Awards - Round 10

The AFI Moderating Panel met on 31st March 2009 to evaluate the 26 full applications that were submitted to Round 10 of AFI. Based on the Panel’s recommendations, NERC was able to award funding for four of the proposals; details are as given below. The Panel also approved (retrospectively) the support of nine applications submitted under the Collaborative Gearing Scheme.

Awards are listed in alphabetical order of Principal Investigator’s surname.

Awarded under the Collaborative Gearing Scheme (CGS)


Abstracts of awarded AFI Round 10 proposals

(Descriptions as supplied by the proposers, in response to a request by NERC for a summary ‘in a style that could be publicised to a general audience’)

Dr John King, British Antarctic Survey
Dr Ian Renfrew, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia
Professor Stephen Mobbs, School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds
Dr Thomas Lachlan-Cope, British Antarctic Survey
Dr Gareth Marshall, British Antarctic Survey
Dr Philip Anderson, British Antarctic Survey
Dr Andrew Orr, British Antarctic Survey
Dr Alan Gadian, School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds

“Orographic flows and the climate of the Antarctic Peninsula (OFCAP)” [AFI10/04]

The Antarctic Peninsula is currently one of the most rapidly warming regions on Earth. Large environmental changes have occurred as a result of this warming, most notably the retreat and rapid disintegration of some of the floating ice shelves that fringe the Peninsula. Subsequent to the loss of ice shelves, glaciers draining the Peninsula ice sheet have accelerated, contributing to global sea level rise.

The forces driving this rapid regional warming are not fully understood, but analysis of limited climatological data from the region suggests a link between rapid summer warming on the eastern side of the Peninsula and an increase in the strength of the prevailing westerly winds. The strengthening of the westerlies has already been attributed, with some degree of confidence, to atmospheric circulation changes associated with anthropogenic forcing, particularly stratospheric ozone depletion and increases in greenhouse gases. It is thus highly probable that anthropogenic forcing is contributing to the rapid warming of the Peninsula. We propose an integrated programme of field observations, analysis and modelling aimed at understanding of how the westerly winds interact with the mountains of the Antarctic Peninsula and how these interactions control the climate of the eastern side of the Peninsula.

Our field observations will be concentrated into a one-month (January 2011) intensive field campaign. During this period, atmospheric flow along a transect across the Antarctic Peninsula mountains at around 67 degrees south will be observed using an instrumented aircraft and four automatic weather stations along the line of the transect. Atmospheric conditions on the upwind (western) and downwind (eastern) sides of the mountains will be measured using balloon-borne radiosondes while the fluxes of energy (solar and terrestrial radiation, turbulent heat fluxes) that drive surface melting will be monitored at a camp on the Larsen Ice Shelf to the east of the Peninsula.

In order to obtain a more complete picture of the flow across the Peninsula, we will use these observations in conjunction with the results of high-resolution atmospheric model simulations. Observations and model results will, together, provide new insight into the links between atmospheric flow, orography and surface climate in this region. Having established these links, we will use our new understanding of the controls on regional climate to develop soundly-based future (next 100 years) climate scenarios for this region, using predictions of the changes in large-scale atmospheric flow from the 4th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

The results of our work will be of value to many groups of scientists working on environmental change in the Antarctic Peninsula and its wider impacts, including glaciologists, oceanographers and marine and terrestrial biologists. The proposal will also contribute to improving the performance of numerical weather prediction and climate models in mountainous areas generally.

Dr Keith Nicholls, British Antarctic Survey
Professor Michael Fedak, Sea Mammal Research Unit, University of St Andrews

"Ocean processes over the Weddell Sea shelf using seal tags" [AFI10/05]

Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) is an important water mass in the cooling and ventilation of the World’s deep ocean. One of the principal sources of AABW has its roots in the production of cold, dense water that results from wintertime sea ice production over the continental shelf of the southwestern Weddell Sea. However, there remains great uncertainty about the processes controlling the initial import of the source waters onto the continental shelf, and the export of the dense waters from the shelf regime. The uncertainty results from the extremely challenging sea ice conditions existing in the southern Weddell Sea, especially during winter.

Conditions in the area of interest during winter are exceptionally difficult for any ship-based work, and instruments deployed in the ocean during the rather less difficult summer months, and which are left to monitor the water properties over the Winter period, are vulnerable to dredging by passing icebergs.

