: POLENET is a consortium involving 24 nations that aims to dramatically improve the coverage in geodetic, magnetic, and seismic data across the polar regions during IPY. GNET, which involves 3 international partners, constitutes the largest component of a POLENET deployment across Greenland, and is the only POLENET component in the northern hemisphere that is focused on a major ice sheet. It will complement GPS initiatives elsewhere in the Arctic to be carried out by more than 12 nations participating in POLENET. POLENET will overcome the scarcity of observational systems in the Earth’s polar regions, and will provide a legacy in observational infrastructure and in the technological capability to deploy autonomous operations in extreme environments. The GPS data and metadata will be made available to the global science community as soon as they reach the UNAVCO archive. Broader Impacts: The POLENET project will bring about the development of new technologies for operating autonomous stations in the Arctic and Antarctic. It will promote one of the most holistic collaborations between glaciologists, geodesists, geophysicists, geologists, meteorologists and oceanographers in the history of these disciplines. This project will leverage NASA’s GRACE project to a entirely new level of importance, since providing GRACE with a “PGR correction” will transform it into the single most powerful measurement system ever developed for the direct observation of mass transfer between the ice sheets and the oceans. GNET itself will be able to detect any rapid accelerations in ice mass gain or loss in Greenland, especially at the critical margins of the ice sheet, in response to changing climatic conditions. Even more broadly, understanding and monitoring the behavior of the Greenland (as well as the Antarctic) ice sheet, is a matter of tremendous societal importance. It is widely understood that there is serious danger that the W. Antarctic or Greenland ice sheets could collapse and so seriously damage the global economy, and degrade the social infrastructure supporting hundreds of millions of people, by inundating large swaths of densely inhabited coastal areas worldwide. While it may be too late to reverse global warming before sea level rise becomes seriously problematic, it is crucial to assess both the possible severity of sea level rise, and the amount of time that our governments have to respond to, or mitigate, developments that they may be powerless to prevent. Given the importance of this agenda, the researchers propose to develop an outreach component using UNAVCO’s outreach specialists.
Logistics Summary:
This project is a collaboration between Bevis, OSU (0632320, LEAD) and Csatho, SUNY-Buffalo (0632310). The PIs will construct a network (GNET) of over 38 continuous GPS stations ringing the perimeter of Greenland as part of the U.S. contribution to the International Polar Year (IPY) and the international POLENET consortium. The researchers will install the stations during 2007, 2008 and 2009. Basing from different hubs around the island, small field teams will travel to installation sites to set up the stations. The researchers will install roughly two-thirds of the sites in 2007, with several teams working simultaneously. A team of four (one Danish and three Americans) will return for about 4 weeks in late June 2008 to install 11-12 stations at the northern-most sites. After assembling in Kangerlussuaq, the team will fly via C-130 to Thule, spend two nights arranging cargo stored there, and then fly on to Station Nord via the Royal Danish Air Force. There they will base, visiting installation sites via a Super Puma AS332C helicopter. The helicopter will refuel when needed at two fuel caches set out by POLOG via Twin Otter prior to the field season. At the end of the season, the team will depart the field site via the Royal Danish Air Force and travel via Iceland for flights homeward. For 