scholarly journals The 1500 m South Pole ice core: recovering a 40 ka environmental record

2014 ◽  
Vol 55 (68) ◽  
pp. 137-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
K.A. Casey ◽  
T.J. Fudge ◽  
T.A. Neumann ◽  
E.J. Steig ◽  
M.G.P. Cavitte ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Accumulation Rate ◽  
Ice Core ◽  
Austral Summer ◽  
South Pole ◽  
Site Location ◽  
The South ◽  
High Accumulation ◽  
Climate History ◽  
Annual Layer ◽  
Drill Site

AbstractSupported by the US National Science Foundation, a new 1500 m, ∼40 ka old ice core will be recovered from South Pole during the 2014/15 and 2015/16 austral summer seasons using the new US intermediate-depth drill. The combination of low temperatures, relatively high accumulation rates and low impurity concentrations at South Pole will yield detailed records of ice chemistry and trace atmospheric gases. The South Pole ice core will provide a climate history record of a unique area of the East Antarctic plateau that is partly influenced by weather systems that cross the West Antarctic ice sheet. The ice at South Pole flows at ∼ 10ma−1 and the South Pole ice-core site is a significant distance from an ice divide. Therefore, ice recovered at depth originated progressively farther upstream of the coring site. New ground-penetrating radar collected over the drill site location shows no anthropogenic influence over the past ∼50 years or upper 15 m. Depth–age scale modeling results show consistent and plausible annual-layer thicknesses and accumulation rate histories, indicating that no significant stratigraphic disturbances exist in the upper 1500 m near the ice-core drill site.

scholarly journals The SP19 chronology for the South Pole Ice Core – Part 1: volcanic matching and annual layer counting

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
pp. 1793-1808 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominic A. Winski ◽  
Tyler J. Fudge ◽  
David G. Ferris ◽  
Erich C. Osterberg ◽  
John M. Fegyveresi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Accumulation Rate ◽  
Ice Core ◽  
Time Variability ◽  
South Pole ◽  
The South ◽  
West Antarctic Ice Sheet ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
Annual Layer ◽  
West Antarctic ◽  
Uncertainty Estimates

Abstract. The South Pole Ice Core (SPICEcore) was drilled in 2014–2016 to provide a detailed multi-proxy archive of paleoclimate conditions in East Antarctica during the Holocene and late Pleistocene. Interpretation of these records requires an accurate depth–age relationship. Here, we present the SPICEcore (SP19) timescale for the age of the ice of SPICEcore. SP19 is synchronized to the WD2014 chronology from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide (WAIS Divide) ice core using stratigraphic matching of 251 volcanic events. These events indicate an age of 54 302±519 BP (years before 1950) at the bottom of SPICEcore. Annual layers identified in sodium and magnesium ions to 11 341 BP were used to interpolate between stratigraphic volcanic tie points, yielding an annually resolved chronology through the Holocene. Estimated timescale uncertainty during the Holocene is less than 18 years relative to WD2014, with the exception of the interval between 1800 to 3100 BP when uncertainty estimates reach ±25 years due to widely spaced volcanic tie points. Prior to the Holocene, uncertainties remain within 124 years relative to WD2014. Results show an average Holocene accumulation rate of 7.4 cm yr−1 (water equivalent). The time variability of accumulation rate is consistent with expectations for steady-state ice flow through the modern spatial pattern of accumulation rate. Time variations in nitrate concentration, nitrate seasonal amplitude and δ15N of N2 in turn are as expected for the accumulation rate variations. The highly variable yet well-constrained Holocene accumulation history at the site can help improve scientific understanding of deposition-sensitive climate proxies such as δ15N of N2 and photolyzed chemical compounds.

scholarly journals The SP19 Chronology for the South Pole Ice Core – Part 1: Volcanic matching and annual-layer counting

