scholarly journals Concordia, Antarctica, seismic experiment for the International Polar Year (CASE-IPY)

2014 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessia Maggi ◽  
Maxime Bes de Berc ◽  
Jean-Yves Thoré ◽  
Jean-Jacques Lévêque

<p>The CASE-IPY project, part of the larger POLENET initiative of geophysical observations for the International Polar Year, was built on our extensive experience of running seismological stations in Antarctica, both on rock sites (Dumont d’Urville station), and directly on the ice plateau (Concordia station). For CASE-IPY, we deployed 8 temporary seismic stations on the Antarctic plateau: 3 situated near Concordia itself (starting 2008), and the other 5 regularly spaced between Concordia and Vostok (2010-2012), following the maximum in ice topography. The technical problems we have encountered in our field deployments were essentially due to a combination of extreme environmental conditions and isolation of deployment sites. The 3 stations near Concordia were used as test sites to experiment different solutions, and to converge on a design for the 5 main stations. Results from the nearest stations, which transmit data regularly to Concordia, are very promising. The data recorded by our stations will be distributed widely in the scientific community. We expect them to be exploited essentially for structural studies involving Antarctica itself (its ice-cap, crust and lithosphere) via receiver functions, noise correlation, and surface-wave tomography, but also for studies of the Earth’s core.</p>

2014 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Masaki Kanao ◽  
Douglas A. Wiens ◽  
Satoru Tanaka ◽  
Andrew A. Nyblade ◽  
Genti Toyokuni ◽  
...  

<p>“Deployment of broadband seismic stations on the Antarctica continent” is an ambitious project to improve the spatial resolution of seismic data across the Antarctic Plate and surrounding regions. Several international collaborative programs for the purpose of geomonitoring were conducted in Antarctica during the International Polar Year (IPY) 2007-2008. The Antarctica’s GAmburtsev Province (AGAP; IPY #147), the GAmburtsev Mountain SEISmic experiment (GAMSEIS), a part of AGAP, and the Polar Earth Observing Network (POLENET; IPY #185) were major contributions in establishing a geophysical network in Antarctica. The AGAP/GAMSEIS project was an internationally coordinated deployment of more than 30 broadband seismographs over the crest of the Gambursev Mountains (Dome-A), Dome-C and Dome-F area. The investigations provide detailed information on crustal thickness and mantle structure; provide key constraints on the origin of the Gamburtsev Mountains; and more broadly on the structure and evolution of the East Antarctic craton and subglacial environment. From GAMSEIS and POLENET data obtained, local and regional seismic signals associated with ice movements, oceanic loading, and local meteorological variations were recorded together with a significant number of teleseismic events. In this chapter, in addition to the Earth’s interiors, we will demonstrate some of the remarkable seismic signals detected during IPY that illustrate the capabilities of broadband seismometers to study the sub-glacial environment, particularly at the margins of Antarctica. Additionally, the AGAP and POLENET stations have an important role in the Federation of Digital Seismographic Network (FDSN) in southern high latitude.</p>


2012 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Kumar ◽  
X. Yuan ◽  
R. Kind ◽  
J. Mechie

Abstract. The dense deployment of seismic stations so far in the western half of the United States within the USArray project provides the opportunity to study in greater detail the structure of the lithosphere-asthenosphere system. We use the S receiver function technique for this purpose which has higher resolution than surface wave tomography, is sensitive to seismic discontinuities and has no problems with multiples like P receiver functions. Only two major discontinuities are observed in the entire area down to about 300 km depth. These are the crust-mantle boundary (Moho) and a negative boundary which we correlate with the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary (LAB) since a low velocity zone is the classical definition of the seismic observation of the asthenosphere by Gutenberg (1926). Our S receiver function LAB is at a depth of 70–80 km in large parts of westernmost North America. East of the Rocky Mountains its depth is generally between 90 and 110 km. Regions with LAB depths down to about 140 km occur in a stretch from northern Texas over the Colorado Plateau to the Columbia Basalts. These observations agree well with tomography results in the westernmost USA and at the east coast. However, in the central cratonic part of the USA the tomography LAB is near 200 km depth. At this depth no discontinuity is seen in the S receiver functions. The negative signal near 100 km depth in the central part of the USA is interpreted by Yuan and Romanowicz (2010) or Lekic and Romanowicz (2011) as a recently discovered mid lithospheric discontinuity (MLD). A solution for the discrepancy between receiver function imaging and surface wave tomography is not yet obvious and requires more high resolution studies at other cratons before a general solution may be found. Our results agree well with petrophysical models of increased water content in the asthenosphere, which predict a sharp and shallow LAB also in continents (Mierdel et al., 2007).


Polar Record ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 55 (4) ◽  
pp. 241-244 ◽  
Author(s):  
José C. Xavier ◽  
Dragomir Mateev ◽  
Linda Capper ◽  
Annick Wilmotte ◽  
David W. H. Walton

AbstractThe development of formal discourse about education and outreach within the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings (ATCM), and the influence of major international activities in this field, are described. This study reflects on the ATCM Parties’ approach to implementing the ambition of the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty Article 6.1.a, to promote the educational value of Antarctica and its environment, and examines the role of workshops and expert groups within the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR), the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and the Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programmes. These early initiatives, which emerged in the 1990s, were a prelude to the development and implementation of a large number of International Polar Year (IPY) education and outreach programmes. The establishment of an Antarctic Treaty System Intersessional Contact Group, and an online forum on education and outreach during the 2015 ATCM in Bulgaria, is a legacy of IPY and is the next step in fostering collaboration to engage people around the world in the importance and relevance of Antarctica to our daily lives.


