National Ice Core Lab Stores Valuable Ancient Ice

Lab supplies Arctic, Antarctic ice cores critical to climate research

It's a freezing cold day inside the National Ice Core Laboratory (NICL) in Denver, Colo., as it is every day of the year. That's because the NICL is a facility for storing and studying ice cores recovered from the polar regions of the world. It's minus 23.3 degrees Celsius (minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit) inside, so everyone is bundled up in ski parkas, insulated gloves and boots. And, saws are buzzing, as scientists from all over the U.S. are measuring and cutting pieces of precious Antarctic glacier ice to take back to their labs for research.

 "I'm here to cut gas samples out of this core," says Murat Aydin, a chemist who's visiting from the University of California, Irvine.

"I'm looking at the mineralogy of the ice," says Donald Voigt, a geoscientist from Penn State.

"I'm studying the stable water isotopes that tell us about past temperature changes," adds Brad Markle, a geochemist from the University of Washington.

While their research goals vary, all the scientists are here on this day for same thing--ice cores from the WAIS Divide Ice Core project. WAIS stands for West Antarctic Ice Sheet. The WAIS Divide is a high point on the ice sheet where the ice begins to flow in different directions.

"We started this ice core project in 2005," says manager Mark Twickler. With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), Twickler and a team of scientists, engineers and support personnel traveled to the bottom of the world to drill and bring back these ice cores, which are perfectly preserved records of the distant past.

The ice cores were taken from a giant ancient Antarctic ice sheet more than 70,000 years old. An ice sheet is a permanent layer of ice covering an extensive tract of land. The team drilled down more than two miles to retrieve the oldest pieces of ice in the sheet. The cores were carefully packed and shipped back to the U.S. and stored in a giant freezer at the NICL. The temperature in the freezer is minus 40 degrees Celsius (and Fahrenheit), and it contains more than 18,000 meters, or ten miles, worth of ice cores.

Twickler says ice core layers are like tree rings because each layer represents a year of weather. "The unique thing about polar glaciers is that each year brings another layer of snow. So, you get one year's worth of snow on top of the previous year. The layers compress, so everything that fell out of the atmosphere, including dust, salt from the ocean and volcanic ash, is preserved in the ice core," explains Twickler.

 "There are times where it snows less for a couple years, and then it snows more for a few years, and by looking at the composition of the snow, we can tell what the temperatures were, how rough the oceans were around Antarctica, and even how dusty it was in Australia. We can tell whether the dust came from Australia or South America, so in that way, we know the winds were stronger and drier in one region, or the other. We can also look at the electrical properties of the ice from year to year. So, it's basically like looking at a weather report, year to year, going back in time," continues Twickler.

"The National Ice Core Lab is a world class facility that has been in operation for close to 20 years now, as well as a unique training ground for students, some of whom began as undergraduates and have now gone on to graduate school because of their experience at the lab," says Julie Palais, program manager for the Antarctic glaciology program within the NSF's Office of Polar Programs. "In addition, the facility houses one of the most unique collections of scientific samples in the world, and group tours provide a wonderful opportunity for members of the public and school children to learn about the important work being done on samples from both polar regions." Arctic as well as Antarctic samples are stored at the facility.

Some scientists study the bubbles trapped within the cores--each a tiny pocket of air, frozen in time. "We can take those bubbles and measure a variety of gases that were in the atmosphere at the time the bubbles were formed," says Twickler.

The National Ice Core Laboratory is operated and maintained through an interagency agreement between NSF and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

"The NICL facility provides the ice core research community with the capability to conduct examinations and measurements on ice cores, while preserving the integrity of these cores in a safeguarded, temperature-controlled environment. This is accomplished with multiple backups built into the refrigeration system and a 24/7 alarm system to alert us of any problems that occur," explains Betty Adrian, NICL acting technical director.

USGS scientist Joan Fitzpatrick is looking at WAIS Divide ice core samples to research how ice sheets respond to changing climate. In order to do that, she creates thin wafers of ice from the core and then places the wafer samples under a microscope to analyze individual ice crystals.

