Project acronym DEEP PURPLE
Project DEEP PURPLE: darkening of the Greenland Ice Sheet
Researcher (PI) Martyn TRANTER, Alexandre Barbosa Anesio, Liane Benning
Host Institution (HI) AARHUS UNIVERSITET
Country Denmark
Call Details Synergy Grants (SyG), SyG, ERC-2019-SyG
Summary The stability of the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) is a threat to coastal communities worldwide. The PIs have changed our understanding of why it darkens during the melt season, becoming increasingly deep purple due to pigmented ice algal blooms in the ice surface, producing more melt and accelerating the GrIS towards its tipping point, and increasing sea level. The next step jump in our understanding of biological darkening will be provided by DEEP PURPLE, which will establish the factors that control ice algal blooms. These factors are essential for modelling of future melting, which require a process-based understanding of blooming. DEEP PURPLE will quantify the synergies between the biology, chemistry and physics of ice algae micro-niches in rotting, melting ice, and examine the combination of factors which stabilise them. State-of-the-science analytical and observational methods will be employed to characterise the complex mosaic of wet ice habitats, dependent on factors such as the hydrology, nutrient status, particulate content and light fields within these continually evolving ice-water-particulate-microbe systems. We will quantitatively assess why and how the fine light mineral dust particulates contained within the melting ice amplify the growth of ice algae. The particulate content and composition of different layers in the GrIS is dependent on age, and so the algae that the melting ice can support may fundamentally change over time. We look back to understand if the ice biome has changed through the Anthropocene via analyse of fjord sediments. The first draft genome of ice algae will show their key adaptations to glacier surface habitats. DEEP PURPLE looks forward by providing the critical field data sets and conceptual models of ice algal growth that will facilitate the next generation of predictive models of sea level rise due to biologically enhanced melting of the GrIS.
Summary
The stability of the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) is a threat to coastal communities worldwide. The PIs have changed our understanding of why it darkens during the melt season, becoming increasingly deep purple due to pigmented ice algal blooms in the ice surface, producing more melt and accelerating the GrIS towards its tipping point, and increasing sea level. The next step jump in our understanding of biological darkening will be provided by DEEP PURPLE, which will establish the factors that control ice algal blooms. These factors are essential for modelling of future melting, which require a process-based understanding of blooming. DEEP PURPLE will quantify the synergies between the biology, chemistry and physics of ice algae micro-niches in rotting, melting ice, and examine the combination of factors which stabilise them. State-of-the-science analytical and observational methods will be employed to characterise the complex mosaic of wet ice habitats, dependent on factors such as the hydrology, nutrient status, particulate content and light fields within these continually evolving ice-water-particulate-microbe systems. We will quantitatively assess why and how the fine light mineral dust particulates contained within the melting ice amplify the growth of ice algae. The particulate content and composition of different layers in the GrIS is dependent on age, and so the algae that the melting ice can support may fundamentally change over time. We look back to understand if the ice biome has changed through the Anthropocene via analyse of fjord sediments. The first draft genome of ice algae will show their key adaptations to glacier surface habitats. DEEP PURPLE looks forward by providing the critical field data sets and conceptual models of ice algal growth that will facilitate the next generation of predictive models of sea level rise due to biologically enhanced melting of the GrIS.
Max ERC Funding
11 007 344 €
Duration
Start date: 2020-01-01, End date: 2025-12-31
Project acronym GRACEFUL
Project Probing the deep Earth's interior by synergistic use of observations of the magnetic and gravity fields, and of the rotation of the Earth.
Researcher (PI) Veronique DEHANT, Anny Cazenave, Mioara Mandea
Host Institution (HI) KONINKLIJKE STERRENWACHT VAN BELGIE
Country Belgium
Call Details Synergy Grants (SyG), SyG, ERC-2019-SyG
Summary To understand the processes involved in the deep interior of the Earth and explaining its evolution, in particular the dynamics of the Earth’s fluid iron-rich outer core, only indirect satellite and ground observations are available. They each provide invaluable information about the core flow but are incomplete on their own:
- The time dependent magnetic field, originating mainly within the core, can be used to infer the motions of the fluid at the top of the core on decadal and subdecadal time scales.
- The time dependent gravity field variations that reflect changes in the mass distribution within the Earth and at its surface occur on a broad range of time scales. Decadal and interannual variations include the signature of the flow inside the core, though they are largely dominated by surface contributions related to the global water cycle and climate-driven land ice loss.
- Earth rotation changes (or variations in the length of the day) also occur on these timescales, and are largely related to the core fluid motions through exchange of angular momentum between the core and the mantle.
The GRACEFUL project will go beyond the potential of individual satellite and ground observations and will combine the information about the core deduced from the gravity field, from the magnetic field and from the Earth rotation in synergy, in order to examine in unprecedented depth the dynamical processes occurring inside the core and at the core-mantle boundary.
We will develop cutting-edge algorithms to process observational data and use up-to-date numerical models of the core flow to infer its dynamics. This interdisciplinary approach will challenge our current understanding of the core dynamics and provide a step change in our understanding of the deep Earth’s interior.
The pioneering approach of GRACEFUL will provide an innovative template to obtain totally novel information about the dynamic processes inside the fluid core and core-mantle boundary of the Earth.
Summary
To understand the processes involved in the deep interior of the Earth and explaining its evolution, in particular the dynamics of the Earth’s fluid iron-rich outer core, only indirect satellite and ground observations are available. They each provide invaluable information about the core flow but are incomplete on their own:
- The time dependent magnetic field, originating mainly within the core, can be used to infer the motions of the fluid at the top of the core on decadal and subdecadal time scales.
- The time dependent gravity field variations that reflect changes in the mass distribution within the Earth and at its surface occur on a broad range of time scales. Decadal and interannual variations include the signature of the flow inside the core, though they are largely dominated by surface contributions related to the global water cycle and climate-driven land ice loss.
- Earth rotation changes (or variations in the length of the day) also occur on these timescales, and are largely related to the core fluid motions through exchange of angular momentum between the core and the mantle.
The GRACEFUL project will go beyond the potential of individual satellite and ground observations and will combine the information about the core deduced from the gravity field, from the magnetic field and from the Earth rotation in synergy, in order to examine in unprecedented depth the dynamical processes occurring inside the core and at the core-mantle boundary.
We will develop cutting-edge algorithms to process observational data and use up-to-date numerical models of the core flow to infer its dynamics. This interdisciplinary approach will challenge our current understanding of the core dynamics and provide a step change in our understanding of the deep Earth’s interior.
The pioneering approach of GRACEFUL will provide an innovative template to obtain totally novel information about the dynamic processes inside the fluid core and core-mantle boundary of the Earth.
Max ERC Funding
4 595 074 €
Duration
Start date: 2020-09-01, End date: 2024-08-31
