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International Polar Year 2007–2008 - WMO

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Fig. 2.8-1. Antarctica’s<br />

Gamburtsev Province<br />

(AGAP) IPY project<br />

camp locations<br />

and aerophysical<br />

survey area in East<br />

Antarctica.<br />

(Image: M. Studinger)<br />

274<br />

IPY 20 07–20 08<br />

the IPY spirit of promoting international cooperation to<br />

carry out multi-disciplinary research in a remote area<br />

needing very complex logistics (Fig. 2.8-1).<br />

AGAP field work during the IPY observational<br />

period included the deployment of a network<br />

of seismometers at 26 different sites, operating<br />

instruments over the Antarctic winter at very low<br />

temperatures, and a series of survey flights, covering<br />

a total of 120,000 square kilometers, using two aircraft<br />

equipped with ice-penetrating radar, gravimeters and<br />

magnetic sensors (Fig. 2.8-2).<br />

As part of the AGAP survey a seismic experiment<br />

was designed to image details of the crust and<br />

upper mantle structure across the subglacial range.<br />

It consists of the following elements: a) a 900 km<br />

linear array of 12 broadband seismic stations; b) an<br />

intersecting 550 km linear array of seven broadband<br />

seismic stations crossing the Gamburtsev Mountains<br />

at an angle of aproximately 115 degrees to the larger<br />

line; and c) 8 broadband stations deployed to improve<br />

3-D resolution of the Gamburtsev Mountains survey.<br />

More information about the Gamburtsev Antarctic<br />

Mountains Seismic Experiment (GAMSEIS) can be<br />

obtained on the Web site at Washington University in<br />

St. Louis: http://epsc.wustl.edu/seismology/GAMSEIS/<br />

index.html.<br />

The new observations have confirmed the existence<br />

of a mountain range with a rugged landscape that it<br />

is suspected to have been essential in formation of<br />

the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. The data confirm earlier<br />

findings about the presence of subglacial peaks,<br />

valleys, lakes and rivers in a complex water system<br />

connected to the ice sheet flow (Bell et al., 2007).<br />

AGAP research allows study of the lithosphere<br />

structure and uplift history of the Gamburtsev<br />

Mountains, located within an intraplate setting, and<br />

the role it played in the formation of the East Antarctic<br />

Ice Sheet. It has provided inputs into ice sheet,<br />

subglacial flow and climate models, and could help<br />

to locate the oldest ice core record in the Antarctic<br />

Ice Sheet which would be useful for future ice and<br />

bedrock drilling. Information about the AGAP project<br />

is available at www.ldeo.columbia.edu/agap.

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