Land-2-Sea Geoscience
The Meduna SWAIS2C team at Willies airfield before-take-off. Image: Veronika Meduna
The Land-2-Sea Geoscience (L2SG) project focused on deploying innovative drilling technology to retrieve sediment cores from beneath Antarctic ice shelves and sea ice. In collaboration with ANZIC and ICDP, the project aimed to explore the West Antarctic Ice Sheet's sensitivity to climate change and tectonic processes, contributing to global scientific understanding of Antarctic ice dynamics.
Overview
In late 2021, AuScope announced the Land-2-Sea Geoscience pilot project (L2SG), which supports ANZIC and ICDP in deploying new, low-cost drilling technology to retrieve cores from sedimentary deposits beneath Antarctic ice shelves and sea ice. L2SG supports Australian involvement in the SWAIS-2C project, which focuses on exploring the sensitivity of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) to climate change and tectonic processes.
“By AuScope investing in SWAIS-2C through L2SG, we’ll be able to assess the value to Australia of accessing the ICDP’s resources and expertise to answer bigger and more complex scientific questions.” – Dr Sarah Kachovich
The Challenge
With the increase in global temperature averages, global sea level rises may rise by 6-9 metres based on the melting of both the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. Understanding the dynamics of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is crucial for predicting and mitigating rapid sea level rise, particularly under different greenhouse gas emissions scenarios. SWAIS-2C and L2SG aim to explore the impacts of past climate changes on WAIS melting.
The outcomes
Deployment of new drilling technology that retrieved sediment cores beneath Antarctic ice shelves and sea ice.
Onshore analysis of core samples that determined WAIS sensitivity to climate and tectonic processes.
Contributed to global scientific collaboration addressing fundamental questions and challenges faced by Australia.
What are the benefits?
Understanding Environmental Dynamics: Uncovering geological records will help guide scientific understanding of future sea-level rises under warming scenarios and provide insights into Ice Sheet sensitivity and glacial retreat.
Advanced Research Techniques: The development of advanced drilling technologies and methodologies will enable future studies to be conducted in other parts of Antarctica, particularly the Denman Glacier, an extensive ice mass that is also vulnerable to melting.
Enhanced Scientific Collaboration: The SWAIS-2C will bring together a diverse international research community of more than 100 scientists, engineers, and communicators to foster knowledge-sharing and interdisciplinary research to further expand collaborative efforts in climate dynamics.
Who will benefit?
An enhanced understanding of WAIS dynamics and its implications for sea level rise and climate change adaptation will benefit Australian researchers, policymakers, and the public.
Access
Data Access: The data collected through the project will be made available through the ICDP and host institutions' data repositories.
Acknowledging AuScope
This project was made possible by support from the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) through AuScope. Acknowledging AuScope and NCRIS helps us demonstrate the value of shared research infrastructure, ensuring continued support and resources for the research community.
If you helped deliver this project or have benefited from its outputs, please credit AuScope so we can include your work in our impact reporting. For examples of acknowledgment, please visit our ‘How to Acknowledge AuScope’ page.
We’d love to see your work—please tag us on social media using:
@auscope | #AuScopeImpact | #NCRISimpact
Project Name
Land-2-Sea Geoscience
Project Lead
Dr Sarah Kachovich
Timeframe
2021 to 2023
Status
Completed
Funding
AuScope Pilots 3
Hosts
ANU/ANZIC
AuScope Programs