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominic A. Winski ◽  
Tyler J. Fudge ◽  
David G. Ferris ◽  
Erich C. Osterberg ◽  
John M. Fegyveresi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Accumulation Rate ◽  
Ice Core ◽  
Time Variability ◽  
South Pole ◽  
The South ◽  
West Antarctic Ice Sheet ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
Annual Layer ◽  
West Antarctic ◽  
Uncertainty Estimates

Abstract. The South Pole Ice Core (SPICEcore) was drilled in 2014–2016 to provide a detailed multi-proxy archive of paleoclimate conditions in East Antarctica during the Holocene and late Pleistocene. Interpretation of these records requires an accurate depth-age relationship. Here, we present the SP19 timescale for the age of the ice of SPICEcore. SP19 is synchronized to the WD2014 chronology from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide (WAIS Divide) ice core using stratigraphic matching of 251 volcanic events. These events indicate an age of 54 302 ± 519 years BP (before the year 1950) at the bottom of SPICEcore. Annual layers identified in sodium and magnesium ions to 11 341 BP were used to interpolate between stratigraphic volcanic tie points, yielding an annually-resolved chronology through the Holocene. Estimated timescale uncertainty during the Holocene is less than 18 years relative to WD2014, with the exception of the interval between 1800 to 3100 BP when uncertainty estimates reach ± 25 years due to widely spaced volcanic tie points. Prior to the Holocene, uncertainties remain within 124 years relative to WD2014. Results show an average Holocene accumulation rate of 7.4 cm/yr (water equivalent). The time variability of accumulation rate is consistent with expectations for steady-state ice flow through the modern spatial pattern of accumulation rate. Time variations in nitrate concentration, nitrate seasonal amplitude, and δ15N of N2 in turn are as expected for the accumulation-rate variations. The highly variable yet well-constrained Holocene accumulation history at the site can help improve scientific understanding of deposition-sensitive climate proxies such as δ15N of N2 and photolyzed chemical compounds.

scholarly journals Advection (non-climate) impact on the South Pole Ice Core

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tyler J. Fudge ◽  
David A. Lilien ◽  
Michelle Koutnik ◽  
Howard Conway ◽  
C. Max Stevens ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Accumulation Rate ◽  
Ice Core ◽  
Lapse Rate ◽  
South Pole ◽  
The South ◽  
Climate History ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Past ◽  
Core Site ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. The South Pole Ice Core (SPICEcore), which spans the past 54,300 years, was drilled far from an ice divide such that ice recovered at depth originated at a location upstream of the current core site. If the climate is different upstream, the climate history recovered from the core will be a combination of the upstream conditions advected to the core site and the temporal changes we seek to recover. Here, we evaluate the impact of ice advection on two fundamental records from SPICEcore: accumulation rate and water isotopes. We determined the past locations of ice deposition based on GPS measurements of the modern velocity field spanning 100 km upstream where ice of ~ 20 ka age would likely have originated. Beyond 100 km, there are no velocity measurements, but ice likely originates from Titan Dome, an additional 90 km distant. Shallow radar measurements extending 100 km upstream from the core site reveal large (~ 20 %) variations in accumulation but no significant trend. Water isotope ratios, measured at 12.5 km intervals for the first 100 km of the flowline, show a decrease with elevation (and distance upstream) of -0.008 ‰ m−1 for δ18O. Advection therefore adds approximately 1 ‰ for δ18O to the LGM-to-modern change. Assuming a lapse rate of 10 °C per km of elevation, the LGM-to-modern temperature change is ~ 1.5 °C greater than if the ice had been deposited at a fixed location.

scholarly journals Drilling operations for the South Pole Ice Core (SPICEcore) project

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jay A. Johnson ◽  
Tanner Kuhl ◽  
Grant Boeckmann ◽  
Chris Gibson ◽  
Joshua Jetson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ice Core ◽  
Austral Summer ◽  
South Pole ◽  
The South ◽  
University Of Wisconsin ◽  
Drilling Operations ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Core Project ◽  
The University ◽  
Drill System

