Workshop: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Understanding Ocean/Ice-Shelf/Ice-Sheet Interactions

Oregon State University, Corvallis OR

Investigators

Abstract

This two-day workshop is to develop a comprehensive, integrated, interdisciplinary approach to observing, understanding and modeling ice-shelf-buttressed, marine-based glacier systems that drain major ice sheets. Such systems have the ability to evolve rapidly (years to decades) in response to ocean-induced ice-shelf loss, with consequences for rapid rise of global sea level and potentially huge impacts on society. Three components are required to understand the potential significance of these systems: simultaneous comprehensive measurements of all physical elements (atmosphere, ocean, ice shelf, glacier, sea ice, sea/glacier bed); paleo history of the study region(s) from late glacial times through the Holocene to present, to assess relative stability and potential rates of change; and comprehensive modeling incorporating principal physical processes including the ability to represent system variability through the Holocene in relation to climate reconstructions and into the future in response to projected climate change. The workshop will assemble bring representatives of the above three disciplines to identify key elements required to make transformative progress on understanding processes that control the sensitivity of these systems to change. Invitees include researchers with skills in in situ and remote-sensing observations of all elements of the target systems including existing structure of ocean and ice-shelf systems as well as reconstructions of past oceans and climate, and numerical modelers with interests ranging from regional ocean circulation and ice-shelf and glacier processes to paleo-history of large ice sheets. International invitees include researchers with capabilities and skills that augment US resources. Discussions at the workshop will be centered on (1) identification of essential components of a comprehensive study, and (2) development of a logistically manageable interdisciplinary strategy that could be applied to study one or more systems determined to be representative of similar systems in both Greenland and Antarctica. Broader impacts: The workshop will document a strategy for making transformative advances in understanding the potential for large and rapid sea level rise from ocean-induced retreat of marine-based glaciers and ice streams presently buttressed by ice shelves. The specific goals of the proposed workshop will stress the urgency of interdisciplinary collaborations between glaciologists, oceanographers, paleo-scientists, modelers, and technology developers. Likely attendees include early-career polar researchers and underrepresented groups. Proposed meeting dates are adjacent to major national meetings, and students will be encouraged to attend to experience the process of developing major research initiatives.