European Team - PI: R. Urgeles (CSIC), co-PI: X. Garcia (CSIC)
US Team - PI: E. Attias (UTIG), co-PI: R. Evans (WHOI)
PROJECTS
ICEFLAME
Impact of ICE-sheet retreat and Fluid flow dynamics in Western Antarctic Peninsula Margin Experiment
An International collaborative study
The polar regions have lost significant ice sheet mass since LGM and, therefore, are subject to substantial isostatic rebound and continental uplift. Such uplift promotes gas hydrate dissociation (pressure/temperature dependent), and consequent emission of the greenhouse gas methane can accelerate global warming. As a result, the Western Antarctic Peninsula (AP) is undergoing rapid climate change, with a rising atmospheric temperature of nearly 3°C since 1951.
The ICEFLAME international team aims to unveil the intrinsic mechanism controlling ice-sheet retreat, continental uplift, gas hydrate dissociation, ocean-to-atmosphere methane release, and associated polar warming at AP. ICEFLAME focus is on how fluid flow and gas hydrate systems within the AP margin respond to pressure/temperature changes induced by the Holocene to present alterations in uplift rates from isostatic rebound and temperature of bottom water masses. The MT/CSEM data, combined with multichannel seismic, core, and water sampling datasets, will help us track the migration pathways of hydrocarbon-charged fluids in the subsurface and release to the water column.
WHAT WE WILL ACHIVE IN THIS PROJCT
The ICEFLAME international team aims to unveil the intrinsic mechanism controlling ice-sheet retreat, continental uplift, gas hydrate dissociation, ocean-to-atmosphere methane release, and associated polar warming at AP. ICEFLAME focus is on how fluid flow and gas hydrate systems within the AP margin respond to pressure/temperature changes induced by the Holocene to present alterations in uplift rate