Abstract Over the course of the 2014/15 and 2015/16 austral summer seasons, the South Pole Ice Core project recovered a 1751 m deep ice core at the South Pole. This core provided a high-resolution record of paleoclimate conditions in East Antarctica during the Holocene and late Pleistocene. The drilling and core processing were completed using the new US Intermediate Depth Drill system, which was designed and built by the US Ice Drilling Program at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. In this paper, we present and discuss the setup, operation, and performance of the drill system.

scholarly journals Supplementary material to "The SP19 Chronology for the South Pole Ice Core – Part 1: Volcanic matching and annual-layer counting"

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominic A. Winski ◽  
Tyler J. Fudge ◽  
David G. Ferris ◽  
Erich C. Osterberg ◽  
John M. Fegyveresi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ice Core ◽  
South Pole ◽  
The South ◽  
Annual Layer ◽  
Supplementary Material ◽  
Core Part

scholarly journals South Pole glacial climate reconstruction from multi-borehole laser particulate stratigraphy

2013 ◽  
Vol 59 (218) ◽  
pp. 1117-1128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
Particle Physics ◽  
Volcanic Ash ◽  
Ice Core ◽  
Hot Water ◽  
Radiometric Dating ◽  
South Pole ◽  
Last Glacial Period ◽  
Annual Layer ◽  
Paleoclimate Records ◽  
The Last Glacial

AbstractThe IceCube Neutrino Observatory and its prototype, AMANDA, were built in South Pole ice, using powerful hot-water drills to cleanly bore >100 holes to depths up to 2500 m. The construction of these particle physics detectors provided a unique opportunity to examine the deep ice sheet using a variety of novel techniques. We made high-resolution particulate profiles with a laser dust logger in eight of the boreholes during detector commissioning between 2004 and 2010. The South Pole laser logs are among the most clearly resolved measurements of Antarctic dust strata during the last glacial period and can be used to reconstruct paleoclimate records in exceptional detail. Here we use manual and algorithmic matching to synthesize our South Pole measurements with ice-core and logging data from Dome C, East Antarctica. We derive impurity concentration, precision chronology, annual-layer thickness, local spatial variability, and identify several widespread volcanic ash depositions useful for dating. We also examine the interval around ∼74 ka recently isolated with radiometric dating to bracket the Toba (Sumatra) supereruption.

scholarly journals At what depth is the Eemian layer expected to be found at NEEM?

2008 ◽  
Vol 48 ◽  
pp. 100-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susanne L. Buchardt ◽  
Dorthe Dahl-Jensen
Keyword(s):  
Flow Model ◽  
Accumulation Rate ◽  
Ice Core ◽  
Monte Carlo Analysis ◽  
Interglacial Period ◽  
Ice Flow ◽  
North West ◽  
Flow Parameters ◽  
Drill Site ◽  
Radio Echo Sounding

AbstractNo continuous record from Greenland of the Eemian interglacial period (130–115 ka BP) currently exists. However, a new ice-core drill site has been suggested at 77.449˚ N, 51.056˚Win north-west Greenland (North Eemian or NEEM). Radio-echo sounding images and flow model investigations indicate that an undisturbed Eemian record may be obtained at NEEM. In this work, a two-dimensional ice flow model with time-dependent accumulation rate and ice thickness is used to estimate the location of the Eemian layer at the new drill site. The model is used to simulate the ice flow along the ice ridge leading to the drill site. Unknown flow parameters are found through a Monte Carlo analysis of the flow model constrained by observed isochrones in the ice. The results indicate that the Eemian layer is approximately 60m thick and that its base is located approximately 100m above bedrock.

scholarly journals Brief Communication: New radar constraints support presence of ice older than 1.5 Ma at Little Dome C

