IU sends innovative technology to Antarctica to speed polar researchSeptember 23, 2008BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Environmental scientists studying the world's shrinking polar ice sheets will soon get a substantial boost in computing power thanks to IU's Polar Grid Project. Funded by a $1.96 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), Indiana University and Polar Grid partners Elizabeth City State University (ECSU) and the NSF's Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets (CReSIS), headquartered at the University of Kansas, are poised this week to deploy a collection of customized computational resources to Antarctica that will allow scientists -- both on site and remotely -- to more securely and efficiently process data during polar field expeditions. "The news we've seen out of Greenland and Canada in recent weeks is alarming. Scientists say ice sheets in existence for thousands of years are deteriorating rapidly and breaking apart," said Polar Grid Project principal investigator Geoffrey Fox. Fox is director of the Community Grids Lab, part of Pervasive Technology Labs at Indiana University, and also chairs the IU Department of Informatics. "It is critical to provide polar scientists with access to advanced computing technology during field expeditions; it will help them work more efficiently as they strive to gain a better understanding of the problems facing our planet -- and will allow them to move more quickly toward finding solutions," Fox said. Starting Sept. 26, the Polar Grid equipment will be flown by commercial carrier to Port Hueneme, Calif., to be received by the NSF's official cargo system. From there, the equipment will travel by cargo ship to New Zealand, where it will board a U.S. military plane bound for McMurdo Station, Antarctica. At McMurdo Station, the equipment will be unloaded and staged for a second military air lift to the Western Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide Camp, where it will be driven a distance of approximately 190 miles to its final destination, a research camp to be established on Thwaites Glacier. After completing the long trek to Antarctica, the equipment will be used to support an extensive research expedition expected to begin in November and running through February 2009. In the past, data collected during this type of expedition could not be evaluated or processed until scientists returned to their home labs at the close of an expedition. The Polar Grid Project will help scientists in Antarctica speed the time between data collection and scientific discovery by allowing them to begin processing ice sheet data collected from sensors and aerial and surface radar while still in the field. This will allow the scientists to identify problems with data collection and adjust experiments as necessary, to ensure that each expedition yields the highest possible quality of data. The deployed equipment also provides ample data storage and backup to prevent loss and damage of irreplaceable data. Equipment being sent from IU to Antarctica includes: computing clusters; servers; a storage array; laptops; satellite transceivers; and networking and testing equipment. In addition to the equipment being deployed in the field, the Polar Grid Project is also providing two high performance computing clusters -- one at IU and one at ECSU. These clusters, which will be integrated into the NSF's national network supercomputers called TeraGrid, will be used to perform in-depth analysis on data collected during field expeditions. All Polar Grid equipment bound for Antarctica will be shipped and protected from harsh polar elements in commercially available Pelican cases and specially designed "ruggedized" cases developed by IU. "One of the biggest challenges was determining how to keep very sophisticated computing equipment safe and functional in harsh weather conditions," said Matt Link, director of Systems for University Information Technology Services' Research Technologies division. Link manages the IU team that assembled the Polar Grid equipment. "We had to work directly with manufacturers to design cases that will stand up to extreme cold, winds, snow -- all that Antarctica has to offer," he said. Link was part of a team of IU and ECSU technologists that traveled to Greenland over the summer to deploy Polar Grid equipment for use in two smaller-scale field expeditions that concluded in August 2008. The Greenland equipment was used to process data collected by aerial radar mounted on an airplane. The plane made four-hour data collection flights twice daily for the length of the expedition, yielding a staggering 12,000 gigabytes of data on the ice sheets and the bedrock below. Polar Grid equipment was used by the CReSIS field team to generate images of the ice and bedrock that were sent back to Kansas for further examination by CReSIS engineers and scientists. Based on the results they processed in the field, scientists were able to make adjustments to the radar and sensors, in order to gather more data