Paleochronometry as a control problem for recovering holocene climate variations over the Greenland Ice Sheet
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Project details
The Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) has emerged as a significant contributor to present-day, and possibly future global sea level rise. Predictions of mass loss over the coming century have been hampered by large discord between current-generation ice sheet models. Major challenges are the lack of suitable observational constraints for model calibration and accurate histories of past surface climates that may serve as surface forcing boundary conditions in ice sheet model simulations. This project addresses these challenges through the use of observational data in the form of stratigraphic horizons of constant age that have been imaged by numerous ice-penetrating radar surveys, which serve as a data-constraints on the past flow and boundary conditions of an ice sheet model. The method developed will provide a novel approach for rigorous ice sheet calibration and initialization. Beyond the scientific application that is targeted at past climate reconstruction from ice sheet internal data, the infrastructure to enable this will be publicly available to the community, being based on the open-source ice sheet model. The project will support the transition of a female early-career scientist into an independent research career. Solving the state and parameter estimation problem as a terminal constraint control problem enables us to make several key scientific advances: (i) develop a time-evolving GrIS state that is consistent with the time history encapsulated in the age layer data; (ii) jointly invert for a set of optimal model parameters (i.e., model calibration) and time-varying optimal surface forcings that are consistent with the underlying ice sheet evolution (i.e., reconstruction of a consistent climate forcing history); and (iii) develop a realistic transient simulation of the ice sheet over the Holocene period, leading into a present state that may serve as well-balanced initial condition for prediction, and for which initialization shocks or artificial model drift are expected to be minimal, by construction. A key computational ingredient that enables this work is the development of a time-dependent adjoint model of an ice sheet model that is able to evolve internal ice age structures. Researchers will accomplish this by means of algorithmic differentiation (AD) with the open-source tool OpenAD, applied to the SImulation COde for POLythermal Ice Sheets (SICOPOLIS) model. This reconstruction of past ice flow and the boundary conditions of the Greenland Ice Sheet is necessary to reproduce the observed ages (from ice cores) and also enables us to test with finer spatio-temporal detail the onset of important past climatic events, including the Holocene Climatic Optimum and the Little Ice Age. Exactly how, when, and where these events may be recovered by this state estimate will shed light on how the GrIS responds to rapid changes in climate, both in its entirety and regionally.
Title | Project start | End date | Organisation | Department | Project study region |
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GEUS Fjeldskredsscreening 2020 | 01.01.2020 | 31.12.2020 | Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) | Greenland, Mid-West | |
Hidden habitats - what lurks beneath the Greenland seas? | 15.07.2020 | 24.07.2020 | Greenland Institute of Natural Resources (GINR) | Greenland Climate Research Centre | Greenland, South-West |
A 1.4 million year record of black carbon and biomass burning in the eastern Arctic from the Lake El'gygytgyn and other sediment cores (P2C2) | 01.01.2018 | 31.12.2021 | Desert Research Institute | Desert Research Institute, Earth and Ecosystem Sciences | |
Cosmogenic surface exposure dating of Arctic NW Laurentide ice-sheet deglaciation: implications for abrupt climate change | 01.01.2019 | 31.12.2019 | Oregon State University | Oregon State University, College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences | |
MOSAiC ACA / MOSAIC IceBird | 12.03.2020 | 10.09.2020 | Alfred-Wegener-Institut (AWI) | Arctic Ocean | |
Space Weather in Greenland | 01.06.2020 | 30.09.2020 | Technical University of Denmark (DTU) | DTU Space | Greenland, North-East |
UNAS | 01.05.2018 | 31.12.2019 | Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) | Greenland, South-West | |
Dimension Stone project | 17.01.2018 | 15.12.2019 | Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) | Greenland, South-West | |
GEUS Fjeldskredscreening 2019 | 01.07.2019 | 25.08.2019 | Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) | Greenland, Mid-West | |
NE Greenland 1:100,000 scale geological mapping | 01.01.2018 | 30.12.2020 | Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) | Greenland, North-East | |
NE Greenland 1:100,000 scale geological mapping | 15.07.2019 | 22.08.2019 | Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) | Greenland, North-East | |
Collaborative Research: What Controls Calving? A Greenland-wide Test of Terminus Change Mechanisms | 01.01.2019 | 31.12.2020 | University of Maine | University of Maine, Department | |
Baffin Bay Ice-Ocean-Sediment Interaction (BIOS) | 18.08.2019 | 09.09.2019 | Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) | Baffin Bay | |
