Workshop Agenda
U.S. Science Support Program – International Ocean Discovery Program Workshop
Antarctica’s Cenozoic ice and climate history: New Science and new challenges of drilling in Antarctic waters
IODP, Texas A&M, College Station, 9-11 May 2016
Monday 9 May (Room 110/111, Koldus Building, Texas A&M University)
Proposed IODP Antarctic and Southern Ocean drilling; common themes and overview of science plans.
9:00 Introduction to the ice and weather session (Trevor Williams)
9:15 A short history of past Antarctic scientific drilling (Frank Rack)
9:30 Introduction to the IODP proposal system (David Mallinson)
10:15 Presentations on Antarctic and Southern Ocean proposals at the JR Facility Board:
- IODP-751. Ocean-ice sheet interactions and West Antarctic Ice Sheet vulnerability: clues from the Neogene and Quaternary record of the outer Ross Sea continental margin (Rob McKay et al.).
- IODP-839. Development and sensitivity of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet tested from drill records of the Amundsen Sea Embayment (Karsten Gohl et al.).
- IODP-732. Sediment drifts off the Antarctic Peninsula and West Antarctica (Jim Channell, Rob Larter, et al.).
- IODP-567. Paleogene South Pacific APC Transect: Heat Transport and Water Column Structure During an Extreme Warm Climate (Debbie Thomas et al.).
1:00 Updates on Antarctic and Southern Ocean drilling proposals:
- IODP-813-MSP. Greenhouse to Icehouse Antarctic paleoclimate and ice history from George V Land and Adélie Land shelf sediments (Trevor Williams, Carlota Escutia, et al.). Mission-Specific Platform expedition scheduled for Dec 2017 to Feb 2018.
- IODP-848. Late Neogene to Quaternary ice-sheet and sea-level history of the Weddell Sea, Antarctica (Mike Weber et al.). At IODP Science Evaluation Panel (SEP).
- IODP-902. Plio-Pleistocene reconstruction of ice-sheet, atmosphere, and ocean dynamics in Iceberg Alley (Mike Weber et al.) Resubmitted to SEP, 1 April 2016.
- IODP-868 Scotia Sea (Ellen Thomas for Javier Hernandez Molina et al.)
- Drake Passage (Gisela Winckler for Frank Lamy)
- Agulhas Plateau (Gabi Uenzelmann-Neben et al.)
- IODP-MDP-863 ISOLAT (Minoru Ikeraha for Peterson et al.).
2:30 Ice Sheet modeling (Rob DeConto)
3:00 Sea level and Glacial Isostatic Adjustment (GIA) Jacky Austermann)
3:15 Carbon dioxide, temperature, and ice volume over the Cenozoic (Amelia Shevenell)
3:30 Discussion:
Where to drill and which ages, events, and high-CO2 scenarios to target?
Tuesday 10 May (Room 110/111, Koldus Building, IODP-GCR))
Drilling in a harsh polar environment: sea ice, icebergs and weather assessment; planning for the unexpected.
9:00 Introduction to the ice and weather session (Trevor Williams)
9:15 Satellite imagery of ice conditions (Michael Cloutier, PGC)
9:45 Weather: forecasts of temperature, wind, and sea state; typical seasonal changes; available weather forecast and re-analysis products.
- Frank Nitsche – ice monitoring on the RVIB N.B. Palmer
- Karsten Kohl – sea ice monitoring on the Polarstern
- Gary Action – hazard management on Leg 178 (Ant. Peninsula) and in Baffin Bay
- Trevor Williams – Examples of daily visual and microwave radar images for expedition planning. The MODIS images are from the Mertz Glacier area, including the Expedition 373 site locations. The AMSR2 sea ice concentrations are from the seas surrounding West Antarctica, including the Expedition 374, Expedition 379, and Proposal 732 site locations.
1:00 Five-minute presentations about each of the sets of sediment cores to be shown at the GCR in the afternoon:
- Sites 272, 271 (Miocene-Pliocene Sea shelf) Examples of clast-rich silty clay, clast-free diatomite (MMCO age?), structureless mud. Relating to IODP-751, 839.
- Site 270 (Oligocene-Miocene Ross Sea shelf). Examples of marine transgression, diamictite, shallow marine mudstone, glacial rythmites). Relating to IODP-751, 839.
- Sites 1096 and 1101 (Pleistocene Peninsula continental rise sediment drifts). IncludingMIS interglacials 5,9,and 31. Relating to IODP-732.
- Sites 1097 and 1103 (late Miocene-Pliocene Peninsula shelf). Examples of diamictites, proglacial debris flows, and ice-distal muds). Relating to IODP-751, 839.
- Sites 1171 (S Tasman Rise) and 1218 (equatorial Pacific) Eocene-Oligocene transitions.
- Site 689 (Eocene to Pliocene at Maud Rise) Antarctic ice sheet evolution through time.
- Site U1361 (Wilkes Land continental rise) Pliocene sedimentary cycles – diatom-rich and silty clay alternations, ice-rafted debris, provenance for Wilkes subglacial basin.
- Site 742 (Prydz Bay) Pliocene ice retreat in shelf sediments: diatomite and diamictite.
- Micro paleontological examples from the IODP collection in the microscope room.
- Sites 1098 and 1099 (Palmer Deep, Peninsula) Late-Pleistocene and Holocene Antarctic sediments showing ice retreat, calving bay facies, and laminations.
- Site 1166 (Cretaceous-Eocene Prydz Bay shelf) Examples of organic and mica-rich siltstone, and pre-glacial unconformity. Relating to IODP-813.
Examination of Antarctic sediment cores in the Gulf Coast Core Repository.
3:00 Orientation to the IODP and GCR.
- The sediment cores were organized into eleven stations (core tables), each focusing on a different Antarctic location or time interval. Groups will contain a mix of experienced and junior scientists. At each sediment core station, maps, seismic profile, data etc. provided the setting.
3:30 In parallel: breakout group to discuss the letter for the JOIDES Resolution Facility Board.
4:45 Introduction to how to make a good application for IODP expeditions (for students).
Wednesday 11 May (IODP / Gulf Coast Repository)
9:00 Guided examination of Antarctic sediment cores in the Gulf Core Repository.
10:45 Three breakout groups to facilitate discussion about Antarctic drilling and proposal strategy
1:00 Plenary session recap and wrap-up.
2:00 Tours of the Gulf Coast Repository core store and facilities; smear slide classes.
5:00 Meeting close.