The initial COLDEX aerogeophysical survey of Southern Dome A: Overview and prospects

• Main Authors: Young, D., Paden, J., Kerr, M., Singh, S., Kaundinya, S., Buhl, D., Greenbaum, J., Blankenship, D., Ng, G., Kempf, S., Neff, P., Fudge, T., Koutnik, M., Severinghaus, J., Brook, E.
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: 2023
• Subjects: East Antarctica; South Pole; Antarc*; Antarctica; ice core; Ice Sheet; South pole
• Online Access: https://gfzpublic.gfz-potsdam.de/pubman/item/item_5021337

The Center for Oldest Ice Exploration is using a phased approach for locating a stratigraphically intact ice core capturing the mid-Pleistocene climate transition, targeting regions near the South Pole in East Antarctica. In January 2023, we completed a broad, regional airborne survey of the southern flank of Dome A, Antarctica from South Pole Station, imaging the large scale structure of the ice sheet and underlying crust using ice penetrating radar, aeromagnetics and airborne gravity. Based on these results, in 2023/24 we will perform targeted airborne surveys at several subregions at ice thickness length scales characterize candidate sites, which will be used to locate follow-on ground-based high resolution studies. We report on current progress in year 1 data processing, focusing on englacial structure and bed properties, and implications for follow on survey work.