- Project News
We are writing to provide some important updates regarding the Hercules Dome project.
Please read this email in its entirety if you are interested in submitting Hercules-Dome-related proposals in the future.
FIRST, NSF has recently put out a new solicitation for proposals involving fieldwork, and states that they will consider proposals for field work that may include “small projects coordinated with ice core drilling at Hercules Dome”. Anyone interested in submitting such a proposal this year should plan to submit a fieldwork Concept Outline by January 31st, 2025. (You should submit a concept outline this this month only if you are planning to submit a fieldwork proposal this year.)
We emphasize that only small projects will be considered, and that the proposed fieldwork can start no earlier than the 2027/2028 field season. Approval by NSF to submit a full proposal most likely depends on the issuance of an Operations Notice for the overall Hercules Dome project, which has not yet happened.
Feel free to get in touch with us if you have questions (though for any official guidance, please check directly with NSF). We also encourage you to read the RFP: https://new.nsf.gov/funding/opportunities/antarctic-research-requiring-us-antarctic-program-support/nsf25-525/solicitation
SECOND, for proposals for analysis of the Hercules Dome ice core, proposers should seek a Letter of Collaboration from the Hercules Dome science coordination office (SCO). The purpose is to ensure that proposals are coordinated in such a way as to build a collaborative research team that maximizes scientific return, consistent with the research goals of the Hercules Dome project overall. We also need to ensure that a cut plan for the core can be developed that accommodates all potentially-funded proposals. The SCO is currently composed of the funded leadership team, which will make ice-core allocation and planning decisions in communication with NSF. As with any proposal dependent upon a similar collaboration, NSF will be verifying that each ice-core analysis proposal includes a Letter of Collaboration from the Hercules Dome SCO while the lead award is active (i.e. at least through the completion of drilling).
Requests for letters of collaboration will need to provide a brief narrative about your plans, including scientific goals, and specific information on ice requirements for the proposed analyses. Because consideration by NSF of proposals for analysis of the core will depend on the issuance of an Operations Notice, we cannot yet provide guidance on a target date for proposal submission. Once we have that information, we will provide a target date for formal requests for letters of collaboration; we expect to request these at least 8 weeks in advance of the target date, to ensure that they can be evaluated as a group, and to provide adequate time for feedback and modification of plans. In the meanwhile, draft requests and other informal inquiries about proposal plans should be addressed to contact@herculesdome.org.
Finally, although we do not yet have an Operations Notice, a key step — field testing of the new Intermediate Science Traverse platform, which was purchased and built specifically for this project — has gone very well. Use of the Heavy Science Traverse from South Pole into interior East Antarctica this year (for COLDEX) also went well.
We look forward to seeing many of you at the Hercules Dome workshop, during the annual Ice Core Community meeting in May. More details will be forthcoming soon.