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Spring 2015 Ice Bits Newsletter Now Available

The SPRING 2015 quarterly update of IDPO and IDDO activities is now available at:
https://icedrill.org/icebits

Topics include:
- IDDO Receives Minerals Exploration Rig; Enters Exciting New Avenue of Subglacial Rock Coring
- Greenland Firn Aquifer Project Battles Tremendous Snowfall
- IDDO Continues Collaboration with UW PSL Hot Water Drilling Experts to Make User-Identified Upgrades to Small Hot Water Drills
- Beneficial Design Upgrades Continue for 4-Inch 'Foro' Drill
- IDPO Advances School of Ice
- IDPO Leads Successful Science Advisory Board Meeting in Arlington, VA
- Requesting Ice Drilling Support
- Drilling Support to Science Projects

To view the newsletter, please go to:
https://icedrill.org/icebits

Request for Community Input - Draft 2015 Long Range Science Plan

Will you need an ice core or an access hole drilled in a glacier or ice sheet in the coming decade? If so, please read on and send us your input!

Each year in the spring the Ice Drilling Program Office (IDPO) of the U.S. Ice Drilling Program works with its Science Advisory Board and with the research community to update the IDPO Long Range Science Plan. This Plan identifies the science in the coming decade that will require the use of ice drilling technology and expertise, and it drives the formation of the associated IDDO Long Range Drilling Technology Plan. Together, the two plans provide the basis for multi-annual planning for the actions and drill development projects of IDPO-IDDO, and the plans give the funding agencies advance notice of upcoming community science needs.

If you will need an ice core or a hole drilled in a glacier or ice sheet in the coming decade, please make sure that the high-level articulation of your science is captured in the current draft update of the Long Range Science Plan!

Please read through the draft Long Range Science Plan and send corrections, updates, or additions to Icedrill@Dartmouth.edu ASAP or not later than May 26.

Submission deadline: Tuesday, 26 May 2015

To download the working draft, please visit:
http://www.icedrill.org/scientists/scientists.shtml#scienceplan

Winter 2014 Ice Bits Newsletter Now Available

The WINTER 2014 quarterly update of IDPO and IDDO activities is now available at:
https://icedrill.org/icebits

Topics include:
- Rewarding Debut of Intermediate Depth Drill at South Pole Station
- Continued Success on Taylor Glacier
- WAIS Divide Schedule Challenges and Achievements
- ASIG Drill Development Project Paves the Way for Subglacial Access
- IDPO Hosts Successful Town Hall at AGU Fall Meeting
- Preparations Underway for School of Ice, a Professional Development Course
- NSTA Web Seminar - Fire and Ice: Snow Albedo and Our Future

To view the newsletter, please go to:
https://icedrill.org/icebits

New Master Class from Polar Educators International - Looking Back to the Future: Using Paleoclimate Data to Understand Antarctica's Ice Sheets

Polar Educators International (PEI), a vibrant network promoting polar education and research to a global community, (http://www.polareducator.org) is pleased to announce the third in the Master Class Series targeting a dual audience:

  • Educators seeking cutting-edge professional development on the latest science discoveries
  • Researchers interested in learning proven strategies for communicating scientific concepts in a clear and meaningful way to non-technical audiences

Looking Back to the Future: Using Paleoclimate Data to Understand Antarctica's Ice Sheets, features leading researcher, Dr. Cliff Atkins, and polar educator, Betty Trummel. See the ATTACHED FLYER advertising the class.

Webinar date/time:
Tuesday, 4 March, 2015 at 0300 GMT/UTC

Registrations are due by 27, February, 2015

NOTE: if you are unable to take part in the live webinar, you can still take part in the Master Class by watching the archived version which will be posted on the PEI website discussion group after 4 March, 2015 - registration is required.

Online discussion forum will follow the web seminar:
3-20 March, 2015

Cost:
Free to all participants. (Membership in PEI is required for participation in Master Class activities.)

Further information on how to participate is available at:
http://www.polareducator.org/activities/master-class

Many thanks for helping us get the word out about this exciting opportunity!

PEI Executive Committee and Master Class Working Group

4-March DEADLINE: Requesting Ice Drilling Support for NSF Antarctic Research Opportunities Proposals

As a reminder, the NSF 2015 Antarctic Research Opportunities (15-529) full proposal deadline is April 15, 2015.

* If your proposal requires any kind of ice drilling, ice coring or borehole logging support from the IDDO group at the University of Wisconsin, you must contact IceDrill@dartmouth.edu at least 6 weeks prior to the proposal deadline, in this case by MARCH 4, 2015. *

For more information about requesting ice drilling support, visit:
http://www.icedrill.org/scientists/scientists.shtml

For information and ideas about partnering with the IDPO for broader impacts, please visit:
http://www.icedrill.org/scientists/outreach_support.shtml

For information about the 2015 Antarctic Research Opportunities (15-529) funding opportunity, visit:
http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=5519

Fall 2014 Ice Bits Newsletter Now Available

The FALL 2014 quarterly update of IDPO and IDDO activities is now available at:
https://icedrill.org/icebits

