Motivation: antarctic mass loss is an area of concern in the global water cycle and in sea level change. Almost all of antarctic ICE mass loss occurs along the coastline--half resulting from…

This $870,959 federal grant award was made by the Shared Services Center, a civilian agency, to the University of Maryland, College Park to conduct research on Antarctic ice mass loss. The research aims to measure near-ice-front surfaces at high frequency and resolution to better understand the rapid and localized processes impacting ice shelf and glacier melting, ice flow, and overall stability. This work is focused on observing changes in ocean and ice surfaces to discern the impacts of factors like polynyas, coastal currents, and ocean heat delivery on ice dynamics. The grant does not have a set-aside designation. The University of Maryland, College Park, as a state-controlled institution of higher learning, has a history of receiving prime federal contract, grant, and other transaction awards from agencies like the Department of Defense, Department of Transportation, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration to support scientific research, engineering, and technology development across a range of disciplines.

Motivation: antarctic mass loss is an area of concern in the global water cycle and in sea level change. Almost all of antarctic ICE mass loss occurs along the coastline--half resulting from ocean-derived basal melting and half from dynamics related to calving and thinning. Measuring near-ICE-front surfaces at CM-scale vertical accuracies and at high frequency repeats is imperative to capturing the rapid and localized processes that influence ICE mass loss. These coastal antarctic sea ICE and ocean surfaces undergo sub-tidal fluctuations directly linked to processes that may impact ICE shelf and glacier melting, ICE-flow buttressing, and, therefore, stability. For instance at ICE-shelf fronts, persistent polynyas (open water surrounded by sea ICE in the same location seasonally over multiple years) open and close through sea ICE melting or mechanical export followed by RE-formation. The polynyas subsequently affect ocean heat loss to the ICE and atmosphere, ocean salinity, and stratification. All of these processes intertwine at the ICE front and may either impact ICE-front buttressing or heat delivery to the ICE. Similarly, as winds shift and landfast sea ICE forms along the coastline, coastal currents may move or change in size, impacting heat delivery and ocean circulation at the ICE front. Observing changes in ocean and ICE surfaces to discern these processes requires altimetry combined with complex corrections for ocean surface topography. Many of such corrections require using precise, local surface measurements, which have not been acquired in coastal antarctica.