ICE Ice rises
Scientist from the Norwegian Polar Institute and several other national and international institutions are collaborating in this project.
Through ICE Ice rises, we want to talk about our research in Antarctica and focus on the climatic changes occuring there, changes which may affect people around the world.
We leave Norway on 19 December 2011, heading for Antarctica where we will spend several weeks on the ice doing scientific research. We will back in Norway early February 2012. During the course of the project we will keep in touch with students, teachers and others through the web and by school visits. We will return to Antarctica for additional fieldwork in the winter of 2012–2013 and 2013–2014 (during the Antarctic summer).
Follow us and our research in Antarctica
We're bringing our computers to Antarctica, and you can follow us on the ice online. We'll answer your questions and post daily updates. Here you'll be able to read about the weather conditions on the ice, watch images and videos and read about exciting new discoveries!
Find us here:
Have a question? Don't hesitate to contact us!
Project leader
Norwegian Polar Institute
Executive Director of Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS)
University of Tromsø
The ICE Ice rises project is led by the Norwegian Polar Institute with cooperation from the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS) in the outreach effort toward shools.
Ice rises
Antarctica
Antarctica is the fifth largest continent in the world. It is approximately 1½ the size of Australia, and 36 times larger than Norway. 98% of Antarctica is covered by a large ice cap measuring more than 3000 metres at its thickest, and constitutes almost 70% of all fresh water on Earth.
Glaciers on the edge of the Antarctic ice cap flow like slow rivers toward the coast. When the glacier reaches the sea, the ice starts to float. This huge, thick floating tongue of ice is called an ice shelf. The ice shelf holds the glacier back, like a cork in a bottle, and prevents more ice from flowing down to the sea. In some places the sea is so shallow that the ice shelf runs aground on the seabed; this can be seen as a huge bump on the surface and is called an ice rise. These ice rises help impede the glacier and hold the “cork” in place.
The total amount of ice on the Antarctic continent is determined by the balance between the snow that falls on the ground, and ice that flows out into the ocean and is broken off as ice bergs, a process called calving. (In addition there is also a relatively smaller ablation part in the form of sublimation and evaporation.) The more ice that flows into the ocean, the greater the rise in sea level – which in turn will affect everyone living near the coast.
The research
ICE Ice rises is dedicated to studying the ice rises on the ice shelves along the coast of Dronning Maud Land in Antarctica. One goal is to find out how the ice rises are influencing the ice. We'll look at the coastal area and the development of the ice rises over the last millennia to find out if they have increased or decreased in size.
We also want to improve our understanding of how the ice moves in the complex system of glaciers, ice rises and ice shelves. Our results will be used to predict the melting of the ice and whether or not it will cause a rise in sea level.
Studying the ice rises in Antarctica up close and making measurements are key to acheiving these goals. The fieldwork will be conducted over the course of three Antarctic summers, starting December 2011.
Research assistant Anne Tårånd Aasen on the fieldwork
“When we arrive, the first thing we'll do is map the topography. This is done using altitude measurements from precision GPS units, which we'll mount on snowmobiles and drive around on the ice rise. The measurements should give us an indication of where the steepest descent from the top is. This is the flow direction of the ice, since the ice flows down at the steepest, like a river.
Along this steepest line we aim to make radar measurements. On top of the ice the snow sets in layers, year after year. Using the radar we're able to see these layers unfold downward in the ice, and we'll get an idea of how the ice looks deep down under the surface. We can use this to examine the historic development of the ice rise and the ice shelf, and determine if the have grown or shrunk in the past.
We'll also be drilling ice cores, about 20 metres down into the ice. The cores will be shipped to Norway for further examination. They will be able to tell us the number of layers and the age of the ice – almost like counting year rings of a tree. When we have determined the depth, age and density of the ice, we can calculate the average snowfall over the last years.
We will also be measuring how fast the ice flows down the ice rise. This is done by planting stakes in the snow, and then measuring the position of the stakes with a GPS unit placed on top of the stakes. When the same measurements are repeated one year later, we can determine how far the stakes have moved, and calculate their average speed.”