scholarly journals Application of the radionuclide 210Pb in glaciology – an overview

2020 ◽  
Vol 66 (257) ◽  
pp. 447-456 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heinz W. Gäggeler ◽  
Leonhard Tobler ◽  
Margit Schwikowski ◽  
Theo M. Jenk

Abstract210Pb is an environmental radionuclide with a half-life of 22.3 years, formed in the atmosphere via radioactive decay of radon (222Rn). 222Rn itself is a noble gas with a half-life of 3.8 days and is formed via radioactive decay of uranium (238U) contained in the Earth crust from where it constantly emanates into the atmosphere. 210Pb atoms attach to aerosol particles, which are then deposited on glaciers via scavenging with fresh snow. Due to its half-life, ice cores can be dated with this radionuclide over roughly one century, depending on the initial 210Pb activity concentration. Optimum 210Pb dating is achieved for cold glaciers with no – or little – influence by percolating meltwater. This paper presents an overview which not only includes dating of cold glaciers but also some special cases of 210Pb applications in glaciology addressing temperate glaciers, glaciers with negative mass balance, sublimation processes on glaciers in arid regions, determination of annual net snow accumulation as well as glacier flow rates.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florian Ritterbusch ◽  
Jinho Ahn ◽  
Ji-Qiang Gu ◽  
Wei Jiang ◽  
Giyoon Lee ◽  
...  

<p>Paleoclimate reconstructions from ice core records can be hampered due to the lack of a reliable chronology, especially when the stratigraphy is disturbed and conventional dating methods cannot be readily applied. The noble-gas radioisotopes <sup>81</sup>Kr and <sup>39</sup>Ar can in these cases provide robust constraints as they yield absolute, radiometric ages. <sup>81</sup>Kr (half-life 229 ka) covers the time span of 50-1300 ka, which is particularly relevant for polar ice cores, whereas <sup>39</sup>Ar (half-life 269 a) with a dating range of 50-1800 a is suitable for high mountain glaciers. For a long time the use of <sup>81</sup>Kr and <sup>39</sup>Ar for dating of ice samples was hampered by the lack of a detection technique that can meet its extremely small abundance at a reasonable sample size.</p><p>Here, we present <sup>81</sup>Kr and <sup>39</sup>Ar dating of Antarctic and Tibetan ice cores with the detection method Atom Trap Trace Analysis (ATTA), using 5-10 kg of ice for <sup>81</sup>Kr and 2-5 kg for <sup>39</sup>Ar. Recent advances in further decreasing the sample size and increasing the dating precision will be discussed. Current studies include <sup>81</sup>Kr dating in shallow ice cores from the Larsen Blue ice area, East Antarctica, in order to retrieve climate signals from the last glacial termination. Moreover, an <sup>39</sup>Ar profile from a central Tibetan ice core has been obtained in combination with layer counting based on isotopic and visual stratigraphic signals. The presented studies demonstrate how <sup>81</sup>Kr and <sup>39</sup>Ar can constrain the age range of ice cores and complement other methods in developing an ice core chronology.</p><p> </p><p>[1] Z.-T. Lu, Tracer applications of noble gas radionuclides in the geosciences, Earth-Science Reviews 138, 196-214, (2014)<br>[2] C. Buizert, Radiometric <sup>81</sup>Kr dating identifies 120,000-year-old ice at Taylor Glacier, Antarctica, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, <strong>111</strong>, 6876, (2014)</p><p>[3] L. Tian, <sup>81</sup>Kr Dating at the Guliya Ice Cap, Tibetan Plateau, Geophysical Research Letters, (2019)</p><p>http://atta.ustc.edu.cn</p>


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florian Ritterbusch ◽  
Yan-Qing Chu ◽  
Ilaria Crotti ◽  
Xi-Ze Dong ◽  
Ji-Qiang Gu ◽  
...  