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Lilien ◽  
Daniel Steinhage ◽  
Drew Taylor ◽  
Frédéric Parrenin ◽  
Catherine Ritz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Flow Model ◽  
Ice Core ◽  
Austral Summer ◽  
Basal Region ◽  
Glacial Cycles ◽  
Ice Flow ◽  
Vhf Radar ◽  
New Instrument ◽  
Drill Site ◽  
Ice Core Record

Abstract. The area near Dome C, East Antarctica, is thought to be one of the most promising targets for recovering a continuous ice-core record spanning more than a million years. The European Beyond EPICA consortium has selected Little Dome C, an area ~35 km south-east of Concordia Station, to attempt to recover such a record. Here, we present the results of the final ice-penetrating radar survey used to refine the exact drill site. These data were acquired during the 2019–2020 Austral summer using a new, multi-channel high-resolution VHF radar operating in the frequency range of 170–230 MHz. This new instrument is able to detect reflections in the near-basal region, where previous surveys were unable to trace continuous horizons. The radar stratigraphy is used to transfer the timescale of the EPICA Dome C ice core (EDC) to the area of Little Dome C, using radar isochrones dating back past 600 ka. We use these data to derive the expected depth–age relationship through the ice column at the now-chosen drill site, termed BELDC. These new data indicate that the ice at BELDC is considerably older than that at EDC at the same depth, and that there is about 375 m of ice older than 600 ka at BELDC. Stratigraphy is well preserved to 2565 m, below which there is a basal unit with unknown properties. A simple ice flow model tuned to the isochrones suggests ages likely reach 1.5 Ma near 2525 m, ~40 m above the basal unit and ~240 m above the bed, with sufficient resolution (14±1 ka m−1) to resolve 41 ka glacial cycles.

scholarly journals A search in north Greenland for a new ice-core drill site

1997 ◽  
Vol 43 (144) ◽  
pp. 300-306 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Dahl-Jensen ◽  
N.S. Gundestrup ◽  
K. Keller ◽  
S.J. Johnsen ◽  
S.P. Gogineni ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Melting Point ◽  
Flow Model ◽  
Accumulation Rate ◽  
Ice Core ◽  
Ice Flow ◽  
Basal Ice ◽  
Drill Site ◽  
Radio Echo Sounding ◽  
Pressure Melting ◽  
North Greenland

AbstractA new deep ice-core drilling site has been identified in north Greenland at 75.12° N, 42.30° W, 316 km north-northwest (NNW) of the GRIР drill site on the summit of the ice sheet. The ice thickness here is 3085 m; the surface elevation is 2919 m.The North GRIP (NGRIP) site is identified so that ice of Eemian age (115–130 ka BP,calendar years before present) is located as far above bedrock as possible and so the thickness of the Eemian layer is as great as possible. An ice-flow model, similar to the one used to date the GRIP ice core, is used to simulate the flow along the NNW-trending ice ridge. Surface and bedrock elevations, surface accumulation-rate distribution and radio-echo sounding along the ridge have been used as model input.The surface accumulation rate drops from 0.23 m fee equivalent year−1 at GRIP to 0.19 m ice equivalent year−1 50 km from GRIP. Over the following 300km the accumulation is relatively constant, before it starts decreasing again further north. Ice thicknesses up to 3250 m bring the temperature of the basal ice up to the pressure-melting point 100–250 km from GRIP. The NGRIP site islocated 316 km from GRIP in a region where the bedrock is smooth and the accumulation rate is 0.19 m ice equivalent year−1. The modeled basal ice here has always been a few degrees below the pressure-melting point. Internal radio-echo sounding horizons can be traced between the GRIP and NGRIP sites, allowing us to date the ice down to 2300 m depth (52 ka BP). An ice-flow model predicts that the Eemian-age ice will be located in the depth range 2710–2800 m, which is 285 m above the bedrock. This is 120 m further above the bedrock, and the thickness of the Eemian layer of ice is 20 m thicker, than at the GRIP ice-core site.

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