"If the climate is warming, is the ice sheet going to get thinner overall? Is the ice sheet going to fall apart around the edges or is it suddenly going to slide off the continent?" asks Fitzpatrick. "We really don't have a good handle on how the ice sheet as a whole will respond in a changing climate. The water that comes out of the melting ice sheets melts into the oceans and can raise sea level. This is a key issue for the public," she adds.

"These icy blasts from the past are helping researchers better understand the mechanics of climate change," says Linda Morris, education program manager for the U.S. Ice Drilling Program. "Ice cores give us this long historical record of what naturally has been occurring to the Earth's climate for hundreds of thousands of years. More recent patterns emerging from times when humans have inhabited the Earth can then be evaluated against this long term data to more meaningfully assess the impact of our behaviors on climate. It's an exciting inquiry and an important one if we are to be good stewards of our environment into the future."

Miles O'Brien, Science Nation Correspondent

Ann Kellan, Science Nation Producer

NSF's South Pole Telescope Discovers a Galaxy Cluster Creating Stars at a Record Pace

Researchers say Phoenix Cluster activity may cause scientists to rethink how galaxies evolve

A National Science Foundation-funded radio telescope in Antarctica has found an extraordinary galaxy cluster that may force astronomers to rethink how galaxy clusters and the galaxies that inhabit them evolve.

The galaxy cluster was discovered some 5.7 billion light years from Earth by the 10-meter wide South Pole Telescope (SPT) located at NSF's Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica, which is funded by NSF's Office of Polar Programs.

NSF manages the U.S. Antarctic Program, through which it coordinates all U.S research and required logistical support on the continent as well as aboard ships in the Southern Ocean.

Officially known as SPT-CLJ2344-4243, the cluster has been dubbed the "Phoenix Cluster" because it is located in the constellation of the Phoenix and because of its remarkable properties. Scientists taking part in the SPT collaboration found the cluster using the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect, the result of high energy electrons distorting the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation through inverse Compton scattering, in which the low energy CMB photons receive an average energy boost during collision with the high energy cluster electrons.

Galaxy clusters, which are among the largest objects in the universe, contain enough hot gas to create detectable "shadows" in the light left over from the Big Bang, which also is known as CMB radiation.

"The mythology of the Phoenix--a bird rising from the dead--is a perfect way to describe this revived object," said Michael McDonald, a Hubble Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the lead author of a paper appearing in the August 16 issue of the journal Nature. "While galaxies at the center of most clusters have been dead for billions of years, the central galaxy in this cluster seems to have come back to life."

Observations made by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory in space and by the NSF-managed Gemini Observatory and the Blanco 4-meter and Magellan telescopes in Chile corroborate the SPT discovery and show that stars are forming in this object at the highest rate ever seen in the middle of a galaxy cluster. The object also is the most powerful producer of X-rays of any known cluster, and among the most massive of clusters. The data also suggest that the rate of hot gas cooling in the central regions of the cluster is the largest ever observed.

This light has travelled for 14 billion years across the entire observable universe to get to Earth. If it passes through a massive cluster on its way, then a tiny fraction of the light gets scattered to higher energies--the SZ effect.

Predicted in 1972, the SZ effect was first demonstrated to detect previously unknown clusters of galaxies by the SPT collaboration in 2009. Observations of the effect have since opened a new window for astronomers to discover the most massive, distant clusters in the universe.

"The beauty of the SZ effect for cosmology is that it is as easy to detect a cluster of galaxies in the distant reaches of the observable universe as it is for one nearby," said John Carlstrom, the S. Chandrasekhar Distinguished Service Professor in Astronomy & Astrophysics at the University of Chicago and the SPT's principal investigator. "The magnitude of the effect depends on the mass of the object and not its distance from Earth."

Like other galaxy clusters, Phoenix contains a vast reservoir of hot gas, containing more normal matter than all of the galaxies in the cluster combined. The emission from this reservoir can only be detected with X-ray telescopes like NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. The prevailing wisdom had once been that this hot gas should cool over time and sink to the center of the cluster, forming huge numbers of stars.

