Physical analysis of an Antarctic ice core–towards an integration of micro- and macrodynamics of polar ice

Published: May 1, 2017 by The PISM Authors


Title	Physical analysis of an Antarctic ice core–towards an integration of micro- and macrodynamics of polar ice
Authors	I. Weikusat and others
Venue	Philos. Trans. Roy. Soc. A

Sometimes what you need from an ice sheet model is a context for your measurements. In this paper ice microstructure (crystal orientation, grain size/shape), visual stratigraphy, and borehole tilt were measured in the EDML core drilled in Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica. Microstructures reflect the dynamic conditions of the location as well as its thermodynamic history, and determine rheological effects. PISM was used to generate the flow field and temperatures at depth at the ice core site from the large-scale geometry of the ice sheet and surface inputs. The details of structural observations were evaluated using principal strain rates from PISM, with comparison to with borehole logging data. This comparison confirms the division of the core into five depth regions (figure) and in turn provides a wider view of the ice sheet.

A two-year PostDoc positions in ice sheet and Earth system modelling is available in the Ice Dynamics group, as part of the new Earth Resilience Science Unit (ERSU), at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK).

Two PhD fellowship positions in ice sheet modelling are advertised at the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen.

The Alfred Wegener Institute, Bremerhaven, is offering a PhD position in the field of coupled ice sheet-ocean modelling. The core of the project is to run simulations with FESOM-PISM (a coupled ocean-ice shelf-ice sheet model with evolving cavity geometries) for different 21st-century climate projections to obtain well-constrained trajectories of future ice mass loss from the vast Antarctic Ice Sheet. Model results will feed into a fingerprinting method that considers the ocean response as well as gravitational effects and contributions from other sources. The final product will be a time series of global maps of regional sea-level variations that consider all of the most relevant processes.

Physical analysis of an Antarctic ice core--towards an integration of micro- and macrodynamics of polar ice