Progress on absolute dating of ice cores with Argon isotopes

<p>In the search for very old ice, finding the age of the ice is a key parameter necessary for its interpretation. Most ice core dating method are based on chronological markers that require the ice to be in stratigraphic order. However, the oldest ice is likely to be found at the bottom of ice sheets, where the stratigraphy is disturbed, or in ablation areas, where the classical methods cannot be used. Absolute dating techniques have recently been developed to provide new constraints on the age of old ice, but their development in the context of ice cores is limited by the large sample size required. Here, we discuss the analytical performances of a new technique for 40Ar dating, which allows us to provide a reliable age with 80g of ice rather than 800g, as previously published. We present an application to the dating of the bottom of the TALDICE and Dome C ice cores. This method represents a significant advance for its application to the very precious ice at the bottom of ice cores.</p>

Implementation of counted layers for coherent ice core chronology

A recent coherent chronology has been built for four Antarctic ice cores and the NorthGRIP (NGRIP) Greenland ice core (Antarctic Ice Core Chronology 2012, AICC2012) using a Bayesian approach for ice core dating (Datice). When building the AICC2012 chronology, and in order to prevent any confusion with official ice core chronology, the AICC2012 chronology for NGRIP was forced to fit exactly the GICC05 chronology based on layer counting. However, such a strong tuning did not satisfy the hypothesis of independence of background parameters and observations for the NGRIP core, as required by Datice. We present here the implementation in Datice of a new type of markers that is better suited for constraints deduced from layer counting: the duration constraints. Estimating the global error on chronology due to such markers is not straightforward and implies some assumption on the correlation between individual counting errors for each interval of duration. We validate this new methodological implementation by conducting twin experiments and a posteriori diagnostics on the NGRIP ice core. Several sensitivity tests on marker sampling and correlation between counting errors were performed to provide some guidelines when using such a method for future dating experiments. Finally, using these markers for NGRIP in a five-core dating exercise with Datice leads to new chronologies that do not differ by more than 410 years from AICC2012 for Antarctic ice cores and 150 years from GICC05 for NGRIP over the last 60 000 years.

Dating a tropical ice core by time–frequency analysis of ion concentration depth profiles

Ice core dating is a key parameter for the interpretation of the ice archives. However, the relationship between ice depth and ice age generally cannot be easily established and requires the combination of numerous investigations and/or modelling efforts. This paper presents a new approach to ice core dating based on time–frequency analysis of chemical profiles at a site where seasonal patterns may be significantly distorted by sporadic events of regional importance, specifically at the summit area of Nevado Illimani (6350 m a.s.l.), located in the eastern Bolivian Andes (16°37' S, 67°46' W). We used ion concentration depth profiles collected along a 100 m deep ice core. The results of Fourier time–frequency and wavelet transforms were first compared. Both methods were applied to a nitrate concentration depth profile. The resulting chronologies were checked by comparison with the multi-proxy year-by-year dating published by de Angelis et al. (2003) and with volcanic tie points. With this first experiment, we demonstrated the efficiency of Fourier time–frequency analysis when tracking the nitrate natural variability. In addition, we were able to show spectrum aliasing due to under-sampling below 70 m. In this article, we propose a method of de-aliasing which significantly improves the core dating in comparison with annual layer manual counting. Fourier time–frequency analysis was applied to concentration depth profiles of seven other ions, providing information on the suitability of each of them for the dating of tropical Andean ice cores.

Optimisation of glaciological parameters for ice core chronology by implementing counted layers between identified depth levels

A~recent coherent chronology has been built for 4 Antarctic ice cores and the NorthGRIP (NGRIP) Greenland ice core (Antarctic Ice Core Chronology 2012, AICC2012) using a bayesian approach for ice core dating (Datice). When building the AICC2012 chronology, and in order to prevent any confusion with official ice cores chronology, it has been imposed that the AICC2012 chronology for NGRIP should respect exactly the GICC05 chronology based on layer counting. However, such a strong tuning did not satisfy the hypothesis of independence of background parameters and observations for the NGRIP core as required by Datice. We present here the implementation in Datice of a new type of markers that is better suited to constraints deduced from layer counting: the markers of age-difference. Using this type of markers for NGRIP in a 5 cores dating exercise with Datice, we have performed several sensitivity tests and show that the new ice core chronologies obtained with these new markers do not differ by more than 400 years from AICC2012 for Antarctic ice cores and by more than 130 years from GICC05 for NGRIP over the last 60 000 years. With this new parameterization, the accumulation rate and lock-in depth associated with NGRIP are more coherent with independent estimates than those obtained in AICC2012. While these new chronologies should not be used yet as new ice core chronologies, the improved methodology presented here should be considered in the next coherent ice core dating exercise.

Exploitation of chemical profiles by conjugate variable analysis: application to the dating of a tropical ice core (Nevado Illimani, Bolivia)

Ice core dating is a key parameter for the interpretation of the ice archives. However, the relationship between ice depth and age can generally not be easily established and requires to combine a large number of investigations and/or modeling effort. This paper presents a new approach of ice core dating based on conjugate variable (depth and spatial frequency) analysis of chemical profiles. The relationship between the depth of a given ice layer and the date it was deposited is determined using ion concentration depth profiles obtained along a one hundred-meters deep ice core recovered in the summit area of the Nevado Illimani (6350 m a.s.l.), located in the Eastern Bolivian Andes (16°37' S, 67°46' W). The results of Fourier conjugate analysis and wavelet tranforms are first compared. Both methods are applied to nitrate concentration depth profile. The resulting chronologies are checked by comparison with the multi-proxy year-by-year dating published by de Angelis et al. (2003) and with volcanic tie points, demonstrating the efficiency of Fourier conjugate analysis when tracking the natural variability of chemical proxies. The Fourier conjugate analysis is then applied to concentration depth profiles of seven other ions thus providing information on the suitability of each of them for dating studies of tropical Andean ice cores.

Radar stratigraphy connecting Lake Vostok and Dome C, East Antarctica, constrains the EPICA/DMC ice core time scale

New airborne radar sounding surveys at 60 MHz are used to trace internal layering between the Vostok and EPICA Dome C ice core sites. Eleven layers, spanning two glacial cycles from the last glacial maximum back to the MIS 7c interglacial, are used to correlate the two ice core chronologies. Independent of palaeoclimate signals, radar sounding enables correlation of the timescales, with a radar depth uncertainty equivalent to hundreds of years, which is small relative to the ice core dating uncertainties of thousands of years. Along the radar transects, horizons belonging to the last glacial cycle are impacted by aeolian stratigraphic reworking that increases radar technique uncertainty for this interval. However, older layers are used to propagate the higher resolution Vostok ages to the lower resolution Dome C ice core using the Suwa and Bender (2008) Vostok O2 / N2 chronology to give a recalibration of the Parrenin et al. (2007) EPICA EDC3 timescale between 1597 m and 2216 m depth (126 ka to 247 ka age interval).