TRANSANTARCTIC MOUNTAINS WORKSHOP

New Opportunities for Multi-disciplinary Research

Permian strata intruded by Ferrar Dolerite sills at Mt. Rosenwald, Shackleton Glacier region.

In just over one year the International Polar Year will begin. Numerous large scale programs are envisioned, including those that relate to climate history and lithospheric structure. The Transantarctic Mountains provide one of the few sites in the continental interior for obtaining geologic ground truth without the need for ice sheet drilling. Further, the mountain range forms the only latitudinal transect into the highest latitudes (87° S) for studying biological processes. Finally, the range has a major impact on weather patterns, let alone the relationship between onset of glaciation and uplift of the range.

Therefore, research in the Transantarctic Mountains offers the opportunity for significant advances in a range of disciplines addressing a variety of important scientific problems. The goal of the workshop is to develop an implementation plan based on updated research objectives, with emphasis on those articulated through the IPY planning process.

Background

The Transantarctic Mountains forms the only range that penetrates deep into the interior of the continent. It is a window into the geology of the continent but also a barrier that has profound implications for climate evolution as well as synoptic meteorology. Investigations in the less accessible parts of the range south of Darwin Glacier, the focus of this project, have been mainly concerned with bedrock geology and to a lesser extent with glacial geology, and has resulted in numerous discoveries of importance to the geologic and geodynamic evolution of the continent, and to the late Cenozoic glacial history. Important meteorite collections have been made within and adjacent to the range. Automatic weather stations have been deployed to aid in understanding of katabatic flow and synoptic meteorology. However, little biological research has been conducted. The purpose of the workshop is bring together a multi-disciplinary group of scientists representing the earth, biological and atmospheric sciences to investigate the issues that can be addressed by remote field programs, and to develop an implementation plan. At the same time, the workshop aims to introduce a new generation of researchers to the possibilities for future scientific investigations in the Transantarctic Mountains.

Cenozoic Sirius deposits at Dismal Buttress, Shackleton Glacier region.

Geodynamics, Geology, Geophysics: A series of workshops have been held over the last twelve years aimed at developing long range plans for investigations of the geological evolution and the geodynamics of the Antarctic continent. A workshop on the West Antarctic Rift System and the Transantarctic Mountains rift shoulder was held in April 1994 (Wilson and Finn, 1996). Much has been accomplished since then in Victoria Land, the Ross Sea region, and Marie Byrd Land, but only limited progress has been made south of Byrd Glacier. A workshop specifically on the central and southern Transantarcic Mountains was held in September 1997 (Elliot et al., 1998). Many objectives laid out at that time have not been achieved, in part because logistic support has not been available. The REVEAL Workshop (Remote Views and Exploration of Antarctic Lithosphere) held in August 2002 focused on lithospheric problems that could be addressed by remote sensing from long-range fixed-wing aircraft. Later that year the FASTDRILL workshop considered both the scientific issues that could be addressed by rapid-access drilling capabilities and the technological requirements for ice, sediment, and bedrock coring. The following year the SEAP (Structure and Evolution of the Antarctic Plate) workshop addressed development of infrastructure for seismic studies in and around Antarctica. Finally, in September 2004, a workshop was convened to address the science justification for a long-range research aircraft and brought together glaciologists, atmospheric scientists and geophysicists.

Deglaciated terrain at Mt. Heekin adjacent to the Shackleton Glacier.

Biology: Although much of the emphasis in the biological sciences lies in the marine realm, there is considerable interest in life in extreme terrestrial environments, including the Dry Valleys of Victoria Land and sub-glacial lakes such as Lake Vostok. Taylor Valley is the primary focus of one of the two Antarctic LTER sites (i.e. the McMurdo Dry Valleys LTER). In April 2001 a workshop was held to develop a rationale for a latitudinal ecosystem transect of the Victoria Land coastal biome (Berkman and Tipton-Everett, 2001) that would link all the coastal sites of Victoria Land through to the Dry Valleys LTER. The workshop, although concerned primarily with the coastal biome, recognized that terrestrial environments occur south of Victoria Land, but did not consider them.

Looking north down the Shackleton Glacier and Swithinbank Moraine.

Glaciology: The primary goals of the glaciological community are to understand the current behavior of the Antarctic ice sheet in order to predict its future behavior, and to understand the climate record contained in the ice sheet. The behavior of the ice sheet appears to be controlled by ice streams which include not only those held within the ice sheet but also the outlet glaciers that are constrained topographically by features such as the Transantarctic Mountains. The principal outflow is via the Byrd Glacier and via the Reedy Glacier which feeds into Mercer Ice Stream (Ice Stream A). Changes in velocity of the outlet glaciers primarily would reflect changing climate. Except for Byrd Glacier, which was examined in 1978-79 season (Hughes, 1979) and more recently by G. Hamilton and colleagues (Stearns and Hamilton, 2006), the outlet glaciers have not been investigated since the 1957-58 IGY era.