Polar Record ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 107-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Øystein Jensen

ABSTRACTWith the International Polar Year (IPY) having commenced in March 2007, key issues relating to the polar regions are again in focus. This article reviews one central legal issue re-emerging in the Arctic: global regulation of safety standards for international shipping. The ‘Guidelines for ships operating in Arctic ice-covered waters’ are examined, with a view to the probable expansion of shipping in the Arctic in near future. Following an introduction to navigational issues within the Arctic context, the article describes how the guidelines came into being, and then analyses key elements and structure of the regulations and shortfalls of today's arrangements. The possible relevance of the guidelines to the Antarctic is also discussed briefly. Finally, the article inquires into the key repercussions of introducing binding regulations.


Polar Record ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-4 ◽  
Author(s):  
F.W.G. Baker

2009 brings not only the 50th anniversary of the Antarctic Treaty but also the end of the International Geophysical Year (IGY) and of its extension into the period of International Geophysical Cooperation (IGC 1959). It is also the 133rd anniversary of K. Weyprecht's suggestion that initiated the impetus. As he noted, ‘if Polar Expeditions are looked upon merely as a sort of international steeple-chase . . . and their main object is to exceed by a few miles the latitude reached by a predecessor these mysteries (of Meteorology and Geomagnetism) will remain unsolved’ (Weyprecht 1875). Although he stressed the importance of observations in both the Arctic and Antarctic during the first International Polar Year (IPY) in 1882–1883 only two stations in the sub-Antarctic region, at Cap Horn and South Georgia, made such scientific recordings. In spite of the fact that several expeditions to the Antarctic had been made in the period between the first and the second IPY 1932–1933, no stations were created in Antarctica during that IPY. The major increase in scientific studies in Antarctica came with the third IPY, which became the IGY of 1957–1958.


2014 ◽  
Vol 119 (2) ◽  
pp. 1061-1078 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weilai Wang ◽  
Jianping Wu ◽  
Lihua Fang ◽  
Guijuan Lai ◽  
Ting Yang ◽  
...  

Polar Record ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. K. Headland

ABSTRACTThe earliest winter scientific station established in the Antarctic was in 1883 as part of the first International Polar Year (IPY) programme. Subsequently, to the IPY of 2007–2009, scientific stations have been deployed on 139 sites (103 on the Antarctic continent, 36 on the peri-Antarctic islands), by 24 countries for a cumulative total of 2666 winters to that of 2008. This paper summarises the winter dates, locations, and national status of all stations in the region. It thus includes all winter stations of the three IPYs and those of the International Geophysical Year (1957–1958). The positions of 120 of these winter stations are south of 60°S, the boundary of the Antarctic Treaty of 1959 (although many of them predate the Treaty).


Author(s):  
Antony J Payne ◽  
Julian C.R Hunt ◽  
Duncan J Wingham

This brief paper has two purposes. First, we gauge developments in the study of the Antarctic ice sheet over the last seven years by comparing the contents of this issue with the volume produced from an American Geophysical Union meeting, held in September 1998, on the West Antarctic ice sheet. We focus on the uptake of satellite-based observation; ice–ocean interactions; ice streams as foci of change within the ice sheet; and the time scales on which the ice sheet is thought to operate. Second, we attempt to anticipate the future challenges that the study of the Antarctic ice sheet will present. We highlight the role of the upcoming International Polar Year in facilitating a better coverage of in situ climatic observations over the continent; the pressing need to understand the causes and consequences of the contemporary changes observed in the Amundsen Sea sector of West Antarctica; and the need for improved physics in predictive models of the ice sheet.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Teresa Cabrita ◽  
Ana David ◽  
Gonçalo Vieira

The Portuguese Polar Program - PROPOLAR is funded by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia ( based at Instituto de Geografia e Ordenamento do Território ( of the University of Lisbon ( The coordination of PROPOLAR is led by the Centro de Estudos Geográficos from Instituto de Geografia e Ordenamento do Território University of Lisbon (CEG/IGOT ULISBOA), under a Coordinating Committee that includes members from 4 other research centres, namely the Centro de Ciências do Mar University of Algarve (CCMAR UALG), the Centro de Ciências do Mar e do Ambiente University of Coimbra (MARE UC), the Centro de Química Estrutural from Instituto Superior Técnico University of Lisboa (CQE/IST ULISBOA), and the Centro Interdisciplinar de Investigação Marinha e Ambiental University of Oporto (CIIMAR U PORTO) Gonçalo Vieira (CEG/IGOT ULISBOA) is the Head of the program The remarkable effort and commitment of the Portuguese Polar scientists, within the framework of the International Polar Year ( 2007 08 were key to promote awareness of the importance of Polar science and research for Portugal A strategic plan encompassing three main objectives was then set out to i creating a Portuguese Polar Program focused on polar research and innovation and supporting the young generation of Polar scientists,scientists,( signing the Antarctic Treaty, and ( implementing a national Polar education and outreach program With the support of the FCT, PROPOLAR started in 2007 Portugal ratified the Antarctic Treaty in 2010 and the Madrid Protocol in 2014 and has established liaisons with major international Polar scientific and management organisations and networks PROPOLAR in close connection with the FCT, has ensured consolidation and sustainability of the development of Portuguese Polar science


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