Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/Z503769/1
Accelerating access to Antarctic sea-floor environments with a low-cost, low-logistics deep water AUV swarm
Grant Award
- Principal Investigator:
- Dr AGC Graham, Cardiff University, Sch of Earth and Environmental Sciences
- Co-Investigator:
- Professor JA Howe, Scottish Association For Marine Science, Dunstaffnage Marine Laboratory
- Co-Investigator:
- Dr K Hogan, NERC British Antarctic Survey, Science Programmes
- Co-Investigator:
- Mr M M Kingsland, National Oceanography Centre, National Marine Facilities
- Grant held at:
- Cardiff University, Sch of Earth and Environmental Sciences
- Science Area:
- None
- Overall Classification:
- Unknown
- ENRIs:
- None
- Science Topics:
- None
- Abstract:
- Critical interactions between ice sheet flow, the oceans and tides, and the subglacial bed, occur in the zone of ice sheets where they lift off their base - the grounding zone. Despite being widely recognised as the key locations for driving polar ice-sheet melt, and thus controlling ice-sheet stability, grounding zones remain poorly understood owing to a dearth of observational constraints on the processes that operate there over various timescales. The ice-ocean-bed boundary represents one of the last frontiers in marine science but is notoriously difficult to access and characterize. The polar sea bed, by contrast, represents a unique and accessible archive of past to recent ice-ocean-bed interactions that is only just beginning to be fully unlocked. The evolving landscape and processes that occur at the ocean floor as marine ice sheets retreat is a vital aspect which ice sheet models try to capture in an attempt to better simulate real-world ice sheet processes that contribute to future sea level rise. Of particular interest is how sediment and meltwater dynamics in grounding zones promote or allay rapid retreat, what drives rapid unstable pulses of retreat in these locations, and how the bed geometry evolves as grounding zones migrate back and forth on the sea bed, with feedbacks to the ice-sheet and ocean. Answers to all these questions are possible by studying grounding zones of various ages and at various stages of evolution, but progress has been hampered so far by the inherent resolution limits of shipborne sonar and acoustic tools that provide an incomplete picture of the Antarctic ocean floor (tens of metres resolution). The acquisition of high-resolution geophysical data from underwater vehicles, at the sub-metre scale, can examine complexities in ice-sheet behaviour recorded in the sea-floor geometry and geomorphology that traditional ship-based studies and in situ observations of ice-sheet grounding zones otherwise fail to provide. Recent notable studies of former grounding zones have demonstrated that a step-change in understanding of Antarctic grounding zone processes still awaits, while global mapping initiatives have highlighted that the Antarctic sea-floor remains one of the least well mapped regions on Earth. To address these deficiencies, new tools and approaches to polar sea-floor exploration are needed. This project proposes to enhance UK capabilities for polar sea-bed survey, specifically filling an important gap in assets currently occupied by costly infrastructure and resource-heavy robotic systems. Our vision is to make Cardiff a hub for a low-logistics, deep-water autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) swarm for Antarctic marine exploration. We propose a low-cost four-vehicle squad, which includes a unique multibeam sonar integration that can achieve a step-change in resolution imaging of the Antarctic sea bed, including grounding zone environments. Working in tandem, the asset will serve as a force multiplier to maximise mapping efficiency, and provide a flexible platform for interdisciplinary studies of former grounding zones, as well as serving as a portable, quick-to-mobilise resource for the broader NERC science community focused on wider questions surrounding marine benthic biodiversity, blue carbon, past climate, marine pollution, ocean warming, and deeper-water hydrothermal systems. Game-changing observations at the sea bed, amongst many other potential scientific benefits, will be used to constrain ice sheet models of grounding zone processes, and feed into projects parametrizing the grounding zone environment, which can improve projections of sea level rise from 21st Century ice sheet loss.
- NERC Reference:
- NE/Z503769/1
- Grant Stage:
- Awaiting Event/Action
- Scheme:
- Research Grants
- Grant Status:
- Active
- Programme:
- Capital Call
This grant award has a total value of £725,622
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| Exception - Equipment |
|---|
| £725,622 |
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