Glacier Change in the Southern Indian Ocean: Brown Glacier, Heard Island

University Of Alaska Fairbanks Campus, Fairbanks AK

Investigators

Abstract

This award supports a Small Grant for Exploratory Research (SGER) to take advantage of an opportunity that recently presented itself for the P.I. to work on Heard Island with the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD). Heard Island is a small (367 km 2 ) subantarctic island which consists of a 2700 m high composite volcano that is glacierized on all sides.. The objective of the work is to determine the current mass balance, geometry and flow regime of Brown Glacier on Heard Island in the Southern Indian Ocean. The work will help to establish a baseline profile of Heard Island glaciers by measuring some basic glaciological parameters (mass balance, flow velocity, ice thickness). This will help relate the observed glacier changes to climate, and thus provide an important indicator of climate change in one of the most remote and least visited places on the planet. The proposed work provides an excellent opportunity for U.S. involvement in an area where it would be nearly impossible to operate without local collaboration. The intellectual merit of this study is that it adds to observations of climate change in a region of the world that is very difficult to access, and where few data have been collected. Heard Island is one of only few landmasses at this latitude, and its elevation range makes it a prime candidate for glacier study. Documenting glacier change fills an important gap in the picture of global climate change. The broader impacts of this work are that this is a collaborative project with the Australian Antarctic Division who will provide the logistics and some personnel. The work will be part of a Ph.D. thesis at the University of Tasmania in Hobart, Australia and will thus contribute to the education of a young scientist. The Heard Island field team includes geologists, glaciologists, and plant and wildlife biologists, studying this unique system. Much of the work is interdisciplinary, such as the study of plant re-colonization after glacial retreat. Heard Island is a World Heritage site, and it is believed that no human-introduced plant or animal life exists on the island. The Australian Antarctic Division has a long history of successful collaboration with U.S. investigators and is keen on maintaining that. It concentrates its work in and around the eastern part of the Antarctic continent, and therefore complements the U.S. work on the western part of Antarctica. The results of this work will be published in peer-reviewed journals. The investigator has also given lectures to the general public and provided feedback to journalists on glacier issues, and will continue to do so in the future.