NBP1402 diatom data
Totten Glacier is the termination of the largest marine-based portion of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, the Aurora Subglacial Basin. Yet little is known about the glacial evolution of the catchment and the factors influencing its present and past behavior. Due its remote location and heavy sea ice, t...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Dataset |
| Language: | English |
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U.S. Antarctic Program (USAP) Data Center
2020
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| Online Access: | https://dx.doi.org/10.15784/601258 https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601258 |
| Summary: | Totten Glacier is the termination of the largest marine-based portion of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, the Aurora Subglacial Basin. Yet little is known about the glacial evolution of the catchment and the factors influencing its present and past behavior. Due its remote location and heavy sea ice, the continental shelf in front of the Totten Glacier had not been comprehensively surveyed prior to this study. Satellite observations indicate that the Totten ice drainage system is thinning, and it has been hypothesized that this thinning is in response to undermelting by warm ocean waters over the continental shelf. While this process is observed elsewhere in Antarctica (e.g. the rapidly retreating Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica), the Totten Glacier system is potentially Antarcticas most important glacial drainage system due to its large size; it is three times larger than any system in West Antarctica. The main goals of this proposal were: To generate multibeam bathymetric maps of the continental shelf proximal to the Totten Glacier system to understand the recent regional glacial history and to document the pathways, if any, for circumpolar deep water to move onto the shelf. To conduct a physical oceanographic survey of the region proximal to the Totten Glacier system, to determine the presence, if any, of warm ocean waters over the continental shelf.To conduct a seismic survey of the continental shelf to assess the long-term evolution of the glacial system in the Aurora Subglacial Basin.To collect marine sediment cores to determine the regional deglacial to Holocene climate history and the influence of warm circumpolar deep water. |
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