Byrd Polar Research Center, sometimes abbreviated BPRC, is a polar and alpine research center at Ohio State University.
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The Byrd Polar center at Ohio State University was established in 1960 as the Institute for Polar Studies. The name was changed to Byrd Polar Research Center in 1987. Research foci were originally included geology, glaciology, and biology. Studies at the BPRC now include paleoclimatology, remote sensing, polar meteorology, glacier dynamics, and environmental geochemistry. BPRC scientists study high elevation and high latitude regions.
BPRC houses the National Polar Rock Repository.
BPRC archives include the works of Hubert Wilkins, A.H. Waite, and Frederick Cook.
Ice cores obtained by BPRC scientists have been used to study temperature, chemical composition, snowfall, dust, vegetation, volcanic activity, and anthropogenic emissions spanning historic and pre-instrumental periods.
1980s photogrammetrist Henry Brecher conducted aerial photographic surveys of major Greenland's glaciers.
1990s Dr. Ellen Mosley-Thompson obtained ice cores from multiple locations, including GITS. Dr. Ken Jezek conducted radar studies in Greenland's accumulation and ablation zone. In 1995, Ken Jezek was at Swiss Camp.
2005 Jason Box assists Konrad Steffen in automatic weather station maintenance at Swiss Camp and sites that comprise the Greenland Climate Network. Jason Box returns to Greenland to: 1.) obtains an ice core from a position in southeast Greenland where the Polar MM5 model simulates a maximum in snow accumulation, 2.) installs time lapse cameras pointed at two outlet glaciers, and 3.) conducts supra-glacial melt lake measurements.
2007 In June, 2007, Jason Box establishes time lapse cameras beside 5 major west Greenland outlet glaciers. In July-September, Jason Box prepares for and occupies a camp near the Arctic Circle for 7 weeks during which time he conducts surface energy budget (melt) and supra-glacial melt lake measurements.
2008 During a 3 week field campaign, Jason Box, Ian Howat, Slawek Tulaczyk, and Yushin Ahn conduct measurements of Store Glacier, west Greenland. Dr. Ian Howat installed GPS sensors on Store Glacier in west Greenland.
2009 Jason Box installed time lapse cameras at Petermann Glacier in anticipation of a large area loss that eventually did occur August, 2010.
2010 April-May, 2010, Jason Box co-led a 750 km Arctic Circle Traverse across the southern Greenland ice sheet to obtain 3 ice cores and snow radar data to study spatial and temporal patterns of snowfall rates.
BPRC scientists have obtained ice cores from multiple locations on the Antarctic Ice Sheet.
The Transantarctic Mountains bisect the continental ice sheets, with different ice flow dynamics on either side. Radarsat (radar images collected by orbiting satellites) is being used to map the ice sheets. Ice sheet flow into the ocean is increasing and in western Antarctica, the ice stream is draining into the Ross Ice Shelf with marked acceleration.
In March 2000, the largest observed iceberg in history broke away from the Ross Ice Shelf.
The Qori Kalis glacier in Peru is in retreat. The terminus of the glacier has shown reduction since 1963, with dramatic increases since 1980.
Dr. Lonnie Thompson has led research expeditions to the glaciers atop mount Kilimanjaro. At the present rate of Kilimanjaro glacier decline, it is predicted that the snow cover will be completely gone by 2020.