Antarctic Earth Sciences Program

The AES program supports research to understand the geologic history and geodynamics of Antarctica, and to study the wide range of environments and processes that shape this unique, continent and the surrounding continental shelves and ocean basins. AES supports field, laboratory, and theoretical work in both terrestrial and marine settings in the fields of geology, geophysics, geochemistry, and other areas of earth sciences. Work on previously collected data and samples is encouraged.  Proposers should investigate the utility of existing samples available from individual researchers and repositories.

Emphasis areas include but are not limited to:

• Reconstructing and understanding geological controls on ice sheet stability and on the rate and magnitude of past ice sheet changes;
• Using paleoenvironmental proxies to understand past changes in global climate and ocean circulation;
• Investigating the Antarctic fossil record and paleoenvironments to understand the evolutionary history of life;
• Documenting volcanism, rifting, and orogenesis from the breakup of Gondwana to the present-day;
• Investigating unique Antarctic processes from landscape evolution of the Transantarctic Mountains to modern physical processes in ice-free zones.