However, central galaxies in the cluster have formed very few stars over the last few billion years. Astronomers think that the super-massive black hole in the central galaxy of a cluster pumps energy into the system, preventing cooling of gas from causing a burst of star formation. The famous Perseus Cluster is an example of a black hole bellowing out energy and preventing the gas from cooling to form stars at a high rate.

With the black hole not producing powerful enough jets to halt cooling, the center of the Phoenix cluster is buzzing with stars that are forming 20 times faster than in the Perseus Cluster. This rate is the highest seen in the center of a galaxy cluster and is comparable to the highest seen anywhere in the universe.

The frenetic pace of star birth and cooling of gas in Phoenix are causing both the galaxy and the black hole to add mass very quickly--an important phase that the researchers predict will be relatively short-lived.

"The galaxy and its black hole are undergoing unsustainable growth," said co-author Bradford Benson, of the University of Chicago. "This growth spurt can't last longer than about a hundred million years; otherwise the galaxy and black hole would become much bigger than their counterparts in the nearby universe."

Remarkably, the Phoenix Cluster and its central galaxy and super-massive black hole are already among the most massive known objects of their type. Because of their tremendous size, galaxy clusters are crucial objects for studying cosmology and galaxy evolution, so finding one with such extreme properties as the Phoenix Cluster is significant.

The SPT collaboration has now completed an SZ survey of the 2500 square degrees of the southern sky that began in February 2007. It has found approximately 500 "SZ effect" galaxy clusters and published more than 20 papers in peer-reviewed journals. Further analysis of the collected data could reveal the existence of additional galaxy clusters.

The NSF-funded Physics Frontier Center of the University of Chicago's Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, the Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory, the Kavli Foundation, and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation also provide partial support for the SPT.

 -NSF-

Patient Successfully Evacuated From Antarctica

A medical evacuation flight bringing a patient from the National Science Foundation's McMurdo Station in Antarctica arrived safely in Christchurch, New Zealand at approximately 3 a.m. Eastern Time on Thursday, Aug. 9.

Upon arrival, the patient was transported to a local hospital for treatment.

Due to medical confidentiality, NSF has no additional comment on the patient's status.

NSF decided earlier this week to fly the patient out of Antarctica to receive treatment that is not available at McMurdo. The medical facility at the station is equivalent to an urgent-care center in the United States and is not equipped for the type of procedure that was being contemplated.

Kelly Falkner, the acting director of NSF's Office of Polar Programs, expressed the gratitude of the U.S. Antarctic Program, which NSF manages, to government agencies in Australia and New Zealand that provided the vital assets to make the evacuation possible.

She noted that "this is an excellent example of the benefits of longstanding cooperation with our Antarctic partners, Australia and New Zealand in particular."

The Australian Antarctic Division, which manages Australia's Antarctic research program, provided an A319 Airbus to transport the patient as well as the aircrew and medical support staff aboard the plane. The Royal New Zealand Air Force contributed search-and-rescue coverage, which is integral to any medical evacuation flight at this time of year.

Winter is coming to a close in Antarctica, but daylight is minimal and restricted to midday twilight, and temperatures are extremely low.

An additional passenger was also permitted to leave McMurdo Station aboard the medical evacuation flight because of compelling personal circumstances.

NSF manages the U.S. Antarctic Program, through which it coordinates all U.S. research and the necessary logistical support on the continent and aboard ships in the Southern Ocean.

 -NSF-

NSF Invites Media to Apply for Opportunity to Report on U.S.-sponsored Antarctic Research

Application deadline is August 24, 2012; deployments scheduled for December 8-15, 2012

The National Science Foundation (NSF), manager of the U.S. Antarctic Program, is accepting written requests from professional journalists to report on scientific research supported by NSF's Office of Polar Programs (OPP) in Antarctica.

Selected journalists will deploy to Antarctica for approximately one working week.

NSF annually chooses a small group of journalists, representing a range of news organizations, to make individual visits to McMurdo Station, NSF's logistics hub on the continent. In addition, reporters visit Amundsen Scott South Pole Station (weather permitting), and report on NSF-sponsored research at field camps in close proximity to McMurdo.