Upper Neoproterozoic to lower Palaeozoic stratigraphy and palaeontology of NE-Greenland | 01.08.2019 | 12.08.2019 | University of Copenhagen | Natural History Museum of Denmark | Greenland, North-East |
Dimension stones in Greenland | 28.05.2019 | 03.06.2019 | Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) | Greenland, South-West | |
Measuring mantle hydrogen content to map ore-forming fluids and model plate tectonics | 01.01.2018 | 31.12.2021 | Macquarie University | Macquarie University, dept. | Greenland, Mid-West |
Collaborative Research: What Controls Calving? A Greenland-wide Test of Terminus Change Mechanisms | 01.01.2017 | 31.12.2020 | University of Idaho | University of Idaho, dept. | |
Collaborative Research: Testing the Impact of Climate Change on the Greenland Ice Sheet: Combining Past Climate Records with a Coupled Climate and Ice-Sheet Model | 01.01.2014 | 31.12.2016 | University of Massachusetts | University of Massachusetts, Amherst, dept. | |
Collaborative Research: Ice sheet sensitivity in a changing Arctic system - using Geologic data and modeling to test the stable Greenland Ice Sheet hypothesis | 01.01.2015 | 31.12.2019 | University of California | University of California, Irvine, dept. | Greenland, Mid-West |
NEEM basal ice, assessing the attributes of a cold, deep, dark ecosystem | 01.01.2012 | 31.12.2014 | Montana State University | Montana State University, dept. | |
Ethane measurements in Greenland ice cores: Developing a preindustrial record | 01.01.2012 | 31.12.2014 | University of California | University of California, Irvine, dept. | |
Greenland Ice Sheet Monitoring Network (GLISN) Operations | 01.01.2014 | 31.12.2020 | Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) | Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS), dept. | Greenland, Mid-East |
Collaborative Research: The fingerprint of abrupt temperature events throughout Greenland during the last glacial period | 01.01.2018 | 31.12.2021 | Penn State University | Penn State University, Department | Greenland Ice Sheet |
EAGER: Exploring a community driven data-model framework for testing the stability of the Greenland Ice Sheet | 01.01.2018 | 31.12.2019 | University at Buffalo | University at Buffalo, Department | |
Neglected fluxes: Understanding the evolution of weathering as continental ice sheets retreat | 01.01.2016 | 31.12.2019 | University of Florida | University of Florida, Department of Geological Sciences | Greenland, Mid-West |
Collaborative Research: Ice sheet sensitivity in a changing Arctic system - using Geologic data and modeling to test the stable Greenland Ice Sheet hypothesis | 01.01.2015 | 31.12.2019 | University of Montana | University of Montana, Department | Greenland, Mid-West |
Collaborative Research: Ice sheet sensitivity in a changing Arctic system - using Geologic data and modeling to test the stable Greenland Ice Sheet hypothesis | 01.01.2015 | 31.12.2019 | University at Buffalo | University at Buffalo, Department | Greenland Ice Sheet |
Collaborative Research: P2C2: Contributions of northern cold-climate peatlands and lakes to abrupt changes in atmospheric methane during the last deglaciation | 01.01.2013 | 31.12.2016 | Penn State University | Penn State University, Department | |
Collaborative Research: P2C2 -- Statistical estimation of past ice sheet volumes from paleo-sea level records | 01.01.2012 | 31.12.2015 | Rutgers University New Brunswick | Rutgers University New Brunswick, Department | |
Collaborative Research: The fingerprint of abrupt temperature events throughout Greenland during the last glacial period | 01.01.2018 | 31.12.2021 | University of Colorado Boulder | University of Colorado Boulder, Department | Greenland Ice Sheet |
Collaborative Research: The fingerprint of abrupt temperature events throughout Greenland during the last glacial period | 01.01.2018 | 31.12.2021 | Oregon State University | Oregon State University, College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences | Greenland Ice Sheet |
Collaborative Research: Testing the Impact of Climate Change on the Greenland Ice Sheet: Combining Past Climate Records with a Coupled Climate and Ice-Sheet Model | 01.01.2014 | 31.12.2016 | Oregon State University | Oregon State University, College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences | |
Collaborative Research: Ice sheet sensitivity in a changing Arctic system - using Geologic data and modeling to test the stable Greenland Ice Sheet hypothesis | 01.01.2015 | 31.12.2019 | Columbia University | Columbia University, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory | Greenland, Mid-West |
CAREER: South Greenland's Holocene Climate History Reconstructed Using Three Paleolimnological Approaches | 01.01.2015 | 31.12.2020 | Northwestern University | Northwestern University, Department | Greenland, Mid-West |
Workshop proposal: The future shape of a Greenland GNSS Observation Network | 01.01.2017 | 31.12.2017 | Dartmouth College | Dartmouth College, Department | |
Collaborative Research: A new radiostratigraphy of the Greenland Ice Sheet and critical boundary conditions for the next generation of ice-sheet models | 01.01.2012 | 31.12.2014 | University of Alaska | University of Alaska Fairbanks, Department | |
Relative velocity changes using ambient seismic noise at Okmok and Redoubt volcanoes, Alaska | 01.01.2013 | 31.12.2015 | University of Wisconsin | University of Wisconsin, Madison, Space Science and Engineering Center | |