Southerly air flow over Otway Massif.

Atmospheric Sciences: The principal goals of the atmospheric sciences community lie in understanding how Antarctica is linked with the global climate system and how this is manifested on weather and climate time scales, in precipitation and air chemistry patterns, and how it impacts the ice sheet mass balance. In particular, as part of the Antarctic Regional Interactions Meteorology Experiment (RIME), meteorologists are very interested in studying the boundary layer airflow (RAS - Ross Ice Shelf Airstream) that frequently blows northward along the east side of the Transantarctic Mountains and, farther north, generates the Ross Sea polynya, a region of intense air-sea interaction and shelf water formation. The RAS also plays a key role in linking the Antarctic atmosphere to lower latitudes. Contributions of the airflows from the polar plateau to the RAS have barely been studied but seem to be a very important component. Limited Automatic Weather Station data were collected in the 1985-86 field season in the Beardmore Glacier region (Stearns and Weidner, 1986). Additional automatic weather station deployments and a radiosonde site during austral summer have been suggested to better study these phenomena.

View northward over glacial deposits on the east side of Otway Massif.

Landscape evolution: The slow rate of denudation of the Transantarctic Mountains has provided an unusual opportunity to investigate the evolution of an ancient landscape. Much has been accomplished in the Dry Valleys region through the study of the glacial deposits and cosmogenic radionuclide dating of surfaces. There has been relatively less study of the record south of the Byrd Glacier, although there are extensive glacial deposits and deglaciated areas in the region of the Beardmore and Shackleton Glaciers (e.g., Hambrey et al., 2003). This record, however, is only the latest episode in the evolution of the Transantarctic Mountains in which uplift of the range began in Cretaceous time and continues to this day.

Community workshop

The workshop will begin with an evening session devoted to the aims of the workshop and an introduction to the Transantarctic Mountains. On the following morning overviews will be presented by invited participants who will address key current and future research topics. The afternoon will focus on logistic capabilities and options for remote field operations. The second full day will include short presentations by participants followed by disciplinary and interdisciplinary break-out groups, and cross-disciplinary meetings to develop new lines of inter-disciplinary research. On the morning of the third day the rapporteurs for the various groups, representing geology, surface processes, glaciology, geophysics, biology, atmospheric sciences, will prepare a draft strategy for future research based on the logistic options presented. The workshop report will be completed by the end of the year and posted on the Workshop website.

Program

The workshop will be held from September 6-9, 2006, at the Byrd Polar Research Center, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. The anticipated outcome of the workshop is a multi-year science plan for multi-disciplinary research in the Transantarctic Mountains south of the Darwin Glacier.

Attendance and application

The workshop is open to all interested researchers. Participants will be chosen to represent a wide range of interests and experience. Young investigators, including senior graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and early career scientists, are encouraged to apply. It is anticipated that there will be partial travel support for up to 35 workshop participants.

Those interested in attending should contact the convenors, and submit a detailed letter of interest, along with an abstract (not more than one page) for a short presentation. Contact: or with a copy to .

NOTE: To be considered for support, the letter of interest must be received by July 15, 2006.

References

Berkman, P.A., Tipton-Everett, L.R. 2001. Latitudinal ecosystem (LAT-ECO) responses to climate across Victoria Land, Antarctica. Byrd Polar Research Center, Report no. 20, 152 pp.

Elliot, D.H., Collinson, J.W., Hammer, W.R. 1998. Earth science research objectives: central and southern Transantarctic Mountains. Byrd Polar Research Center, Miscellaneous Series M-402, 78 pp.

Hughes, T.J. 1979. Byrd Glacier. Antarctic Journal of the U.S., 14(5), p. 88-91.

Stearns, C.R., Weidner, G.A. 1986. Antarctic automatic weather stations: austral summer 1985-1986. Antarctic Journal of the U.S., 21(5), p. 233-234.

Stearns, L.A., Hamilton, G.S. 2006. A new velocity map for Byrd Glacier, East Antarctica from sequential ASTER satellite imagery. Annals of Glaciology, 41, 71-76.

Wilson, T.J., Finn, C.A. 1996. Geodynamic evolution of the Transantarctic Mountains and West Antarctic rift system. Byrd Polar Research Center, Report no. 9, 57 pp.