The International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) is now accepting applications for scientific participants on Expedition 400: NW Greenland Glaciated Margin, aboard the JOIDES Resolution.

The sea level consequences of anthropogenic climate forcing hinge on how the polar ice sheets respond to global warming. If fully melted the Greenland Ice Sheet has the potential to raise sea level by >7 m. We know very little of its long-term responses to past climate warming or its role in Earth’s climate system. IODP Expedition 400 seeks to address current knowledge gaps in the evolution and variability of the northern Greenland Ice Sheet (NGrIS). The key science objectives are:

1. Determine maximum and minimum NGrIS configurations during the Pleistocene, from shelf edge glaciation to hypothesized complete ice loss, e.g., during superinterglacials;
2. Test the glacial response to pCO₂ across the early ice house stage of the middle Cenozoic;
3. Unravel NGrIS erosion history and sedimentary response across major transitions, e.g., Mid-Miocene Transition and Mid-Pleistocene Transition; and
4. Reconstruct the Pliocene ocean circulation and northward heat advection through Baffin Bay and potential Arctic ocean gateways.

These objectives will be accomplished by transect-drilling at seven sites to depths of 300–1000 m across the northwest Greenland margin into Baffin Bay. The seven sites will provide a composite stratigraphic succession from the Oligocene through the Quaternary. The key targets are: (a) a continous Pleistocene succession representing a deepwater channel-drift that forms the distal part of the Melville Bay Trough Mouth Fan; (b) multiple intervals of potential interglacial deposits preserved within intrashelf depressions; (c) contourite deposits of likely Pliocene age, accessible below a thin glacigenic cover; and (d) a hemipelagic basin succession of likely Miocene age exposed by glacial erosion on the inner shelf. Downhole wireline logging is planned for several sites.

For more information on the expedition science objectives and the JOIDES Resolution expedition schedule, see http://iodp.tamu.edu/scienceops/. This site includes links to individual expedition web pages with the original IODP proposals and expedition planning information.

Original proposals: 909-Full2 & 909-Add PDF