5:15 PM - 6:30 PM
[MIS18-P04] Introduction of SWAIS 2C (Sensitivity of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet to 2 Degrees Celsius) project and Japanese contribution
Keywords:Antarctica Ice Sheet and Southern Ocean
The Antarctic Ice Sheet is one of the most significant potential contributors to future sea-level changes. However, the response of the Antarctic Ice Sheet to projected warming and its contribution to the sea level rise remains mostly uncertain. The on-going project, called SWAIS 2C (Sensitivity of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet to 2 Degrees Celsius), will focus on understanding past and current drivers, mechanisms, and feedbacks that influence the retreat of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS), to reduce uncertainty in numerical model projections of future changes. This project is designed to address the overarching questions: How will marine-based ice sheets respond to a 2°C increase in global temperature, and what are the local, regional, and global environmental consequences of the ice sheet response if temperatures ultimately exceed the 2°C increase?
Japanese scientists are involved in the international team of geologists, glaciologists, geophysicists, and ice sheet and climate modelers who will use a proven ‘trident’ approach that integrates studies of past and present ice sheet behavior to improve future projections (using models) of WAIS response to climate change. The project will carry out the sediment drilling underneath of the ice shelf at two locations along the Siple Coast in the West Antarctic interior based on newly developed drilling technology to obtain a sedimentary history of past ice sheet dynamics. The recovered sediment cores will be used for reconstructing past environmental change and ice sheet dynamics in the interior Ross Sea Embayment in past warm intervals when global mean temperatures were similar to those projected for the coming decades. The present-day ice sheet dynamics will be examined through detailed studies of glacial and oceanographic processes within the Ross Ice Shelf cavity and at the grounding zone. New knowledge derived from this drilling project regarding ice flow dynamics, grounding line interactions, and the influence of oceanic and atmospheric warming will be integrated into numerical models to improve simulations of ice mass change under future climate scenarios. This integrated 3-fold approach will improve projections of Antarctic ice sheet contribution to global sea level in global mean temperature up to 2°C.
Japanese scientists are involved in the international team of geologists, glaciologists, geophysicists, and ice sheet and climate modelers who will use a proven ‘trident’ approach that integrates studies of past and present ice sheet behavior to improve future projections (using models) of WAIS response to climate change. The project will carry out the sediment drilling underneath of the ice shelf at two locations along the Siple Coast in the West Antarctic interior based on newly developed drilling technology to obtain a sedimentary history of past ice sheet dynamics. The recovered sediment cores will be used for reconstructing past environmental change and ice sheet dynamics in the interior Ross Sea Embayment in past warm intervals when global mean temperatures were similar to those projected for the coming decades. The present-day ice sheet dynamics will be examined through detailed studies of glacial and oceanographic processes within the Ross Ice Shelf cavity and at the grounding zone. New knowledge derived from this drilling project regarding ice flow dynamics, grounding line interactions, and the influence of oceanic and atmospheric warming will be integrated into numerical models to improve simulations of ice mass change under future climate scenarios. This integrated 3-fold approach will improve projections of Antarctic ice sheet contribution to global sea level in global mean temperature up to 2°C.