We will tackle the problem using a technology that has recently come of age. We propose to attach conductivity temperature-depth (CTD) tags, miniaturised oceanographic instruments, to Weddell seals (Leptonychotes weddellii). The tags have a satellite transmitter that relays the oceanographic data collected during the seals’ dives, together with the dive location. The tag is glued harmlessly to the animal’s fur using standard marine two-component epoxy and comes off again during the annual moult about eleven months later.

A pilot study undertaken by the British Antarctic Survey involved the tagging of four seals, three of which supplied over-winter datasets. Although the coverage was impressive from only three tags, emphatically confirming the practicality of the technique, the region of interest is nearly 500,000 km2 in area and a comprehensive dataset requires substantially more tagged animals.

We will tag 20 Weddell seals at the eastern end of the shelfbreak north of the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf during the late Austral summer of 2010/2011. The dataset resulting from the animals’ dives during the winter will give the most comprehensive picture to date of the ocean conditions over the southern Weddell Sea continental shelf. By mapping the temperature of the water near the sea floor we will determine the locations where dense waters leave the shelf, and the processes involved: either a direct flow down the slope under gravity, or initially mixing at the shelf edge with waters from off the shelf before descending down the slope. We will also be able to determine where the source waters come on to the shelf.

Weddell seals are very accomplished divers, diving repeatedly for long periods and to depths regularly reaching the onshelf seafloor. Among Antarctic seals, Weddell seals also inhabit the southernmost waters, and remain within the pack-ice in winter when the ice expands northward. These characteristics make Weddell seals ideally suited for the proposed study. Although primarily an oceanographic project, the movements and diving behaviour of Weddell seals is of great interest to seal biologists who wish to understand differing behaviours in different parts of Antarctica. These variations were ably demonstrated by the extraordinarily diverse behaviour of the animals tagged during the pilot, and by comparisons with previous tracking of this species in other parts of the Antarctic. The long-ranging movements displayed by some of the seals tracked during the pilot study are untypical for the species, at least at other Antarctic locations. and may be related to the local oceanographic conditions. It is widely recognised that multidisciplinary studies such as proposed here will provide us with the tools to better predict how the distribution, behaviour and ultimately population status may be affected by changing ocean and climate conditions.

Professor Martin Siegert, School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh
Dr Fausto Ferraccioli, British Antarctic Survey
Dr David Rippin, Department of Geography University of Hull
Mr Hugh Corr, British Antarctic Survey

“Airborne geophysical investigation targets basal boundary conditions for the Institute and Möller ice streams, west Antarctica” [AFI10/18]

The Institute and Möller ice streams (IIS/MIS) drain about 20% of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) to the Ronne Ice Shelf, yet our knowledge of their current form and flow history is severely restricted compared with other fast flowing regions in West Antarctica. Data relating to the ice thickness and the ice-sheet bed is limited to reconnaissance transects acquired in the 1970s. Bingham and Siegert (2007) inspected these data, and showed the remarkably smooth and flat bed was similar to the Siple Coast ice streams that drain to the Ross Ice Shelf. As the Siple Coast region is thought to be underlain by marine sediments, deposited when the ice sheet size was smaller than today, Bingham and Siegert (2007) concluded a similar, probably simultaneous, history for the Institute/Möller region. The implications of this finding are significant for future changes in West Antarctica. Bingham and Siegert’s (2007) analysis allows us to hypothesise substantial former ice-shelf loss and grounding line retreat in two of the three major drainage outlets of West Antarctica. An extensive airborne geophysical survey of the Institute and Möller ice streams is therefore clearly warranted, to test this hypothesis and better understand the risk of future change. The survey will also allow a better depiction of bed topography and geological boundary conditions in West Antarctica, which will allow us to better quantify the flow and form of the entire WAIS through numerical modelling.

The project’s objectives are as follows.

  1. To undertake an airborne geophysical survey of the Institute and Möller ice streams of West Antarctica.
  2. To quantify bed topography and measure bed roughness from radar data.
  3. To map englacial structures (layering and crevasses).
  4. To determine power reflection coefficients, forming an appreciation of basal water distribution.
  5. To analyse magnetic and gravity anomalies to derive geological boundary conditions for ice flow.
  6. To employ numerical modelling to quantify modem and ancient ice flow processes.
  7. To use numerical modelling to predict the risk of former changes reoccurring.

