Science

During the austral summer, 2007, approximately 20.5 km of high-quality seismic reflection data were collected in Granite Harbor.  The focus of this study was to find Quaternary geological successions in the hope that these records could help decipher environmental changes. The MacKay Sea Valley (MSV) is a deep trough thought to have been eroded beneath Granite Harbor by previous expansion of the MacKay Glacier. The seismic survey's intent was to image recent sediment layers that accumulated in the MSV following erosion.

The aim of the Offshore New Harbor Project is to obtain prima facies documentation of ice volume and climatic changes that occurred in the western Ross Sea during the Greenhouse World (55-34 million years ago, Ma) and across the transition into the Icehouse World (34-25 Ma). This research is crucial to our understanding of Antarctica’s role in past as well as future climate changes, since it was during this time interval (40-25 Ma) that atmospheric CO2 was as high as what is predicted for this century (see Pagani et al., 2005 in Science).

Drill sites on Coulman High (CH) on the Ross Ice Shelf east of Ross Island target Neogene strata older than that recovered from ANDRILL holes at sites MIS and SMS in 2006-07 and 2007-08. The central science issues are to retrieve complete records of climate and ice sheet cycles going back to early stages of Antarctic glaciations around 35 million years ago. We conducted site surveys at the front of the ice shelf in 2003 and 2004 (below) under the premise that the advancing ice sheet will in time cover the survey lines thereby allowing drilling into the sea bed survey from the ice shelf. Technical challenges at CH include a 250 meter thick ice shelf that is moving at ~3 meters per day.

The key aim of the SMS Project is to establish a robust history of past Antarctic ice sheet variation and climate evolution that can be integrated into continental and global records toward a better understanding of East Antarctica’s role in the past, present, and future global system. To achieve this aim, one ~1000 meter-deep drillcore will sample an inferred Miocene (0-17 million years ago) and younger sequence of seismic units that expand into the Victoria Land Basin. A new history of land vegetation and sea-ice cover will feed new data into glacial and climate models.

Co-Chief Scientists

Dr. David Harwood

Dr. Fabio Florindo

Keep track of the SMS project

The key aim of the MIS Project is to determine past ice shelf responses to climate forcing, including variability at a range of timescales. To achieve this aim ANDRILL will recover core from beneath the McMurdo Ice Shelf. The primary target for the MIS site is a 1200 meter-thick body of Plio-Pleistocene (0-5 million years ago) glacimarine, terrigenous, volcanic, and biogenic sediment that has accumulated in the Windless Bight region of a flexural moat basin surrounding Ross Island. A single ~1000 meter-deep drillcore will be recovered from approximately 900m of water.

Co-Chief Scientists

Dr. Tim Naish

Dr. Ross Powell

Keep track of the MIS project

The scientists from USA and New Zealand headed out in October of 2005 to find out just where to drill.

This requires Flash 8. If the videos are not playing in this piece, download Flash 8 here.

Interested in how ANDRILL found where to drill and why? See how the science process takes place in today’s world.