Topics include:
- Scientific Drilling in the Polar Regions AGU Town Hall Meeting
- Field Support to Antarctic Projects
- Education and Public Outreach
- 2014 Technical Advisory Board Meeting
- Media Kit
- Field Support to Science Projects
- Requesting Ice Drilling Support

To view the newsletter, please go to:
https://icedrill.org/icebits

Fall AGU Town Hall Meeting: Scientific Drilling in the Polar Regions

Scientific Drilling in the Polar Regions AGU Town Hall Meeting

Date: Monday, 15 December 2014
Time: 12:30 PM - 1:30 PM
Place: Moscone West - Room 2006

The U.S. Ice Drilling Program Office (IDPO) is once again organizing a Town Hall meeting at the Fall AGU Meeting entitled 'TH13C. Scientific Drilling in the Polar Regions'. Ice sheets and the underlying bedrock and sediment hold crucial evidence of past climate and cratonic geology. National and international collaboration for drilling in the remote polar regions requires strategic coordination between science, technology, and logistics. This town hall will provide the research community with updates on IDPO-IDDO, NICL, IPICS, RAID, WISSARD and ANDRILL initiatives. Opportunities for community involvement will be showcased, and input from the audience will be solicited.

AGU meeting website for more information:
http://fallmeeting.agu.org/2014/events/th13c-scientific-drilling-in-the-polar-regions/

For further information, please contact
Mary Albert (Mary.R.Albert at dartmouth.edu)

New Master Class from Polar Educators International - Natural and Anthropogenic (that pesky word!) Climate Impacts: Evidence from Ice Cores

Some of you may be interested in this opportunity or have networks where the invitation can be shared:

Polar Educators International (PEI), a vibrant network promoting polar education and research to a global community (http://www.polareducator.org), is pleased to announce the second in the new Master Class series targeting a dual audience:

  • Educators seeking cutting-edge professional development on the latest science discoveries
  • Researchers interested in learning proven strategies for communicating scientific concepts in a clear and meaningful way to non-technical audiences

See the ATTACHED FLYER advertising the class, Natural and Anthropogenic (that pesky word!) Climate Impacts: Evidence from Ice Cores.

Featuring leading researcher, Dr. Joe McConnell and polar educator, Ms. Linda Morris, the class is being offered free to all participants. Membership in PEI is required for participation in Master Class activities. Registrations are due by 25 October 2014, with the initial web seminar taking place Wednesday, 29 October 2014 at 2000 GMT. A two-week online discussion forum 30 October- 14 November 2014 will follow the web seminar.

Further information on how to participate is available at:
http://www.polareducator.org/activities/master-class

Many thanks for helping us get the word out about this exciting opportunity! And apologies for cross-posting.

PEI Executive Committee

Summer 2014 Ice Bits Newsletter Now Available

The SUMMER 2014 quarterly update of IDPO and IDDO activities is now available at:
https://icedrill.org/icebits

Topics include:
- Long Range Planning Identifies the Direction of Research and Enables Drilling Technology
- IDPO Leads Reviews of Two IDDO Drills in Development
- Successful Field Test of IDDO's new Intermediate Depth Drill System in Greenland
- Cosmogenic Carbon-14 Core Project Successfully Completed Following Early Season Challenges
- IDPO Educational Outreach Develops New Interactive Map
- New Technology for the Community
     :: Scalable Hot Water Drill
     :: Agile Sub-Ice Geological Drill
- Construction of the Rapid Access Ice Drill (RAID) Begins!
- Don Lebar Retires After Nearly 13 Years as Head of UW-Madison's Ice Drilling Group

To view the newsletter, please go to:
https://icedrill.org/icebits

Draft report on GEO Priorities and Frontiers, 2015-2020: An Invitation for Public Comment

As you all are aware, the Division of Polar Programs at NSF is now within the Directorate for Geosciences (GEO). And for the past several months, the NSF GEO Advisory Committee has been working with GEO staff on an update to its 2009 report, GEO Vision, and there is currently an invitation for public comment on the draft report. Please see the message below from George Hornberger, Acting Chair of GEO, and Roger Wakimoto, Assistant Director of GEO, for more information about this report.

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For the past several months, the NSF GEO Advisory Committee has been working with GEO staff on an update to its 2009 report, GEO Vision. This draft report, Dynamic Earth: GEO Priorities and Frontiers 2015-2020, takes a different perspective than the last report. In the current climate of limited resources, this document seeks to set actionable goals and objectives for the next five years. It is not meant to be a comprehensive document of all GEO programs but rather a near-term plan of GEO-wide priorities. More detailed information on specific programs and thrusts is currently part of each of the four GEO divisions' planning activities (Atmosphere/Geospace, Earth, Ocean, and Polar).

The draft report is available at the NSF web site:
http://www.nsf.gov/geo/adgeo/advcomm/gpf-draft/

We are very interested in receiving your feedback on this document and encourage you to not only review and comment but also to share the draft with your colleagues. Please send your comments to geovision@nsf.gov by Friday, September 12th.

Thank you. We look forward to hearing from you.

George Hornberger, Chair, AC GEO
Roger Wakimoto, Assistant Director, GEO

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