The large international project OCEAN:ICE investigates the impact of processes on the Antarctic Ice Sheet and the Southern Ocean, in particular, ice sheet melting, on the Earth. The National Antarctic Science Center (NASC) of Ukraine has joined OCEAN:ICE - Ukrainian researchers will study the impact of precipitation on the ice mass balance and join underwater measurements, UNN reports with reference to the National Antarctic Science Center.
Ukraine has joined an important international study of Antarctic ice. The National Antarctic Science Center (NASC) has joined the major international project OCEAN:ICE "Ocean-Cryosphere Exchange in Antarctica: Impacts on Climate and the Earth as a Whole."
As noted, the goal of the project is to assess the impacts on the Earth of key processes occurring on the Antarctic Ice Sheet and in the Southern Ocean. These include sea level rise, the formation of deep-sea currents, changes in ocean circulation and climate.
The loss of Antarctic ice leads to sea level rise, and most of this melting occurs at the ocean-ice sheet interface under the influence of warm ocean currents. OCEAN:ICE investigates the processes that cause this melting," emphasizes the National Academy of Sciences.
The Center explained what Ukraine's contribution would be:
- The NASC will fill some gaps in field data by using an additional set of innovative equipment in the Southern Ocean - profiling (argo) buoys. These are autonomous oceanographic instrument platforms for underwater measurements. They have no engine and do not require constant maintenance by a ship or a person.
- These buoys measure in detail the physical and chemical parameters of the ocean, such as current direction and speed, temperature and salinity at different depths. This data will help to better understand the seasonal exchange between the cold waters of the Weddell Sea and the relatively warm waters of the central-western part of the Antarctic Peninsula.
- Also, NASC researchers will study the impact of precipitation on the ice mass balance of the shelf glacier. For this purpose, a high-resolution regional atmospheric model will be used.
NAS participation will expand OCEAN:ICE by adding new field observations and their analysis, as well as innovative numerical modeling of ocean and atmospheric processes (...) NAS logistical support will extend the existing OCEAN:ICE observing network to the currently unreached areas around Antarctica
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The project is being implemented within the framework of the Horizon Europe program funded by the European Commission. Partners from the UK, funded by the UK Department for Research and Innovation, are also involved.
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