Timing and Rates of Ice Sheet Thinning in the Ellsworth Mountains, Weddell Sea Embayment: Constraints on West Antarctic Ice Sheet Dynamics

The overall aim is to establish the timing and rate of thinning of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) from its maximum extent in an area inland of the Weddell Sea embayment. The specific objectives are (a) to date geomorphological evidence of ice sheet thinning in the Ellsworth Mountains using in situ cosmomogenic nuclides and (b) to infer WAIS dynamics (specifically grounding line and ice volume changes) in the Weddell Sea embayment through high-resolution glaciological modelling, constrained against the geomorphological record of elevation change through time. The importance of the project is that the past dynamics of the WAIS have implications for its future behaviour, and thus global sea level change.

Date (Creation): 2005-09-01

Identifier: http://data.bgs.ac.uk/id/dataHolding/13605326

Principal investigator

University of Durham - Bentley, Dr M J ( Geography )

Distributor

British Geological Survey - Enquiries

Environmental Science Centre, Nicker Hill, Keyworth , NOTTINGHAM , NOTTINGHAMSHIRE , NG12 5GG , United Kingdom

0115 936 3143
0115 936 3276

Point of contact

British Geological Survey - Enquiries

Environmental Science Centre, Nicker Hill, Keyworth , NOTTINGHAM , NOTTINGHAMSHIRE , NG12 5GG , United Kingdom

0115 936 3143
0115 936 3276

Maintenance and update frequency: notApplicable notApplicable

GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0

Geology

BGS Thesaurus of Geosciences

Glacial erosion
Climate change
Natural hazards
NGDC Deposited Data
Glaciers
Quaternary

dataCentre

NGDC Deposited Data

Keywords

NERC_DDC

Access constraints: otherRestrictions Other restrictions

Other constraints: intellectualPropertyRights

Other constraints: Either : (i) the dataset has not been formally approved by BGS for access and use by external clients under license; and / or (ii) the dataset contains 3rd party data or information obtained by BGS under terms and conditions that must be consulted before the dataset can be provided to, or accessed by, BGS staff or external clients. Refer to the BGS staff member responsible for the creation of the dataset if further advice is required. He / she should be familiar with the composition of the dataset, particularly with regard to 3rd party IPR contained in it, and any resultant access restrictions. This staff member should revert to the IPR Section (IPR@bgs.ac.uk) for advice, should the position not be clear.

Use constraints: otherRestrictions Other restrictions

Other constraints: The copyright of materials derived from the British Geological Survey's work is vested in the Natural Environment Research Council [NERC]. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a retrieval system of any nature, without the prior permission of the copyright holder, via the BGS Intellectual Property Rights Manager. Use by customers of information provided by the BGS, is at the customer's own risk. In view of the disparate sources of information at BGS's disposal, including such material donated to BGS, that BGS accepts in good faith as being accurate, the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) gives no warranty, expressed or implied, as to the quality or accuracy of the information supplied, or to the information's suitability for any use. NERC/BGS accepts no liability whatever in respect of loss, damage, injury or other occurence however caused.

Other constraints: Either: (i) the dataset is made freely available, e.g. via the Internet, for a restricted category of use (e.g. educational use only); or (ii) the dataset has not been formally approved by BGS for access and use by external clients under licence, but its use may be permitted under alternative formal arrangements; or (iii) the dataset contains 3rd party data or information obtained by BGS under terms and conditions that must be consulted in order to determine the permitted usage of the dataset. Refer to the BGS staff member responsible for the creation of the dataset if further advice is required. He / she should be familiar with the composition of the dataset, particularly with regard to 3rd party IPR contained in it, and any resultant use restrictions. This staff member should revert to the IPR Section (ipr@bgs.ac.uk ) for advice, should the position not be clear.

Metadata language: EnglishEnglish

Topic category

Geoscientific information

Geographic identifier

ANTARCTICA [id=880000]

Date (Creation): 1979

Begin date: 2005-08-01

End date: 2008-07-31

Supplemental Information: NERC Reference split award, Lead NER/G/S/2003/00020 and NER/G/S/2003/00141. Principal Investigator: Professor MJ Bentley, Co-Investigator: Professor D Sugden. All data will be submitted to the Antarctic Environmental Data Center. Data plan sent to Rebecca Griffiths.

Reference System Information

No information provided.

Distribution format

Distributor

British Geological Survey - Enquiries

Environmental Science Centre, Nicker Hill, Keyworth , NOTTINGHAM , NOTTINGHAMSHIRE , NG12 5GG , United Kingdom

0115 936 3143
0115 936 3276

OnLine resource: https://data.bas.ac.uk/full-record.php?id=GB/NERC/BAS/PDC/00569

Hierarchy level: dataset Dataset

Other: dataset

Conformance result

Date (Publication): 2011

Explanation: See the referenced specification

Pass: No

Conformance result

Date (Publication): 2010-12-08

Explanation: See http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2010:323:0011:0102:EN:PDF

Pass: No

Statement: To achieve our aim we will have a terrestrial field campaign in the Ellsworth Mountains in season 2005-06, mapping geomorphology and sampling bedrock, erratics and tills for subsequent cosmogenic isotope analysis. Exposure ages on these samples will allow us to determine the vertical thinning history of the WAIS across the mountain range. We will use a high-resolution glaciological model to tie this thinning history to a grounding line history for the WAIS in the Weddell Sea embayment.