Outlet glacier

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Mackay Glacier SW Ross Sea
Outlet glacier from the East Antarctic Ice Sheet
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Floating glacier tongue surrounded by sea ice
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Traversed instrumentation to sites around glacier
tongue edge
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Control and data logging center
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Easy deployment through sea ice
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First observations of an Antarctic grounding line
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ROV tether best
These unknown environments require real-time data
and imaging for best experimental design and
sampling and for recovery
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Flutes and mega-lineations
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Local rich epibenthic communities below the tongue
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Cusomized ROV under construction
manual and auto-navigation operation
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Power Data - 3km tethered
umbilical strengthened, fiber optic power
cables neutrally buoyant Navigation -
Doppler velocity log (2 Doppler current meters)
- gyro (FOG) compass - manual
override Imaging - high-definition camera
HMI lights (broadcast quality images) - 3
lower-resolution cameras 4 quartz lights
(piloting, down-hole viewing) - digital still
camera (high-resolution still images) -
vertical scanning sonar (long-range imaging)
- triple laser-beams (sizing and volume of
objects)
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Geophysics - multibeam swath mapper (lake
floor morphology) - high-resolution
sub-bottom profiler 10 hydrophone streamer
(geological history) Oceanography - CTD
(salinity, temperature) - Doppler current
meter (water velocity) - water sampler
(calibrations) Biology - DO meter (dissolved
oxygen) - fluorometer (live organic
material) - water sampler (microbes) -
sediment corer (macro- and micro-biota) - ice
corer (microbes)
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Sedimentology - transmissometer (suspended
particle concentration) - laser particle size
analyzer (suspended particle sizes) - shear
vane probe (sediment strength) - sediment
corer (particle size, composition, structure,
fabric) - ice corer (glacial
debris) Glaciology - DO meter (dissolved
oxygen from streams) - thermistor probe (in
situ ice temperature) - shear vane probe
(sediment strength) - ice corer (ice
chemistry, structure) Recoverable Samples -
water sampler - ice corer - sediment
corer - sample mailbox
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Hot water drill system - with reamer Ocean
Observatory - inductive cabling (modem) to
transmit real-time data to the surface - CTD
(salinity, temperature and depth (tidal
variations)) - Doppler current meter (water
current velocities) - transmissometer
(suspended particulate concentrations in water)
- laser size analyzer (sizes of particles in
water) - fluorometer (live organic material)
- rosette water sampler (sea water/freshwater
composition) Sediment Sampling System -
capstan, spool and cable - custom-built,
slim-hole design, percussion piston corer -
thermistor string built into core barrel (IODP
design for heat flow) Traverse system -
insulated containers - sleds
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Field Deployment
Twin otter deployable - individual components
Traverse system - insulated containers -
sleds