CO2 evasion from the Greenland ice sheet | 01.01.2014 | 31.12.2016 | Northwestern University | Northwestern University, Department | Greenland, Mid-West |
Collaborative Research: P2C2: Contributions of northern cold-climate peatlands and lakes to abrupt changes in atmospheric methane during the last deglaciation | 01.01.2013 | 31.12.2016 | University of Alaska | University of Alaska Fairbanks, Department | |
Geophysical constraints on the crust and upper-mantle structure of Greenland (UPPA-GL) | 01.01.2013 | 31.12.2017 | Columbia University | Columbia University, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory | Greenland, Mid-West |
Response of the Labrador Sea and south Greenland Ice Sheet to the mid-Pliocene climate optimum: sedimentary, magnetic and geochemical evidence from the Eirik Drift | 01.01.2014 | 31.12.2016 | Oregon State University | Oregon State University, College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences | |
Collaborative Research: Ice Core Studies Reconstructing Greenland Climate During the Eemian and Beyond | 01.01.2012 | 31.12.2014 | University of Rhode Island | University of Rhode Island, Department | |
Collaborative Research: Ice Core Studies Reconstructing Greenland Climate During the Eemian and Beyond | 01.01.2012 | 31.12.2014 | University of Michigan | University of Michigan, Department | |
Collaborative Research: Ice Core Studies Reconstructing Greenland Climate During the Eemian and Beyond | 01.01.2012 | 31.12.2014 | Oregon State University | Oregon State University, College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences | |
Collaborative Research: P2C2 -- Statistical estimation of past ice sheet volumes from paleo-sea level records | 01.01.2012 | 31.12.2015 | Harvard University | Harvard University, Department | |
Quantifying Greenland Iceberg Melt Rates using Remotely-sensed Data | 01.01.2014 | 31.12.2016 | University of Maine | University of Maine, Department | |
Collaborative Research: Ice sheet sensitivity in a changing Arctic system - using Geologic data and modeling to test the stable Greenland Ice Sheet hypothesis | 01.01.2015 | 31.12.2019 | University of Washington | School of Oceanography | Greenland, Mid-West |
Collaborative Research: What Controls Calving? A Greenland-wide Test of Terminus Change Mechanisms | 01.01.2017 | 31.12.2019 | University of Maine | University of Maine, Department | |
Upernavik - photogrammetric mapping | 27.08.2018 | 03.09.2018 | Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) | Greenland, North-West | |
Saqqaq - photogrammetic mapping | 12.08.2018 | 26.08.2018 | Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) | Greenland, Mid-West | |
Mapping of glacial flour in the Nuuk region | 09.08.2018 | 28.08.2018 | Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) | Greenland, South-West | |
Dimension Stone project | 21.08.2018 | 04.09.2018 | Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) | Greenland, South-West | |
NE Greenland 1:100 000 scale geological mapping 2018-2019 | 01.08.2018 | 27.08.2018 | Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) | Greenland, North-East | |
UpDeep - Fieldwork 2018 | 03.07.2018 | 17.07.2018 | Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) | Greenland, South-West | |
Mapping the coastal zone of North East Greenland | 25.07.2018 | 15.08.2018 | Asiaq Greenland Survey | Remote Sensing | Greenland, North-East |
Maintenance of seismic earthquake monitoring station in the GLISN network | 04.08.2017 | 04.08.2017 | Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) | Greenland, South-East | |
Maintenance of seismic earthquake monitoring station in the GLISN network | 10.08.2017 | 10.08.2017 | Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) | Greenland Ice Sheet | |
Establishment of new seismic earthquake monitoring station in the GLISN network | 09.08.2017 | 19.08.2017 | Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) | Greenland, Mid-West | |
Re-establishment of new seismic earthquake monitoring station in the GLISN network | 08.09.2017 | 10.09.2017 | Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) | Greenland, Mid-West | |
Skaergaard | 01.08.2017 | 15.09.2017 | Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) | Greenland, South-East | |
HiTech AlkCarb | 22.06.2017 | 06.07.2017 | Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) | Greenland, South-West | |
Permian–Triassic of East and Northeast Greenland: Evaluation of play analogues for the Norwegian continental shelf | 17.07.2018 | 23.08.2018 | Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) | Greenland, North-East | |
Saqqaq | 31.07.2017 | 05.08.2017 | Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) | Greenland, Mid-West | |
A new geological map (Agatdal 50K) | 14.08.2017 | 28.08.2017 | Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) | Greenland, Mid-West | |
Relative sea level changes in Mestersvig | 18.04.2017 | 02.05.2017 | Aarhus University (AU) | Department of Geoscience | Greenland, North-East |
UpDeep | 24.07.2017 | 03.08.2017 | Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) | Greenland, Mid-West | |
Architecture and mineral potential of Karrat Group | 10.07.2017 | 03.08.2017 | Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) | Greenland, Mid-West |