Back to the Future: Interglacial Warming and the West Antarctic Ice Sheet . The Antarctic is highly-sensitive to abrupt changes caused by the passing of tipping points within the climate system. Crucially, the instrumental record is too short to resolve major uncertainties surrounding future warming. The Last Interglacial (125,000 yrs ago) was 2°C warmer than today and experienced 6-11 m higher global sea levels. The role of Antarctica is vital for constraining sea-level projections. This Austra ....Back to the Future: Interglacial Warming and the West Antarctic Ice Sheet . The Antarctic is highly-sensitive to abrupt changes caused by the passing of tipping points within the climate system. Crucially, the instrumental record is too short to resolve major uncertainties surrounding future warming. The Last Interglacial (125,000 yrs ago) was 2°C warmer than today and experienced 6-11 m higher global sea levels. The role of Antarctica is vital for constraining sea-level projections. This Australian-led international project aims to determine the mechanisms and impacts of past interglacial Antarctic warming up to 2°C (relative to pre-industrial). Innovative techniques integrating horizontal ice cores and high resolution marine records will help identify polar tipping points and better plan for impacts in Australia.Read moreRead less
Earthquake biases in measurements of Antarctica's sea-level contribution. This project aims to accurately determine Antarctica’s contribution to present-day sea-level. Large technique-specific systematic errors make this uncertain and controversial with the sign of change not agreed. Three of four measurement techniques rely on knowing the solid earth's changing shape or gravity field. Studies have not considered post-seismic deformation, but GPS data show that Antarctica has deformed since the ....Earthquake biases in measurements of Antarctica's sea-level contribution. This project aims to accurately determine Antarctica’s contribution to present-day sea-level. Large technique-specific systematic errors make this uncertain and controversial with the sign of change not agreed. Three of four measurement techniques rely on knowing the solid earth's changing shape or gravity field. Studies have not considered post-seismic deformation, but GPS data show that Antarctica has deformed since the 1998 Magnitude-8.2 Antarctic Plate Earthquake. This project will develop a model of these earthquakes constrained by geodetic data and use the model to estimate Antarctica's contribution to sea-level change. This should enable more confident local, national and international planning. This will benefit society through reducing the sea-level projection uncertainty.Read moreRead less
Towards an early warning of Antarctic ice sheet collapse from seismology. This project aims to establish a physical basis for the sensitivity of seismic observations to small changes in the great ice sheets of East Antarctica. These ice sheets are vulnerable to partial collapse or accelerated retreat. Early changes in such ice sheets may take place in the hidden ice-rock interface zone and could be detected by subtle changes in seismic signals that pass through layers of ice, sediments, water an ....Towards an early warning of Antarctic ice sheet collapse from seismology. This project aims to establish a physical basis for the sensitivity of seismic observations to small changes in the great ice sheets of East Antarctica. These ice sheets are vulnerable to partial collapse or accelerated retreat. Early changes in such ice sheets may take place in the hidden ice-rock interface zone and could be detected by subtle changes in seismic signals that pass through layers of ice, sediments, water and bedrock in this zone. This project will undertake computer simulations, run tests on pre-existing data and examine two case studies, the Aurora and Wilkes Basins. The outcomes of this research will provide a basis for an early warning of ice sheet collapse using seismology, and contribute to future increased resilience to sea level rise.Read moreRead less
Dating West Antarctic ice sheet collapse using molecular sequence data. This project aims to investigate the past stability and configuration of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet by examining genomic signatures in present day bottom-dwelling Antarctic marine animals. By employing this novel biological approach this project will provide an independent test of the hypothesis that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet collapsed during the most recent interglacial period and formed a trans-Antarctic seaway. Expec ....Dating West Antarctic ice sheet collapse using molecular sequence data. This project aims to investigate the past stability and configuration of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet by examining genomic signatures in present day bottom-dwelling Antarctic marine animals. By employing this novel biological approach this project will provide an independent test of the hypothesis that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet collapsed during the most recent interglacial period and formed a trans-Antarctic seaway. Expected project outcomes include increased resolution of the most recent collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. This project should provide benefits in predicting future ice sheet collapse and its impact on sea level rise, which is a key uncertainty resulting from climate change.Read moreRead less