natural environment research council the bedmap project an example of re-using shared data to make...
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NATURALENVIRONMENTRESEARCH COUNCIL
The BEDMAP Project
An example of re-using shared data to make globally relevant
predictions
NATURALENVIRONMENTRESEARCH COUNCIL
• Antarctica.
• The questions addressed.
• The process undertaken.
• The products.
• Why the project succeeded.– And thus what lessons can be learnt.
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Antarctica
• 13M km2. Over 58 times the size of the UK, the highest, coldest and windiest continent.
• Icecap contains almost 70% of the world's freshwater and 90% of the world's ice.
• British Antarctic Survey. A wholly owned NERC Research Centre.– Undertakes the majority of Britain's scientific
research on and around the Antarctic continent.
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Questions
• What is the shape of the land beneath the ice sheet?
• How much ice is there in the ice sheet? – And thus its potential contribution to sea
level rise.
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Process
• BEDMAP consortium: 12 countries under the auspices of SCAR.
• Protocol: data remain under ‘control’ of contributors so some access restrictions.
• Production of database of ice thickness measurements.– 2.5M direct measurements;– Estimate 90% of all data existing (2000);– 10% not included: old data now lost & recent
surveys not released by PIs.
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Process
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Product
• Ice thickness model(5km grid)
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Product
• Sub-ice topography
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Product
• Sub-ice topography
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Product
• Coordinated database and gridded data sets
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Product
• New estimate for volume of Antarctic ice sheet: 25.4 x 106 km3.– Close to early estimates, but 15% less than
widely quoted 30.1 x 106 km3 from 1983.
• New estimate for amount of sea level equivalent of the ice volume: 57m.– Lower than other estimates: 73m (1986)
and 61m (2000).
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Success
• Antarctic Treaty, Article III-1-c.– scientific observations and results from
Antarctica shall be exchanged and made freely available.
• Antarctic science is international – expectation of cooperation.
• A project of the scientific community.
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Success
• Data were known: information available on what data exists and the specifics of the data.– Metadata not always formally documented, PIs
had their own detailed knowledge.
• Funds available to do the work.• Defined goal to the project.• Good staff: Understood the science and the
data issues.
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Further information
• NERC: www.nerc.ac.uk• BAS: www.antarctica.ac.uk• BEDMAP:
www.antarctica.ac.uk/aedc/bedmap• SCAR: www.scar.org• Reference: Lythe, M.B. & Vaughan, D.G.
BEDMAP: A new ice thickness and subglacial topographic model of Antarctica. J. Geophys. Res., 106 B6, 11,335 – 11,351, 2001.