Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/K005871/1
Subglacial Access and Fast Ice Research Experiment (SAFIRE): Resolving the Basal Control on Ice Flow and Calving in Greenland
Grant Award
- Principal Investigator:
- Dr P Christoffersen, University of Cambridge, Scott Polar Research Institute
- Grant held at:
- University of Cambridge, Scott Polar Research Institute
- Science Area:
- Atmospheric
- Earth
- Marine
- Overall Classification:
- Earth
- ENRIs:
- Environmental Risks and Hazards
- Global Change
- Science Topics:
- Climate & Climate Change
- Geohazards
- Glacial & Cryospheric Systems
- Abstract:
- Marine-terminating outlet glaciers drain 88% of the Greenland Ice Sheet and are responsible for at least half of the ice sheet's net annual mass loss, which at present is around 200 km3/year. Understanding the processes that drive the fast flow of these glaciers is crucial because a growing body of evidence points to a strong, but spatially varied and often complex, response to both oceanographic and atmospheric forcing. While the bed of glaciers elsewhere is known to strongly influence the flow of ice, no observations have ever been made from beneath a marine-terminating glacier in Greenland; a potential and likely cause of significant error in current predictions of sea level rise. This project will correct this paucity of observational constraint by gaining access to the bed of a major marine-terminating outlet glacier (Store Gletscher) in West Greenland, in order to observe and characterise the basal interface. With instruments deployed at the bed and on the glacier's surface and forefield, the project will fully resolve the basal control on ice flow and the glacier's response to iceberg calving, including the effects of meltwater input to the bed. The observational outcome will inform the glacier's sensitivity to atmospheric as well as oceanographic forcing while also enabling numerical ice flow modelling of unprecedented detail and accuracy.
- Period of Award:
- 21 Nov 2013 - 20 Nov 2017
- Value:
- £257,028 Lead Split Award
Authorised funds only
- NERC Reference:
- NE/K005871/1
- Grant Stage:
- Completed
- Scheme:
- Standard Grant (FEC)
- Grant Status:
- Closed
- Programme:
- Standard Grant
This grant award has a total value of £257,028
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| DI - Other Costs | Indirect - Indirect Costs | DA - Investigators | DA - Estate Costs | DI - Staff | DA - Other Directly Allocated | DI - T&S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £8,887 | £72,883 | £20,615 | £9,792 | £76,825 | £9,464 | £58,563 |
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