<p>Paleoclimate reconstructions from ice core records can be hampered due to the lack of a reliable chronology, especially when the stratigraphy is disturbed and conventional dating methods are not readily applied. The noble gas radioisotopes <sup>81</sup>Kr and <sup>39</sup>Ar can in these cases provide robust constraints as they yield absolute, radiometric ages. <sup>81</sup>Kr (half-life 229 ka) covers the time span from 50-1300 ka, which is particularly relevant for polar ice cores, whereas <sup>39</sup>Ar (half-life 269 a) with a dating range of 50-1400 a is suitable for high mountain glaciers. For a long time the use of <sup>81</sup>Kr and <sup>39</sup>Ar for dating of ice samples was hampered by the lack of a detection technique that can meet its extremely small abundance at a reasonable sample size. Here, we report on <sup>81</sup>Kr and <sup>39</sup>Ar dating of Antarctic and Tibetan ice cores with the detection method Atom Trap Trace Analysis (ATTA), using 5-10 kg of ice for <sup>81</sup>Kr and 2-5 kg for <sup>39</sup>Ar. Among others, we measured <sup>81</sup>Kr in the lower section of Taldice ice core, which is difficult to date by conventional methods, and in the meteoric bottom of the Vostok ice core in comparison with an age scale derived from hydrate growth. Moreover, we have obtained an <sup>39</sup>Ar profile for an ice core from central Tibet in combination with a timescale constructed by layer counting. The presented studies demonstrate how the obtained <sup>81</sup>Kr and <sup>39</sup>Ar ages can complement other methods in developing an ice core chronology, especially for the bottom part.</p><p>[1] Z.-T. Lu, Tracer applications of noble gas radionuclides in the geosciences, Earth-Science Reviews 138, 196-214, (2014)</p><p>[2] C. Buizert, Radiometric <sup>81</sup>Kr dating identifies 120,000-year-old ice at Taylor Glacier, Antarctica, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, <strong>111</strong>, 6876, (2014)</p><p>[3] L. Tian, <sup>81</sup>Kr Dating at the Guliya Ice Cap, Tibetan Plateau, Geophysical Research Letters, (2019)</p><p>[4] http://atta.ustc.edu.cn</p>


1970 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Muslih Husein
Keyword(s):  
The West ◽  
New Moon ◽  

Hisab dan rukyat, hakikatnya, adalah cara untuk mengetahui pergantian bulan. Kajian ini memperlihatkan beberapa temuan. Pertama, korelasi antara hadis Kuraib dan terjadinya perbedaan penetapan awal Ramadan, Syawal, dan Dzul Hijjah di Indonesia. Kementerian Agama Republik Indonesia telah menetapkan bahwa Indonesia secara keseluruhan menjadi satu wilayah hukum (wilayatul hukmi). Kedua, tentang keberhasilan rukyat al-hilal di satu kawasan yang diberlakukan bagi kawasan lain di muka bumi. Perlu diketahui bersama bahwa visibilitas pertama hilal tidak meliputi seluruh muka bumi pada hari yang sama, melainkan membelahnya menjadi dua bagian: (1) bagian sebelah Barat yang dapat melihat hilal dan (2) bagian sebelah Timur yang tidak dapat melihat hilal.Hisab and rukyat is a way to know the turn of the month. This study shows several findings. First is the correlation between Kuraib traditions and differences in the determination of the beginning of Ramadan, Shawwal, and Dhul-Hijjah in Indonesia. Ministry of Religious Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia has stated that Indonesia as a whole into a single jurisdiction (wilayatul hukmi). Second, on the success rukyat alhilal in one area that applied to other regions of earth. Important to know that the first visibility of the new moon does not cover the entire face of the earth on the same day, but splitting it into two parts: (1) part of the West to see the new moon, and (2) part of the East were not able to see the new moon.


1997 ◽  
Vol 43 (143) ◽  
pp. 138-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. O. Jeffries ◽  
K. Morris ◽  
W.F. Weeks ◽  
A. P. Worby