This project will result in the following deliverables:

  1. The quantification of subglacial topography (and bed roughness) in a hitherto poorly known region of West Antarctica. This information will be made available to the BEDMAP II database, and will make a fundamental contribution as an ice sheet modelling boundary condition. We will analyse these data to determine landscape evolution and ice sheet history.
  2. The classification of subglacial thermal conditions and locations of subglacial lakes. This will allow us to comprehend how ice stream flow and subglacial lake/hydrology evolution is both interrelated and affected by subglacial geology and thermal conditions.
  3. The measurement of the englacial structure in the WAIS. We will analyse this information to calculate the flow history of the ice sheet and to delineate the margins of the IIS and MIS both now and in the recent past.
  4. The definition of crustal structure and Subglacial geology of the IIS and MIS catchments of the WAIS.

The glacial history of the WAIS is of direct relevance to assessments of the present day risk of collapse and sea level rise. We aim to report our results directly to the international scientific community by linking to the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research’s (SCAR) scientific research programme entitled Antarctic Climate Evolution (ACE), which integrates geology and geophysical datasets, forming hypotheses concerning past changes, which can be tested through modelling. The ACE link also allows us to disseminate results to the IPCC through SCAR’s observer status in that organisation. We will also make results available to the SCAR programme named Subglacial Antarctic Lake Environments (SALE) and will contribute the new magnetic dataset to the international Antarctic Digital Magnetic Anomaly Project.

Dr Andrew Smith, British Antarctic Survey
Professor Tavi Murray, Swansea University
Dr Keith Nicholls, British Antarctic Survey
Dr Keith Makinson, British Antarctic Survey
Dr Dominic Hodgson, British Antarctic Survey
Dr Alexander Brisbourne, University of Leicester

“Basal conditions on Rutford Ice Stream: Bed Access, Monitoring and Ice Sheet History (BEAMISH)” [AFI10/14]

The Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets play a major role in controlling Earth’s sea level and climate, but our understanding of their history and motion is poor. At the moment, the biggest uncertainty in our ability to predict future sea level comes from these ice sheets. This is particularly important because sea level rise from ice sheets is increasing faster than expected, and because ice sheets have the potential to trigger irreversible sea level rise that would continue for many centuries. Reducing this uncertainty is currently one of the biggest challenges in glaciology.

Our project aims to improve our understanding of two aspects of this uncertainty: first, the past behaviour of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS), and second, the flow of the fast ice streams that drain it. By choosing the right location, we can address both these aims within one project. Rutford Ice Stream is one of the large, fast-flowing glaciers that drain WAIS and deliver the ice to the ocean. It has the advantage that a large amount of data have already been collected there from surface fieldwork, from aircraft, and from satellites. The next step is to access the ice stream bed directly, and the existing data mean we can identify the optimum locations for this.

Using a hot-water drill we will make holes to the bed of the ice stream, through ice more than 2 km thick. Once the drill reaches the bed we will collect samples of sediment from beneath the ice. We will also collect sections of ice core from the ice column. Strings of instruments will be lowered down the holes to measure the pressure in the water system beneath the ice, the temperature profile in the ice and the way the ice deforms as it flows downstream. We will also insert probes into the bed that will measure how fast the ice is sliding, as well as the strength of the sediment in the bed itself. Borehole video cameras will record the nature of the ice, bed and water system, including how much sediment is frozen into the bottom of the ice.

On the ice stream surface we will carry out a number of geophysical experiments designed to study the flow of the ice and to map the topography and the variations in basal water and sediment in the area around the drill holes. This will help us to interpret the measurements made in the drill holes. GPS receivers will track the motion of the ice surface; seismic surveys will map the softer and harder areas of bed sediment; radar surveys will show where water beneath the glacier is concentrated or distributed; and a seismometer array will detect the noise bursts emitted as the ice stream grinds over its bed.

Project results will be analysed at the British Antarctic Survey, Swansea University and NERC-GEF. Other project partners at NASA-JPL, University College London and the University of Bristol will also contribute. When completed, the . project will give information on:

The timing of the last ice sheet collapse will be extremely valuable because no other information yet exists in this region. It will help us to understand the way the ice sheet has changed as climate has warmed and cooled in the past. Our other results — characterising ice stream dynamics and how ice, water and the sedimentary bed interact — will help us understand the processes by which ice streams move, and how we should include these processes into models. The results will help to clarify previous work from ice streams elsewhere in Antarctica, which in some cases have been contradictory or inconclusive. Overall, these results will be big steps forward in our ability to understand the way ice sheets behaved in the past, what controls them today, and how they might evolve in the future.

