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RAID is intrinsically multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary! This novel drilling technology provides an entirely new way to obtain in situ measurements and samples of ice, glacial bed, and rock for interdisciplinary studies in geology, glaciology, paleoclimate, microbiology, and astrophysics. The RAID drilling platform gives the scientific community access to a rich record of geologic and climatic change on a variety of timescales, from the billion-year rock record to thousand-year ice and climate histories.
Examples of applications supported by RAID include the following, from top to bottom:
- ice dynamics (sea-level rise)
- oldest ice (paleoclimate)
- exposure ages (glacial history)
- glacial bed (flow conditions)
- geomicrobiology (extremophiles)
- subglacial geology (geologic & tectonic history)
- heat flow (ice stability)
- seismology & geodetics (geodynamics)
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RAID is currently operated as a scientific facility by the University of Minnesota for the U.S. Antarctic research community. Use of the drilling platform will be organized by collaborative research proposals to the NSF. If you are interested in participating in the science, please contact one of the PIs.
Ice velocity map of Antarctica showing potential operating area of the mobile RAID drilling facility, with target areas for oldest ice shown in brown.