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| Aurora Subglacial Basin | |
|---|---|
| Name | Aurora Subglacial Basin |
| Location | East Antarctica, Wilkes Land |
| Type | Subglacial basin |
| Basin country | Antarctica |
Aurora Subglacial Basin The Aurora Subglacial Basin is a large, ice-covered trough beneath the East Antarctic Ice Sheet located in Wilkes Land near the coast of the Indian Ocean sector. It lies beneath the grounded ice upstream of the Totten Glacier and is significant for its subglacial topography, bedrock geology, and potential influence on global sea level. The feature has attracted attention from Antarctic programs, geophysical surveys, and international research collaborations studying cryosphere dynamics and marine geodynamics.
The basin is situated in East Antarctica within the sector surveyed by Australian Antarctic Division and shared interest from programs such as the United States Antarctic Program, the French Polar Institute Paul-Émile Victor, and the British Antarctic Survey. It borders drainage catchments for the Totten Glacier, the Vanderford Glacier, and regions mapped during expeditions by Wilkes Land parties including teams from the Australian National University, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, the University of Tasmania, and the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre. Nearby geographic references include Vincennes Bay, the Sabrina Coast, the Scott Mountains, and the Windmill Islands, which were visited historically by the United States Navy Operation Highjump and later by the Soviet Antarctic Expedition and the Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition.
Beneath the basin lies Precambrian and Phanerozoic bedrock interpreted from seismic reflection and aerogeophysical surveys conducted by institutions such as Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, the Alfred Wegener Institute, Utrecht University, and the Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Studies reference cratonic elements connected to the East Antarctic Shield, possible Neoproterozoic rifting events correlated with Gondwana reconstructions involving the Geological Survey of India, the South African Council for Geoscience, and the Brazilian Geological Survey. Aeromagnetic and gravity campaigns by the Australian Geological Survey and NASA Operation IceBridge have revealed sedimentary basins, fault systems, and subglacial lakes analogous to features investigated by the Scott Polar Research Institute, the Norwegian Polar Institute, and the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan. Ice-penetrating radar from the British Antarctic Survey, the Polar Geospatial Center, and the U.S. National Science Foundation has mapped basal topography, englacial layering, and basal roughness relevant to models developed at Princeton University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of Colorado Boulder.
Initial identification arose from airborne radio-echo sounding by collaborative projects including the SPRI–NSF–TUD airborne program, Australian Antarctic Division surveys, and Italian PNRA projects, with follow-up work by CSIRO and the Korea Polar Research Institute. Historical reconnaissance traces to aerial photography from Operation Highjump and Soviet Antarctic research ship voyages, with ground geophysical transects by the U.S. Geological Survey, the Australian Antarctic Division, and teams from the University of Melbourne and Monash University. Technological milestones include contributions from the European Space Agency’s CryoSat mission, NASA’s ICESat, and radar sounding instruments developed by the University of Kansas and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. International field campaigns involving the Argentine Antarctic Institute, the Chilean Antarctic Institute, and the Instituto Antártico Chileno have corroborated basin outlines with sediment coring and marine geophysical surveys conducted by research vessels such as those operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
The basin influences ice flow and grounding line behavior for upstream catchments studied by modelers at the University of Bristol, the University of Edinburgh, the University of Washington, and Lamont-Doherty. Ice-sheet models from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, NCAR, and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research simulate basal sliding, subglacial hydrology, and ice-stream formation informed by datasets from the Global Ice Sheet Mapping Observatory, the Polar Science Center, and the British Antarctic Survey. Research links to dynamics observed at Pine Island Glacier, Thwaites Glacier, and the Amundsen Sea Embayment as examined by JPL, NOAA, and the International Cryosphere Climate Initiative. Investigations by the Alfred Wegener Institute, the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and the Scott Polar Research Institute consider basal melting, geothermal flux estimates from the GEBCO community, and interactions with subglacial lakes analogous to Lake Vostok and Lake Concordia.
The basin’s potential vulnerability to ocean-driven and atmosphere-driven forcing is assessed by climate groups including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the U.S. Global Change Research Program, and the World Climate Research Programme. Scenarios developed at the National Oceanography Centre, the Potsdam Institute, and the Grantham Institute evaluate contributions to global mean sea level comparable to concerns about the West Antarctic Ice Sheet raised by the IPCC, NASA, and the International Panel on Climate Change. Studies by the University of Reading, Imperial College London, and the British Antarctic Survey incorporate data from ARGO floats, the Southern Ocean Observing System, and the Global Climate Observing System to model heat transport, sub-ice-shelf melting, and potential destabilization pathways similar to those examined for the Ross Sea and the Weddell Sea.
While no year-round station sits atop the basin, nearby facilities and programs—such as Davis Station, Mawson Station, Casey Station operated by the Australian Antarctic Division; the Zhongshan Station operated by the Chinese Polar Research Institute; and research ships from institutions like the Russian Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute—support campaigns. International consortia including the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, the Antarctic Treaty System signatories, and the Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programs coordinate logistics, environmental protocols, and data-sharing frameworks used in studies by institutions such as Columbia University, the University of Cambridge, ETH Zurich, and the University of Bern. Ongoing initiatives involve airborne radar, GPS networks, borehole drilling proposals championed by the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration, and multidisciplinary efforts engaging the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, the National Institute of Polar Research, and the Korea Polar Research Institute.
Category:Subglacial basins of Antarctica