2009, the remaining stations will be installed, with the team basing out of four different hubs on the east coast of Greenland: Constable Pynt, Mestersvig, Daneborg, and Danmarkshavn. The field work will begin in early August after the Greenland Command resupply vessel has delivered GNET cargo. On 5 August, the field team of three will meet in Akureyri, Iceland. From there, they will fly to Constable Pynt, Greenland, aboard a Nordlandair chartered Twin Otter, and then to Mestersvig to pick up equipment for their Soedalen installation site. The Norwegian Super Puma will position at Mestersvig then as well. Installations will begin on 6 August, with the team flying south to Soedalen first, and then working northward from there. In all, they will install 11 new stations and visit three others for maintenance, basing at different hubs along the way. The researchers expect to be done ~29 August. Then, they will fly back to Akureyri. Two team members will accompany the Super Puma aircraft while the third will remain in Greenland to work on another project. In addition to the main field effort described above, a team will conduct maintenance on two ‘down’ sites in NW Greenland. One GNET team member will join NSI/DTU team members chartering a helicopter from Thule to do absolute gravity measurements at the ASKY (Melville Bay N of Upernavik) and KAGZ (Inglefield Land just S of Humboldt Gletscher) sites. This work will take approximately 1 week. US participation will include paying for travel/accommodation for the electronics engineer to Thule, as well as preparing a repair kit for these stations. NSI/DTU will cover all other expenses. For the 2010 season, the field effort will be led by the Danish Technical Institute (DTU), which plans to field teams around the island in several phases for GNET maintenance and absolute gravity measurements. At the end of May, a team will work on the central west coast of Greenland between Ilulissat and Upernavik. For about a week, a team of two from DTU will charter an Air Greenland helicopter from Ilulissat and do absolute gravity measurements along the coast at six GNET sites where maintenance will be done. US participation will include cargo shipment from NY via the 109th Air Guard as well as Air GL air freight shipments to Ilulissat, Upernavik and Narsarsuaq. DTU personnel will return to Greenland in mid August, 2010 and will charter an AirGL helicopter based out of Narsarsuaq, two Danish collaborators will fly up the SE coast of Greenland doing absolute gravity measurments at each of the GNET sites that have been installed in that area. Maintenance can be performed on the sites while gravity measurements are taken. The third GNET phase for 2010 led by DTU will take place in September based at Thule. A helicopter will be chartered by DTU to visit three GNET sites where again absolute gravity measurements will be performed. One US team member from UNAVCO will join the team during this phase. Some of the sites will become permanent installations, while others will be removed at the end of the project.
In 2009, UNAVCO will provide GPS receivers and technical support as the field team installs the instruments throughout Greenland, as well as ongoing support to permanent sites and data storage. CPS will provide flight coordination including cargo shipment to project hubs in Greenland, Twin Otter and helicopter air charters; fuel; lodging arrangements within Greenland; and camping equipment, some food, and communications / safety gear. Some of these items will be arranged/paid up front by NSI; CPS will reimburse NSI at cost. In 2010, US participation in 2010 will include paying for cargo shipments, travel/accommodation for the UNAVCO electronics engineer at Thule, communications/safety gear, as well as UNAVCO providing repair kits for the GNET stations. NSI/DTU will cover all other expenses.
| Season | Field Site | Date In | Date Out | #People |
