ANSTO will play a key role in a major study into the history of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet following a grant of $530,000 from the Australian Research Council (ARC). The project, coordinated through the Australian National University and University of Tasmania, is based on an integrated and interdisciplinary study combining field evidence with numerical glaciological modelling advances.
The field observations cover geodetic measurement of crustal response (using a complex GPS system) and ice sheet dynamics from satellite laser altimetry measurement.
A third field component deals with dating the exposure ages of selected glacially polished bedrock, transported boulders and other landforms, that requires ANSTO expertise and capabilities in Accelerator Mass Spectrometry using the Australian National Tandem Accelerator for Applied Research (ANTARES).
The project, titled 'Looking Back to See the Future: Change In the Lambert Glacier and the East Antarctic Ice Sheet' , is designed to gain a comprehensive understanding of the Lambert Glacier from the time of the peak of the Last Glacial maximum. about 25,000 years agoto the present.
Situated in the Australian Antarctic Territory near the Prince Charles Mountains, the Lambert Glacier is up to 40 kms wide and 400 kms long, making it the worlds largest glacier. The Lambert Glacier Basin drains about 15 per cent of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet into Prydz Bay.
The glacial history and present day dynamics of the Lambert Glacier Basin reflect the behaviour of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet and its effect on global climate change, explained Dr David Fink, a Principal Research Scientist at ANSTO who is responsible for ARC project activities.
ANSTOs years of experience in exposure age dating glacial systems in Tasmania and New Zealand were instrumental in achieving a partnership in the project, he said.
Known as surface exposure dating, this analytical technique uses accelerator mass spectrometry to measure the build up of the cosmogenic radioisotopes beryllium- 10 and aluminium-26 in surface rocks when they are exposed following recent ice retreat and then bombarded by cosmic rays.
ANSTO will support the project by dating geological samples collected by scientists from the glacial debris, or moraine, deposited when temperatures increase and glaciers recede, Dr Fink said.
This will improve our understanding of how quickly climate changes and its effect on sea level.
In Antarctica, the (Prince Charles Mountains Expedition Germany/Australia (PCMEGA), a co-operative agreement between the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) and the German Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaffen und Rohstoffe (BGR), will aid the project.