INCISED will sample bedrock from beneath the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS), by developing and using a new subglacial bedrock drill. It will analyse these rock samples - using an innovative cosmogenic nuclide approach - to test published collapse scenarios, and will undertake ice sheet modelling to determine the global sea-level contribution of past WAIS collapse, and explore the forcing conditions that led to collapse in each case. INCISED will also deliver a drill system and methodology that will be applicable to a wide range of societally-relevant problems in understanding ice sheet behaviour in Antarctica, and elsewhere.

Funded by: ERC Advanced Grant

First published: 13 October 2023

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  • Durham University
  • British Antarctic Survey
  • University of Glasgow