Project Title

Thwaites Interdisciplinary Margin Evolution (TIME): the role of shear margin dynamics in the future evolution of the Thwaites Drainage Basin

Summary

Event Number:
C-446-M

Program Director:
Dr. Kelly Brunt

ASC POC/Implementer:
Ryan Steiner / Jenny Cunningham / Chad Naughton

Principal Investigator(s)

Dr. Slawek M Tulaczyk
stulaczy@ucsc.edu
University of California Santa Cruz
Earth Sciences

Dr. Poul Christoffersen
pc350@cam.ac.uk
Cambridge University
Scott Polar Research Institute
Cambridge, United Kingdom

Project Web Site:
https://thwaitesglacier.org/projects/time

Location

Supporting Stations: McMurdo Station
Research Locations: Thwaites Glacier, Eastern Shear Margin

Description

The Thwaites Interdisciplinary Margin Evolution (TIME) project is a part of the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration (ITGC), a multi-disciplinary effort led by the U.S. and U.K. Antarctic programs. The project will test the overarching hypothesis that shear-margin dynamics may exert powerful control over the evolution of ice flow in the Thwaites Drainage Basin. The work will combine geophysical data collection on the Eastern Shear Margin (ESM) of Thwaites Glacier with shear margin modeling and basin-scale numerical investigations of future sea-level contributions. Fieldwork includes data collection from passive seismic instrument arrays, active seismic experiments, and radar surveys.

Field Season Overview

This is the final field season for this project. The science team will carry out extensive active-source seismic experiments at site TIME 2 (T2). Seismic recording systems will include 1,000 passive seismic nodes, two 24-channel Geode seismic systems, and one distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) recording system. Sources will include drilled explosives in a 27 km-long line layout and surface explosives in a 3 x 5.5 km grid layout. Researchers will establish safe travel routes by GPR (ground penetrating radar), then will perform RTK (real-time kinematic) GPS survey and stake-out of drilling, blasting, and seismic node locations. They will drill shot holes with a hot water drill, then have a blaster load holes with explosives to generate the seismic source. Passive seismic nodes will be deployed in shallow surface holes to record blasting, then will be retrieved at the experiment's end.

Deploying Team Members