For additional background on the U.S. Antarctic Program, please see the Arctic Sciences Web page on the NSF website.

OPP and NSF's Office of Legislative and Public Affairs jointly manage and coordinate media visits to the Polar Region.

Examples of projects that will be open to media visits include:

- A site near McMurdo Station where a unique drill is being tested as part of the Whillans Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research Drilling Project, a six-year, interdisciplinary deployment studying glaciology, microbiology, geochemistry and oceanography of the ecosystem. Media also may be able to speak to WISSARD researchers returning from the field. It will not be possible for reporters selected as media visitors to visit the remote WISSARD field camp.

- The South Pole Telescope and IceCube Neutrino Observatory at NSF's Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station.

- The Long-term Ecological Research (LTER) Project in the McMurdo Dry Valleys

- Studies of population dynamics of penguins and seals in McMurdo Sound

How to apply: Applicants must submit a written expression of interest in participating in the program, the equivalent of no more than two printed pages, detailing the outlet(s) in which the reporting will appear and a description of the audiences for those outlets.

Competition for the opportunity to deploy is expected to be intense, as Antarctic logistics are a constraining factor on how many people may deploy. Logistical limitations make it nearly impossible to modify itineraries once in Antarctica.

A panel consisting of science and logistics staff from the Office of Polar Programs and media officers from NSF's Public Affairs office will review all proposals and select finalists. The panel will look for proposals that indicate an understanding of the nature and challenges of NSF's scientific enterprise in the Antarctic as well as the desire and ability to communicate that understanding to the public.

Application Deadline: August 24, 2012--U.S. media receive preference in selection.

Application: Applications that indicate solid working knowledge of the U.S. Antarctic program and its science goals and the ability to communicate the research being undertaken to a wide audience stand the best chance of selection.

Debbie Wing, the NSF public affairs officer responsible for OPP, can provide access to NSF-supported researchers who are scheduled to be in the field during the deployment period to assist reporters in obtaining information about the science they may expect to see while in Antarctica.

Freelancers are eligible for consideration but must supply with their letter of application evidence of a firm commitment, on their employer's letterhead, from the prospective employer to publish or air their work.

General reporting about Antarctica, travel or logistics are not given priority. The program does not support feature-film proposals. Documentary filmmakers may consider applying to the Advancing Informal STEM Learning Program managed by NSF's Education & Human Resources directorate.

Medical: In order to deploy to Antarctica, it is necessary to pass rigorous medical and dental examinations.  These examinations are conducted at the finalist's expense by a personal physician and dentist, using USAP medical screening forms, which will be evaluated by USAP-contracted medical experts. Certain medical conditions detected during the physical and dental examinations may disqualify a candidate from visiting Antarctica, even if initially selected as a media visitor.

Expenses: Reporters selected for the media visit, or their employers, pay for round-trip transportation to--and accommodation in--Christchurch, New Zealand.  Reporters must visit NSF headquarters in Arlington, VA., at their own expense for pre-trip planning. NSF furnishes, at no cost to participants, cold-weather clothing solely for use in the field, as well as housing, transportation, and food while in Antarctica.

Note: From time to time, the NSF has received requests for media opportunities from reporters who plan to travel to Antarctica at various times of the year via non-governmental means. Such requests are reviewed on a case by case basis. Such requests should be directed to the NSF media officer listed below.

Where to Send Applications: Contact the NSF media officer listed below by phone or by email as soon as possible to express interest. Send the application letter to:

National Science Foundation

Office of Legislative and Public Affairs

4201 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 1245

Arlington, VA 22230

Attn: Debbie Wing, (703) 292-5344 / dwing@nsf.gov

 -NSF-

Antarctic Medical Evacuation

Patient is currently stable but may require corrective surgery

National Science Foundation (NSF) officials have set in motion the necessary steps to airlift a patient from McMurdo Station, one of three year-round stations NSF maintains in Antarctica. The patient's condition may require treatment beyond what can be provided at the station's medical facility.

