This award supports an aerogeophysical study of the Gamburtsev Subglacial Mountains (GSM), a Texas-sized mountain range buried beneath the ice sheets of East Antarctica. The project would perform a combined gravity, magnetics, and radar study to achieve a range of goals including: advancing our understanding of the origin and evolution of the polar ice sheets and subglacial lakes; defining the crustal architecture of East Antarctica, a key question in the earth's history; and locating the oldest ice in East Antarctica, which may ultimately help find ancient climate records. Virtually unexplored, the GSM represents the largest unstudied area of crustal uplift on earth. As well, the region is the starting point for growth of the Antarctic ice sheets. Because of these outstanding questions, the GSM has been identified by the international Antarctic science community as a research focus for the International Polar Year (2007-2009). In addition to this study, NSF is also supporting a seismological survey of the GSM under award number 0537371. Major international partners in the project include Germany, China, Australia, and the United Kingdom. For more information see IPY Project #67 at IPY.org. In terms of broader impacts, this project also supports postdoctoral and graduate student research, and various forms of outreach including a focus on groups underrepresented in the earth sciences.
Elizabeth City State University’s GAMBIT project focused on educational and outreach activities. The 2008 summer research project used ground penetrating RADAR (GPR) technology and soil excavation and core sampling as analogs to the ice penetrating RADAR and ice core sampling techniques used to probe the East Antarctic ice sheet. The design of the summer projects also invoked analogs to the mystery associated with the formation of the Gamburtsev Mountains. A contrast and comparison was made between the motivation for Gamburtsev sub-glacial mountain research and the persistent, century-long, uncertainty in the processes responsible for the mid-to-late-Pleistocene development of geomorphic features known as the Carolina Bays. The student investigation of Carolina Bay structure employed GPR and stratigraphic core sample analysis. GPR depths of meters were contrasted to the GAMBIT Ice Penetrating RADAR probing at depths of kilometers. The contrast between Carolina Bay soil and East Antarctic ice cores was also made. ECSU provided the same interactive demonstration of infrared satellite remote sensing technology at the Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society’s 2008 International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS) held in Boston, July 6 – 11, 2008. Also, Dr. Linda Hayden conducted a polar science and remote sensing "scavenger hunt" and demonstration. Based upon the frequency of visits and revisits, this demonstration was one of the most popular exhibits among these students. ECSU developed and provided an interactive demonstration of the application of satellite infrared remote sensing technology to monitor the environmental conditions in remote areas of Antarctica at the New York City International Polar Weekend on March 2-3 2008 and February 7-8, 2009. Over 3,500 New York residents participated in the kick off of IPY at AMNH. The 2009 URE GAMBIT team examined material excavated the previous year by the 2008 GAMBIT URE team and found multiple layers of magnetic grain density peaks, at least one of which was found to contain magnetic microspherules and enhanced amounts of carbon spherules as well as charcoal, vitreous carbon and nanodiamonds in a layer of sediment lying at 72 cm depth, well above the estimated bay bottom. This suggests the bays are older features than whatever process deposited the potential impact markers. The 2010 summer research project reviewed and interpreted the results of the ground penetrating RADAR (GPR) survey performed by the previous summer’s GAMBIT research team. They also processed, analyzed and interpreted the results of the 2009 team’s core and excavated soil samples. The 2010 team similarly found multiple peaks in magnetic grain density but only one magnetic spherule was found in the layer at 48 cm, which held a significant enhancement of the smaller grains density revealed by size sorting the magnetic grains. This magnetic spherule was subjected to electron microscopic analysis using energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy. The spherules were shown to possess chemical compositions similar to Earth’s crust, indicating a terrestrial formation process or a genesis as eject from an ET Impact. The results of previous URE projects and those of the 2010 team were summarized in a poster presented at the XVIII International Union for Quaternary Research Congress held in Bern Switzerland July 20-27, 2011. During the Celebration of Women in Mathematics on October 19, 2010, Dr. Malcolm LeCompte facilitated a demonstration workshop on "Ground Penetrating Radar". This workshop was made available to middle school and high school females from the surrounding five counties in Northeastern North Carolina. This demonstration workshop was designed to helped students have a better understanding of Ground Penetrating Radar and its various applications in a number of fields. These students also received hand-on experience using a GPR on the campus of ECSU. A GIS Day was held on November 17, 2010 in Mr. Darrell Walker’s eighth grade science classes. The GIS Day at Elizabeth City Middle School was facilitated by Dr. Darnell Johnson, Education Coordinator - CReSIS at ECSU and Kaiem Frink, Mathematics with a concentration in Remote Sensing graduate student. The goal of the visit to Mr. Walker’s science classes was to get students thinking about existing technology, and ideally to get them to explore a career path in science, technology, engineering and/or mathematics (STEM). Too often, students who are economically disadvantages and/or live in rural communities are not privy to and/or have access to innovative technology. As a result, the science community at ECSU wanted to exposure the students at Elizabeth City Middle School to "cutting-edge" technology and let them know that they can compete globally in the science arena. Each of the participants was afforded the opportunity to engage in various interactive exercises using global positioning systems. GIS Day was so well received by students, staff and community that we were invited to return in 2011, to introduce the students in Mrs. Hathaway’s classes to the principles of GIS and its associated technologies.