| 2007 | Greenland - Astrup Kystland | 08 / 16 / 2007 | 08 / 16 / 2007 | 3 |
| 2007 | Greenland - Docker Smith Glacier | 08 / 18 / 2007 | 08 / 20 / 2007 | 3 |
| 2007 | Greenland - Helheim Glacier | 08 / 22 / 2007 | 08 / 22 / 2007 | 3 |
| 2007 | Greenland - Hjornefjeldet | 08 / 10 / 2007 | 08 / 10 / 2007 | 3 |
| 2007 | Greenland - Ilulissat | 08 / 01 / 2007 | 08 / 08 / 2007 | 3 |
| 2007 | Greenland - Isortoq | 08 / 23 / 2007 | 08 / 23 / 2007 | 3 |
| 2007 | Greenland - Joe Oer | 08 / 27 / 2007 | 08 / 27 / 2007 | 3 |
| 2007 | Greenland - KAGA Jakobshavn | 08 / 02 / 2007 | 08 / 03 / 2007 | 2 |
| 2007 | Greenland - Kangerlussuaq | 07 / 31 / 2007 | 09 / 07 / 2007 | 7 |
| 2007 | Greenland - Kap Agassiz | 08 / 23 / 2007 | 08 / 23 / 2007 | 3 |
| 2007 | Greenland - Kap Schoubye | 08 / 21 / 2007 | 08 / 21 / 2007 | 3 |
| 2007 | Greenland - Koge Bugt | 08 / 27 / 2007 | 08 / 27 / 2007 | 3 |
| 2007 | Greenland - Kullorsuaq | 08 / 13 / 2007 | 08 / 13 / 2007 | 3 |
| 2007 | Greenland - Kulusuk | 08 / 08 / 2007 | 08 / 15 / 2007 | 2 |
| 2007 | Greenland - Lynaes Peninsula | 08 / 28 / 2007 | 08 / 28 / 2007 | 2 |
| 2007 | Greenland - Marie Glacier | 08 / 21 / 2007 | 08 / 21 / 2007 | 3 |
| 2007 | Greenland - Mikis Fjord | 08 / 25 / 2007 | 08 / 25 / 2007 | 3 |
| 2007 | Greenland - Narsarsuaq | 08 / 07 / 2007 | 08 / 22 / 2007 | 4 |
| 2007 | Greenland - Niviarsiat Nunatak North (NNVN) | 08 / 13 / 2007 | 08 / 13 / 2007 | 3 |
| 2007 | Greenland - Pilagpik | 08 / 11 / 2007 | 08 / 11 / 2007 | 3 |
| 2007 | Greenland - Qaarsut/Uummannaq | 08 / 24 / 2007 | 08 / 26 / 2007 | 3 |
| 2007 | Greenland - Rinks Isbrae | 08 / 26 / 2007 | 08 / 26 / 2007 | 3 |
| 2007 | Greenland - Sermip Nunatak | 08 / 11 / 2007 | 08 / 11 / 2007 | 3 |
| 2007 | Greenland - Steenstrup Nordre Brae | 08 / 17 / 2007 | 08 / 17 / 2007 | 3 |
| 2007 | Greenland - Tasiilaq | 08 / 15 / 2007 | 09 / 05 / 2007 | 3 |
| 2007 | Greenland - Thule | 08 / 07 / 2007 | 09 / 12 / 2007 | 4 |
| 2007 | Greenland - Timmiarmiut | 08 / 13 / 2007 | 08 / 14 / 2007 | 3 |
| 2007 | Greenland - Trefoldigheden Oer | 08 / 31 / 2007 | 08 / 31 / 2007 | 2 |
| 2007 | Greenland - Upernavik | 08 / 07 / 2007 | 08 / 16 / 2007 | 3 |
| 2007 | Greenland - Upper Timmiarmiut Glacier | 08 / 17 / 2007 | 08 / 17 / 2007 | 3 |
| 2008 | Greenland - Blaso | 07 / 02 / 2008 | 07 / 23 / 2008 | 4 |
| 2008 | Greenland - Gronne Nunatak | 07 / 02 / 2008 | 07 / 23 / 2008 | 4 |
| 2008 | Greenland - Harder Gletscher | 07 / 02 / 2008 | 07 / 23 / 2008 | 4 |
| 2008 | Greenland - Jewell Fjord | 07 / 02 / 2008 | 07 / 23 / 2008 | 4 |
| 2008 | Greenland - Kangerlussuaq | 06 / 23 / 2008 | 07 / 28 / 2008 | 4 |
| 2008 | Greenland - Kangilinnguit | 07 / 02 / 2008 | 07 / 23 / 2008 | 4 |
| 2008 | Greenland - Kap Morris Jessup | 07 / 02 / 2008 | 07 / 23 / 2008 | 4 |
| 2008 | Greenland - Kapisillit | 07 / 02 / 2008 | 07 / 23 / 2008 | 4 |
| 2008 | Greenland - Leffingwell Nunatak | 07 / 02 / 2008 | 07 / 23 / 2008 | 4 |
| 2008 | Greenland - Norske Oer | 07 / 02 / 2008 | 07 / 23 / 2008 | 4 |
| 2008 | Greenland - Nuuk | 07 / 02 / 2008 | 07 / 23 / 2008 | 4 |
| 2008 | Greenland - Sermip Nunatak | 07 / 02 / 2008 | 07 / 23 / 2008 | 4 |
| 2008 | Greenland - Station Nord | 06 / 27 / 2008 | 07 / 24 / 2008 | 4 |
| 2008 | Greenland - Thule | 06 / 25 / 2008 | 07 / 24 / 2008 | 4 |
| 2009 | Greenland - Budolfi Isstrom | 4 | ||
| 2009 | Greenland - Charcot Land | 4 | ||
| 2009 | Greenland - Daneborg | 4 | ||
| 2009 | Greenland - Danmarkshavn | 4 | ||
| 2009 | Greenland - Gamma O | 4 | ||
| 2009 | Greenland - Mestersvig | 4 | ||
| 2009 | Greenland - Vindhjorne | 4 | ||
| 2009 | Greenland - Westfal-Larsen Nunatak | 4 | ||
| 2009 | Greenland - Ymer Nunatak | 4 | ||
| 2010 | Greenland - Kangerlussuaq | 05 / 20 / 2010 | 05 / 28 / 2010 | 2 |
| 2010 | Greenland - Narsarsuaq | 2 | ||
| 2010 | Greenland - Thule | 06 / 25 / 2010 | 07 / 24 / 2010 | 4 |
| 2010 | Greenland - Upernavik | 05 / 20 / 2010 | 05 / 28 / 2010 | 2 |
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