Site Assessment and Feasibility of a New Operations Base on the Greenland Ice Sheet

• Main Authors: Burzynski, Amy M, Wong, Sandy, Mercer, Jennifer L, Deeb, Elias J, Newman, Stephen D
• Other Authors: ENGINEER RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER HANOVER NH COLD REGIONS RESEARCH AND ENGINEERING LAB
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: Geography; Snow; Ice and Permafrost; Test Facilities; Equipment and Methods; *ARCTIC REGIONS; *GREENLAND; *RESEARCH FACILITIES; *SITE SELECTION; ELEVATION; GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION SYSTEMS; HUMIDITY; ICE; POLAR REGIONS; RANGE(DISTANCE); TEMPERATURE; WEATHER; WIND VELOCITY; GIS(GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEM); NYANG(NEW YORK AIR NATIONAL GUARD); POLAR OPERATIONS; SITE ASSESSMENT; SUMMIT STATIONS; TRAVERSABILITY; GREENLAND ICE SHEET; Arctic; Greenland; Isi; Ice; Ice Sheet; permafrost
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA585809; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA585809

The National Science Foundation is moving forward with plans to convert Summit Station, Greenland, into a clean air/clean snow research facility. Plans include reducing the size of the station and minimizing both research and operations activities. To continue support of scientific research that does not require a clean air/snow environment, an alternate site needs to be identified and assessed for feasibility of operations, scientific viability (at or easily reachable from the new site), and traversability between there and the existing Summit Station. Additionally, the 109th Airlift Wing of the Air National Guard is seeking a new training site in Greenland; increased melt along the margin of the ice sheet is encroaching upon their current site, Raven. Here we present the results of our site selection analysis to identify target locations for a new operations base serving science research and support and 109th training facilities. Recently, NSF has shifted focus to a new site, Isi, located about 3 miles north of Summit, closer to the actual peak elevation of the ice sheet, to house a proposed telescope. This site assessment and the geographic information system (GIS) we built will be used primarily to identify an alternate training location for the 109th. Once specific target sites are identified, we recommend satellite imagery analysis and further consideration of ice stability factors (i.e., velocity and crevassing) that may affect construction viability, as well as weather station installation and monitoring to assess local climatic factors. A site visit for in-depth physical inspection should follow. The original document contains color images.