The patient, whose identity NSF is not releasing, is currently stable but may require immediate corrective surgery best delivered at a more capable facility than is available at McMurdo. The facility at McMurdo is equivalent to an urgent-care center in the U.S., and is not equipped for the type of procedure being contemplated.

As no U.S. aircraft are in a position to respond quickly to the situation, NSF has reached an agreement with the Australian Antarctic Division, which manages Australia's Antarctic research program, to make available an Australian A319 Airbus to fly the patient out. The Royal New Zealand Air Force will provide search-and-rescue coverage for the flight to and from McMurdo Station.

The three nations' Antarctic research programs have existing agreements under which such assets may be shared as needed.

Preparations are underway to ready the ice runway, known as Pegasus, near McMurdo Station for a flight near the end of this week, local time, weather permitting. (U.S. stations in Antarctica keep New Zealand time.). Pegasus is one of only a very few runways in Antarctica that can accommodate wheeled aircraft.

Antarctica is currently emerging from its six-months-long night, so there is a period of twilight at mid-day that could assist pilots in landing on the ice runway.

The evacuation flight comes shortly before a regularly-scheduled series of late winter flights to prepare for the coming Antarctic research season, which gets underway in October.

NSF manages the U.S. Antarctic Program, through which it coordinates all U.S. research and the necessary logistical support on the continent and aboard ships in the Southern Ocean.

 -NSF-

U.S. Antarctic Program's Blue Ribbon Panel Releases Report Findings on Logistical Improvements to Support the Advancement of Science

Blue Ribbon Panel discusses report recommendations after reviewing Antarctic science support operations

The U.S. Antarctic Program's Blue Ribbon Panel, established by the Office of Science and Technology Policy and the National Science Foundation, hosts a press conference to discuss the results of their report titled, "More and Better Science in Antarctica through Increased Logistical Effectiveness." The report reviews U.S. science support operations in Antarctica and discusses recommendations for increased logistical effectiveness to support this important science research.

What: News briefing to announce the release of the U.S. Antarctic Program's Blue Ribbon Panel report that reviews science-support operations on the continent of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean.

Who (In Speaking Order):

Ralph Cicerone, President of the National Academy of Sciences

John P. Holdren, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy

Subra Suresh, Director of U.S. National Science Foundation

Norm Augustine, Chair, U.S. Antarctic Program Blue Ribbon Panel

Where: National Academy of Sciences

Lecture Room

2101 Constitution Ave., NW

Washington, DC

OR--Via webcast: To listen to the live webcast news briefing in a "listen-only" mode, go to: http://live.science360.gov/antarctica/

When: Monday, July 23, 2012

2 p.m. EDT (Please arrive by 1:30 p.m. onsite for press check-in.)

RSVP: Please submit your name and press credentials to Debbie Wing and to receive an EMBARGOED copy of the Executive Summary of the U.S. Antarctic Program's Blue Ribbon Panel Report. The Executive Summary and Full Report are embargoed until 2:00 p.m. EDT, July 23, 2012.

-NSF-

Remote Siberian Lake Holds Clues to Arctic--and Antarctic--Climate Change

Fates of polar ice sheets appear to be linked

Intense warm climate intervals--warmer than scientists thought possible--have occurred in the Arctic over the past 2.8 million years.

That result comes from the first analyses of the longest sediment cores ever retrieved on land. They were obtained from beneath remote, ice-covered Lake El'gygytgyn (pronounced El'gee-git-gin) ("Lake E") in the northeastern Russian Arctic.

The journal Science published the findings this week.

They show that the extreme warm periods in the Arctic correspond closely with times when parts of Antarctica were also ice-free and warm, suggesting a strong connection between Northern and Southern Hemisphere climate.

The polar regions are much more vulnerable to climate change than researchers thought, say the National Science Foundation-(NSF) funded Lake E project's co-chief scientists: Martin Melles of the University of Cologne, Germany; Julie Brigham-Grette of the University of Massachusetts Amherst; and Pavel Minyuk of Russia's North-East Interdisciplinary Scientific Research Institute in Magadan.

