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 West Antarctica


Physics-Trained Neural Network as Inverse Problem Solver for Potential Fields: An Example of Downward Continuation between Arbitrary Surfaces

arXiv.org Artificial Intelligence

We treat downward continuation as an inverse problem that relies on solving a forward problem defined by the formula for upward continuation, and we propose a new physics-trained deep neural network (DNN)-based solution for this task. We hard-code the upward continuation process into the DNN's learning framework, where the DNN itself learns to act as the inverse problem solver and can perform downward continuation without ever being shown any ground truth data. We test the proposed method on both synthetic magnetic data and real-world magnetic data from West Antarctica. The preliminary results demonstrate its effectiveness through comparison with selected benchmarks, opening future avenues for the combined use of DNNs and established geophysical theories to address broader potential field inverse problems, such as density and geometry modelling. Introduction Downward continuation of potential field, including gravity or magnetic field, refers to transferring the data from one observation surface to a lower surface that is closer to the source of the field. The goal is to enhance the resolution of the continued field and amplify the shallow geological signals. Airborne surveys are typically flown at uneven heights, making continuation from these surfaces a common requirement. Downward continuation is a critical task in the processing of potential field data, impacting the success of various downstream analyses, such as revealing the density structure and boundaries of anomalous bodies, especially for detecting and highlighting shallow anomalous sources. Many methods have been developed for the task of downward continuation (e.g.


Antarctica's Doomsday Glacier is 'holding on by its fingernails'

Daily Mail - Science & tech

Antarctica's Thwaites Glacier is'holding on by its fingernails', experts say, after discovering that it has retreated twice as fast as previously thought over the past 200 years. The West Antarctica glacier โ€“ which is about the size of Florida โ€“ has been an important consideration for scientists trying to make predictions about global sea level rise. The potential impact of its retreat is huge because a total loss of Thwaites and its surrounding icy basins could raise global sea levels by up to 10 feet. That is why it is widely nicknamed the'Doomsday Glacier.' For the first time, scientists mapped in high-resolution a critical area of the seafloor in front of Thwaites that gives them a window into how fast the glacier has retreated and moved in the past.


Archaeology: Search for the wreck of Shackleton's lost ship, the Endurance, to begin NEXT MONTH

Daily Mail - Science & tech

The expedition to find the wreck of Sir Ernest Shackleton's Endurance is set to sail next month, it was announced today on the centenary of the polar explorer's death. Endurance was one of two ships used by the Imperial Trans-Antarctic expedition of 1914โ€“1917, which hoped to make the first land crossing of the Antarctic. Carrying an expedition crew of 28 men, the 144-foot-long Endurance was a three-masted schooner barque sturdily built for operations in polar waters. Aiming to land at Vahsel Bay, the vessel became stuck in pack ice on the Weddell Sea on January 18, 1915 -- where she and her crew would remain for many months. In late October, however, a drop in temperature from 42 F to -14 F saw the ice pack begin to steadily crush the Endurance, which finally sank on November 21, 1915.


Researchers Automate Whale Data Collection Coastal Review Online

#artificialintelligence

Researchers launch and retrieve drones from a boat to photograph humpback and minke whales in the Western Antarctic Peninsula. BEAUFORT -- The swift pace of technological development has given researchers tools that can collect more data in less time and with fewer resources than a decade ago. Lightweight tags with long-lasting batteries can track animals as small as insects and measure the conditions around them. DNA sequencing technologies have decoded the genomes of thousands of organisms from the loblolly pine to the black bear. Drones can quickly photograph landscapes and animals in locations that may be inaccessible or unsafe for people.


NASA spots a SECOND 'monolith' iceberg

Daily Mail - Science & tech

NASA has spotted a second perfectly rectangular iceberg in the Antarctic. The second rectangular berg, known as a'tabular' iceberg, was spotted off the east coast of the Antarctic Peninsula, near the Larsen C ice shelf and close to the first one. It is part of a large'field of bergs NASA experts may have recently broken off the shelf, and say the sharp angles and flat surfaces are evidence the break occurred very recently. Just past the original rectangular iceberg, which is visible from behind the outboard engine, IceBridge saw another relatively rectangular berg and the A68 iceberg in the distance. Tabular icebergs split off the edges of ice shelves in the same way a fingernail that grows too long ends up cracking off.