This award is in support of the Seismic Experiment-Ross Ice Shelf (SERIS), a seismic study of the plate boundary between East Antarctica and the Ross Embayment. The first year involves acquisition of a 150-km-long multichannel seismic reflection line starting on the Ross ice shelf and entering the Transantarctic Mountains front through one of the outlet glaciers. A reversed refraction profile and several wide-angle reflection profiles will be collected along the multichannel seismic line. Interpretation of the data, flexural modeling of the uplift and the subsidence, analysis of the seismic stratigraphy and modeling of gravity will be carried out in the second year. This study is a joint project between scientists from Ohio State University, Stanford University, the U.S. Geological Survey at Menlo Park, and the Geophysics Division, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) in New Zealand. This award supports the establishment of a 12-element short-period digital seismic array to record reflection and refraction shots to determine the Antarctic crustal thickness of a central inland portion of the Transantarctic Mountains. The experiment is designed to serve as a prototype for large-scale seismic experiments in the interior of Antarctica in the next decade.