Further information on individual CGS Awards

Dr Alistair Dawson, NERC Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Monks Wood
Dr Richard Phillips, British Antarctic Survey
Dr Phil Trathan, British Antarctic Survey

“Integrating behaviour, physiology and telemetry to glean mechanistic insights into migratory and reproductive success in albatrosses, penguins and petrels breeding at Bird Island, South Georgia” [CGS9/43]

Albatrosses, penguins and petrels traverse large swathes of the Southern Ocean during annual migrations to Bird Island, South Georgia in order to breed. Using telemetry, we will examine how the over-winter distributions and oceanographic conditions encountered by Black-browed albatrosses, Grey-headed albatrosses and White-chinned petrels influence their physiological conditions upon arrival at Bird Island. It is our aim to link oceanic distributions, physiological condition, and breeding and moulting decisions. At the end of the breeding season, we will examine the factors underlying variation in out-migration timing in Black-browed and Grey-headed albatrosses. We will also examine the endocrine mechanisms underlying egg production in Macaroni penguins, and other tasks integral to successful breeding outcomes in seabirds, specifically foraging behaviour and moult.

Dr Teal Riley, British Antarctic Survey
Dr Jian G. Liu, Department of Earth Sciences & Engineering, Imperial College London
Dr Kevin Newsham, British Antarctic Survey

“Remote sensing as a tool for automated feature mapping and geological mapping in the Antarctic Peninsula” [CGS10/45]

This CGS proposal seeks support from AFI panel for a BAS/Imperial College (NERC funded) PhD student (C.E. Haselwimmer) to carry out a field spectroscopy study of the plutonic and volcanic rocks of the Wright Peninsula area of Adelaide Island. This proposed study would extend the recent work of TR Riley who carried out geological field mapping of the same region in 2006/7. A field-based spectral analytical approach will provide the first such study on the Antarctic Peninsula and test this exciting new technique in an area where remote sensing methods are challenging, but have the potential to provide invaluable information using Aster satellite imagery of inaccessible areas.

Dr Jan Kaiser, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia
Dr Michael Meredith, British Antarctic Survey
Dr Richard Sanders, National Oceanography Centre, Southampton

“Southern Ocean productivity estimates from oxygen triple isotopes and continuous oxygen/argon ration measurements during the ANDREX (AFI8/14) cruise” [CGS10/46]

The Southern ocean is an important sink for CO2, driven by the solubility and biological pumps. To understand the relative importance of these mechanisms, we will simultaneously measure dissolved O2/Ar ratios in the mixed layer and triple oxygen isotopes of dissolved O2, to put constrains on rates of photosynthesis, respiration and biological net production. We will also make O2/Ar profile measurements in CTD samples to study the influence of vertical exchange on mixed-layer gas concentrations and, in combination with accurate O2 titrations, to derive absolute Ar concentrations. Ar is a tracer of physical gas exchange and can be used to distinguish water mass exchange mechanisms in the thermocline.

Dr Rebecca Korb British Antarctic Survey
Professor Eric Achterberg, National Oceanography Centre, Southampton
Dr Tom Bibby, National Oceanography Centre, Southampton
Mick Whitehouse, British Antarctic Survey
Dr Mark Moore, National Oceanography Centre, Southampton

“Iron availability and effects on phytoplankton communities in contrasting production regimes of the Scotia Sea: a seasonal perspective” [CGS10/48]

The availability of iron (Fe) limits primary productivity and the associated uptake of carbon over large areas of the Southern Ocean. Fe thus plays an important role in the carbon cycle. Whilst much of the Southern Ocean is characterised by High Nutrient, Low Chlorophyll (HNLC) water, there are areas that are highly productive and are naturally enriched with Fe. In general productivity in the Scotia Sea is high but particularly so downstream of the island of South Georgia. The annual phytoplankton bloom associated with the island is the largest in the open Southern Ocean and potentially one of the largest sinks of carbon. Such phytoplankton blooms are of enormous importance in terms of supporting the high secondary production of the region and thus are an important component of Scotia Sea foodwebs. However, there are few measurements of Fe availability or its role in regulating blooms in this productive sector of the Southern Ocean. The 2 major BAS cruises (JR161 and JR177) of the Discovery 2010 programme provided a unique opportunity to map concentrations of Fe and phytoplankton communities in the Scotia Sea during the austral spring and summer. At the beginning of the phytoplankton-growing season (i.e. spring), standing stocks of phytoplankton are low and, both macro- and micro-nutrient availability is high. Rapid phytoplankton growth in the summer will remove nutrients from surface waters and by the end of the summer concentrations of Fe and macro-nutrients such as silicic acid may become growth limiting. Fe-poor waters may result in a shift in phytoplankton composition which in turn could have important consequences for secondary producers. Therefore an investigation of the availability of Fe and its affects on phytoplankton communities during the late summer is critical to fully understand the role of Fe in the carbon cycle of the Scotia Sea. The work of our proposal complements the Discovery 2010 FOODWEBS programme in examining controls on primary production during different seasons.