and more accurate data on areas of the ice sheet that showed the greatest change. "The Greenland expedition gave us a great trial run," said Link. "It allowed us to get the equipment running smoothly in a real research environment before shipping out more equipment for the longer Antarctica expedition. Scientists using the Polar Grid equipment in Greenland made significant progress this summer, so we're very excited to see the difference this equipment will make for research teams heading to Antarctica." Link described working in Greenland this summer as an unforgettable experience for him and the team of IU technologists. "It's clear from recent news that the world has some big environmental challenges to overcome," said Link. "But scientists are working hard to help us understand and meet those challenges. It felt great to be right there on the front lines in Greenland, helping those scientists do their job. And to see the natural beauty of our Polar Regions first-hand -- it was just amazing." Indiana University |
|||||||||||||||||||||
| Related Polar Research Current Events and Polar Research News Articles Ancient drought and rapid cooling drastically altered climate Two abrupt and drastic climate events, 700 years apart and more than 45 centuries ago, are teasing scientists who are now trying to use ancient records to predict future world climate. US-led international research team confirms Alps-like mountain range exists Flying twin-engine light aircraft the equivalent of several trips around the globe and establishing a network of seismic instruments across an area the size of Texas, a U.S.-led, international team of scientists has not only verified the existence of a mountain range that is suspected to have caused the massive East Antarctic Ice Sheet to form, but also has created a detailed picture of the rugged landscape buried under more than four kilometers (2.5 miles) of ice. Advice from research: market visiting rights to Antarctica Tourism on Antarctica is increasing and that can form a threat for the vulnerable South Pole area. Research from Maastricht University provides a possible solution: market the visitor rights to the highest bidder. Arctic ice on the verge of another all-time low Following last summer's record minimum ice cover in the Arctic, current observations from ESA's Envisat satellite suggest that the extent of polar sea-ice may again shrink to a level very close to that of last year. International team establishes unique observatory in Antarctica A team of scientists representing six international institutions, including Texas A&M University, has succeeded in reaching the summit of Antarctica - also a monumental achievement for ground-based astronomy -- to establish a new astronomical observatory at Dome Argus on the highest point of the Antarctic Plateau. Earth's heat adds to climate change to melt Greenland ice Scientists have discovered what they think may be another reason why Greenland's ice is melting: a thin spot in Earth's crust is enabling underground magma to heat the ice. They have found at least one "hotspot" in the northeast corner of Greenland -- just below a site where an ice stream was recently discovered. Arctic expeditions find giant mud waves, glacier tracks Scientists gathering evidence of ancient ice sheets uncovered a new mystery about what's happening on the Arctic sea floor today. Sonar images revealed that, in some places, ocean currents have driven the mud along the Arctic Ocean bottom into piles, with some "mud waves" nearly 100 feet across. New Tibetan ice cores missing A-bomb blast Ice cores drilled last year from the summit of a Himalayan ice field lack the distinctive radioactive signals that mark virtually every other ice core retrieved worldwide. That missing radioactivity, originating as fallout from atmospheric nuclear tests during the 1950s and 1960s, routinely provides researchers with a benchmark against which they can gauge how much new ice has accumulated on a glacier or ice field. Aurora Borealis breaks new grounds - and old ice It can crush ice sideways and stay precisely on station to an accuracy of a metre. It can drill a hole 1,000 metres deep into the seabed while floating above 5,000 metres of ocean and it can generate 55 megawatts of power. So far, Aurora Borealis is the most unusual ship that has never been built, and it represents a floating laboratory for European science, a breakthrough for polar research and a very big headache for international lawyers. Global warming, Antarctic ice is focus of multinational workshop As the national repository for geological material from the Southern Ocean, the Antarctic Marine Geology Research Facility at Florida State University houses the premier collection of Antarctic sediment cores -- and a hot new acquisition will offer an international team of scientists meeting there May 1-4 its best look yet at the impact of global warming on oceans worldwide. More Polar Research Current Events and Polar Research News Articles |
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||