The exceptional climate warming in the Arctic, and the inter-hemispheric interdependencies, weren't known before the Lake E studies, the scientists say.

Lake E was formed 3.6 million years ago when a huge meteorite hit Earth, leaving an 11-mile-wide crater. It's been collecting layers of sediment ever since.

The lake is of interest to scientists because it has never been covered by glaciers. That has allowed the uninterrupted build-up of sediment at the bottom of the lake, recording hitherto undiscovered information on climate change.

Cores from Lake E go far back in time, almost 30 times farther than Greenland ice cores covering the past 110,000 years.

The sediment cores from Lake El'gygytgyn reflect the climate and environmental history of the Arctic with great sensitivity, say Brigham-Grette and colleagues.

The physical, chemical and biological properties of Lake E's sediments match the known global glacial/interglacial pattern of the ice ages.

Some warm phases are exceptional, however, marked by extraordinarily high biological activity in the lake, well above that of "regular" climate cycles.

To quantify the climate differences, the scientists studied four warm phases in detail: the two youngest, called "normal" interglacials, from 12,000 years and 125,000 years ago; and two older phases, called "super" interglacials, from 400,000 and 1.1 million years ago.

According to climate reconstructions based on pollen found in sediment cores, summer temperatures and annual precipitation during the super interglacials were about 4 to 5 degrees C warmer, and about 12 inches wetter, than during normal interglacials.

The super interglacial climates suggest that it's nearly impossible for Greenland's ice sheet to have existed in its present form at those times.

Simulations using a state-of-the-art climate model show that the high temperature and precipitation during the super interglacials can't be explained by Earth's orbital parameters or variations in atmospheric greenhouse gases alone, which geologists usually see as driving the glacial/interglacial pattern during ice ages.

That suggests that additional climate feedbacks are at work.

"Improving climate models means that they will better match the data that has been collected," says Paul Filmer, program director in NSF's Division of Earth Sciences, which funded the "Lake E" project along with NSF's Office of Polar Programs.

"The results of this collaboration among scientists in the U.S., Austria, Germany and Russia are providing a challenge for researchers working on climate models: they now need to match results from Antarctica, Greenland--and Lake El'gygytgyn."

Adds Simon Stephenson, director of the Division of Arctic Sciences in NSF's Office of Polar Programs, "This is a significant result from NSF's investment in frontier research during the recent International Polar Year.

"'Lake E' has been a successful partnership in very challenging conditions.  These results make a significant contribution to our understanding of how Earth's climate system works, and improve our understanding of what future climate might be like."

The scientists suspect the trigger for intense interglacials might lie in Antarctica.

Earlier work by the international ANDRILL program discovered recurring intervals when the West Antarctic Ice Sheet melted. (ANDRILL, or the ANtarctic geological DRILLing project, is a collaboration of scientists from five nations--Germany, Italy, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States--to recover geologic records from the Antarctic margin.)

The current Lake E study shows that some of these events match with the super interglacials in the Arctic.

The results are of global significance, they believe, demonstrating strong indications of an ongoing collapse of ice shelves around the Antarctic Peninsula and at the margins of the West Antarctica Ice Sheet--and a potential acceleration in the near future.

The Science paper co-authors discuss two scenarios for future testing that could explain the Northern Hemisphere-Southern Hemisphere climate coupling.

First, they say, reduced glacial ice cover and loss of ice shelves in Antarctica could have limited formation of cold bottom water masses that flow into the North Pacific Ocean and upwell to the surface, resulting in warmer surface waters, higher temperatures and increased precipitation on land.

Alternatively, disintegration of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet may have led to significant global sea level rise and allowed more warm surface water to reach the Arctic Ocean through the Bering Strait.

Lake E's past, say the researchers, could be the key to our global climate future.

The El'gygytgyn Drilling Project also was funded by the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP), the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research, Alfred Wegener Institute, GeoForschungsZentrum-Potsdam, the Russian Academy of Sciences Far East Branch, the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, and the Austrian Ministry for Science and Research.

-NSF-