Dr Brian Davison, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Lancaster
Dr Howard Roscoe, British Antarctic Survey

“New particles and aerosol in the sea ice zone” [CGS10/47]

Bursts of new particles have been seen in the Antarctic sea ice zone but we have no information on their size distribution or composition. New theories suggest they contain iodine compounds and form much of the cloud condensation nuclei in the southern ocean, which would then give rise to positive feedback on regional climate. We propose to measure the size distribution and chemical composition of new particles and other aerosol during a cruise scheduled for the sea ice zone in February 2009.

Dr Morag Hunter, British Antarctic Survey
Dr Chris Fogwill, Department of Geography, Exeter University

“Geological investigation of terrestrial colonisation rates on the Foyn-Bowman Coast” [CGS10/49]

The project aims to investigate terrestrial colonisation rates on the Foyn-Bowman Coast of Graham Land using various geological techniques. The results will be analysed alongside biological data collected last season investigating the abundance and diversity of the fauna and flora in this area.

Dr Raja Ganeshram, University of Edinburgh
Dr Mike Meredith, British Antarctic Survey
Professor Andrew Clarke, British Antarctic Survey

“Linking sea ice variability with diatom assemblage changes and nutrient dynamics in the Antarctic sea-ice environment: A collaborative study with the RaTS LTMS programme” [CGS10/50]

The proposal is for a collaborative project with Rothera Biological and Oceanographic Time Series Study (RaTS). We will investigate the complex interrelationships between sea ice variability, water column density structure, nutrient dynamics and phytoplankton biomass/assemblage composition. The central question addressed in the proposal is how variability in water column physics influences the timing and magnitude of the phytoplankton bloom, the phytoplankton assemblage composition, nutrient drawdown and the production of biogenic detritus.

Dr Geraint Tarling British Antarctic Survey
Dr Grant Steniford, Cefas Weymouth Laboratory
Dr Ruth Hicks, Cefas Weymouth Laboratory

“Diseases of krill in the Southern Ocean: effects on standing stock and implications of changing climate” [CGS10/51]

Krill are a keystone species in the Antarctic aquatic environment. Despite this, studies on disease and its role as a driver for mass mortality are lacking. Recent BAS research has reported significant declines in krill stock from the Southern Oceans but the causal agents (abiotic or biotic) have not been elucidated. We aim to generate pathogen profiles (viruses to metazoans) for krill across their range in the Southern Ocean, to link pathogen prevalence to abiotic features (e.g. temperature) and to incorporate prevalence estimates into stock assessment models. Using this approach, we will use the data to model effects of potential climate change on pathogen prevalence (and therefore mortality) in krill swarms from across the temperature range at which they exist. Further, we will estimate the effect of temperature increases above the 0° C threshold on disease epidemics in this species.

Dr Mike Zubkov, University of Southampton, National Oceanography Centre, Southampton
Dr Jonathan Watkins, British Antarctic Survey

“Do mixotrophic protists control oligotrophic, but nutrient rich, ecosystems of the Antarctic Ocean?” [CGS10/52]

The proposal aims to explain the functioning of microbial communities in the oligotrophic, but nutrient rich, Antarctic surface waters by testing a concept that mixotrophic protists control the dominant bacterioplankton populations, competing for depleted bioavailable Fe. Using a combination of isotopic tracer (55Fe, 14C, 35S, 3H) on-board experiments plus high resolution mapping of spatial distributions of planktonic prokaryotes and protists the following hypotheses will be addressed (i) mixotrophic protists rather than heterotrophic protists dominate bacterivory; (ii) mixotrophic protists and not phototrophic protists or cyanobacteria dominate primary production; (iii) bacterivory rather than bacterioplankton senescence controls Fe cycling.