AbstractSixty-three ice cores were collected in the Bellingshausen and Amundsen Seas in August and September 1993 during a cruise of the R.V. Nathaniel B. Palmer. The structure and stable-isotopic composition (18O/16O) of the cores were investigated in order to understand the growth conditions and to identify the key growth processes, particularly the contribution of snow to sea-ice formation. The structure and isotopic composition of a set of 12 cores that was collected for the same purpose in the Bellingshausen Sea in March 1992 are reassessed. Frazil ice and congelation ice contribute 44% and 26%, respectively, to the composition of both the winter and summer ice-core sets, evidence that the relatively calm conditions that favour congelation-ice formation are neither as common nor as prolonged as the more turbulent conditions that favour frazil-ice growth and pancake-ice formation. Both frazil- and congelation-ice layers have an av erage thickness of 0.12 m in winter, evidence that congelation ice and pancake ice thicken primarily by dynamic processes. The thermodynamic development of the ice cover relies heavily on the formation of snow ice at the surface of floes after sea water has flooded the snow cover. Snow-ice layers have a mean thickness of 0.20 and 0.28 m in the winter and summer cores, respectively, and the contribution of snow ice to the winter (24%) and summer (16%) core sets exceeds most quantities that have been reported previously in other Antarctic pack-ice zones. The thickness and quantity of snow ice may be due to a combination of high snow-accumulation rates and snow loads, environmental conditions that favour a warm ice cover in which brine convection between the bottom and top of the ice introduces sea water to the snow/ice interface, and bottom melting losses being compensated by snow-ice formation. Layers of superimposed ice at the top of each of the summer cores make up 4.6% of the ice that was examined and they increase by a factor of 3 the quantity of snow entrained in the ice. The accumulation of superimposed ice is evidence that melting in the snow cover on Antarctic sea-ice floes ran reach an advanced stage and contribute a significant amount of snow to the total ice mass.


2018 ◽  
Vol 934 (4) ◽  
pp. 46-52
Author(s):  
A.S. Bruskova ◽  
T.I. Levitskaya ◽  
D.M. Haydukova

Flooding is a dangerous phenomenon, causing emergency situations and causing material damage, capable of damaging health, and even death of people. To reduce the risk and economic damage from flooding, it is necessary to forecast flooding areas. An effective method of forecasting emergency situations due to flooding is the method of remote sensing of the Earth with integration into geoinformation systems. With the help of satellite imagery, a model of flooding was determined based on the example of Tavda, the Sverdlovsk Region. Space images are loaded into the geoinformation system and on their basis a series of thematic layers is created, which contains information about the zones of possible flooding at given water level marks. The determination of the area of flooding is based on the calculation of the availability of maximum water levels at hydrological stations. According to the calculated security data, for each hydrological post, flood zones are constructed by interpolation between pre-calculated flood zones of standard security. The results of the work can be used by the Main Directorate of the Ministry for Emergency Situations of Russia for the Sverdlovsk Region.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1942 (1) ◽  
pp. 012085
Author(s):  
G A Pchelkin ◽  
A S Grevtseva ◽  
M V Diuldin
Keyword(s):  

1968 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 232-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Bella ◽  
M. Alessio ◽  
P. Fratelli
Keyword(s):  

Radiocarbon ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 43 (2B) ◽  
pp. 731-742 ◽  
Author(s):  
D Lal ◽  
A J T Jull

Nuclear interactions of cosmic rays produce a number of stable and radioactive isotopes on the earth (Lai and Peters 1967). Two of these, 14C and 10Be, find applications as tracers in a wide variety of earth science problems by virtue of their special combination of attributes: 1) their source functions, 2) their half-lives, and 3) their chemical properties. The radioisotope, 14C (half-life = 5730 yr) produced in the earth's atmosphere was the first to be discovered (Anderson et al. 1947; Libby 1952). The next longer-lived isotope, also produced in the earth's atmosphere, 10Be (half-life = 1.5 myr) was discovered independently by two groups within a decade (Arnold 1956; Goel et al. 1957; Lal 1991a). Both the isotopes are produced efficiently in the earth's atmosphere, and also in solids on the earth's surface. Independently and jointly they serve as useful tracers for characterizing the evolutionary history of a wide range of materials and artifacts. Here, we specifically focus on the production of 14C in terrestrial solids, designated as in-situ-produced 14C (to differentiate it from atmospheric 14C, initially produced in the atmosphere). We also illustrate the application to several earth science problems. This is a relatively new area of investigations, using 14C as a tracer, which was made possible by the development of accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS). The availability of the in-situ 14C variety has enormously enhanced the overall scope of 14C as a tracer (singly or together with in-situ-produced 10Be), which eminently qualifies it as a unique tracer for studying earth sciences.


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