scholarly journals The SUBGLACIOR drilling probe: concept and design

2014 ◽  
Vol 55 (68) ◽  
pp. 233-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. Alemany ◽  
J. Chappellaz ◽  
J. Triest ◽  
M. Calzas ◽  
O. Cattani ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Methane Concentration ◽  
Ice Core ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
General Concept ◽  
International Partnerships ◽  
Trapped Gases ◽  
Glacier Ice ◽  
Suitable Site ◽  
The Antarctic

AbstractIn response to the ‘oldest ice’ challenge initiated by the International Partnerships in Ice Core Sciences (IPICS), new rapid-access drilling technologies through glacier ice need to be developed. These will provide the information needed to qualify potential sites on the Antarctic ice sheet where the deepest section could include ice that is >1Ma old and still in good stratigraphic order. Identifying a suitable site will be a prerequisite for deploying a multi-year deep ice-core drilling operation to elucidate the cause and mechanisms of the mid-Pleistocene transition from 40 ka glacial–interglacial cycles to 100 ka cycles. As part of the ICE&LASERS/SUBGLACIOR projects, we have designed an innovative probe, SUBGLACIOR, with the aim of perforating the ice sheet down to the bedrock in a single season and continuously measuring in situ the isotopic composition of the melted water and the methane concentration in trapped gases. Here we present the general concept of the probe, as well as the various technological solutions that we have favored so far to reach this goal.

scholarly journals Deep ice-core drilling at Dome Fuji and glaciological studies in east Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica

1998 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
pp. 333-337 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dome-F Deep Coring Group
Keyword(s):  
Ice Core ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Field Observations ◽  
Antarctic Ice Sheet ◽  
Core Drilling ◽  
Dronning Maud Land ◽  
Tephra Layers ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
Comprehensive Study

The Dome Fuji Project is a comprehensive study of present and past glaeiological/climatological features of the Antarctic ice sheet in east Dronning Maud Land. Field observations on a 100U km traverse route from the coast to Dome Fuji slum changes in various glaciological parameters with surface elevation and distance from the coast. Deep ice-core drilling at Dome Fuji was started in August 1995 and reached a depth of 2503.52 m in December 1996. in situ core analyses revealed 25 visible tephra layers and a number of distinct cloudy bands in the ice.

scholarly journals The Debris-Laden Ice at the Bottom of the Greenland Ice Sheet

1979 ◽  
Vol 23 (89) ◽  
pp. 193-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Herron ◽  
Hoar ◽  
Chester C. Langway
Keyword(s):  
Ice Core ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet ◽  
High Deformation ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Free Zone ◽  
The Core ◽  
Oxidation Of Methane ◽  
Particle Aggregates ◽  
Glacier Ice

AbstractThe Camp Century, Greenland, ice core was recovered from a bore hole which extended 1 375 m from the surface of the Greenland ice sheet to the ice/sub-ice interface. The bottom 15.7 m of the core contain over 300 alternating bands of clear and debris-laden ice. The size of the included debris ranges from particles less than 2 μm in diameter to particle aggregates which are a maximum of 3 cm in diameter: the average debris concentration is 0.24ºº by weight. The debris size, concentration, and composition indicate that the debris originates from the till-like material directly below the debris-laden ice. The total gas concentration averages 51 ml/kg ice compared to the average of 101 ml/kg ice for the top 1 340 m. The gas composition of debris-bearing ice has apparently been modified by the oxidation of methane as reflected by traces of methane, high CO2 levels, and low O2 levels with respect to atmospheric air. Argon, which is not affected by the oxidation, shows an enrichment in samples with lower gas concentrations. Both the low gas concentrations in the debris-laden zone and the argon enrichment may be explained by the downward diffusion of gases from bubbly glacier ice into an originally bubble-free zone of refrozen debris-laden ice. Ice texture and ice-fabric analyses reveal extremely fine-grained ice and highly preferred crystal orientation in the lowermost 10 m of the core, indicating a zone of high deformation.

scholarly journals The Vertical Structure of the Antarctic Ice Sheet and Palaeoclimatic Interpretation of the Data (Abstract only)

1982 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 344
Author(s):  
Ye. Korotkevich ◽  
V.N. Petrov ◽  
N.I. Barkov ◽  
V.Ya. Lipenkov
Keyword(s):  
Grain Size ◽  
Ice Core ◽  
Isotope Analysis ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Air Content ◽  
Cross Section Area ◽  
Section Area ◽  
Vostok Station ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
Gradient Change

The ice core from the 1 415 m Vostok bore hole has been studied. It was found that the ice-grain size increases with depth in the upper 700 m, a sharp gradient change occurring in the 300 to 400 m range. The grain cross-section area at depths of 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, and 700 m was 1.1, 2.0, 1.5, 1.9, 2.6, and 3.3 mm2 respectively. Since grain size is a function of age, and is determined by initial size and growth rate, the latter being exponentially related to ice temperature, an attempt was made to interpret the obtained data in terms of palaeoclimatology. Calculations show that the upper part of the ice sheet (down to 300 m depth) formed during the past 12 ka, and grew under temperatures higher than those at which the lower part of the ice formed, that is ice at 300 to 700 m depth. This conclusion was confirmed by the results of oxygen isotope analysis. The air content of ice at depths 100 to 650, 650 to 850, 850 to 1 100, and 1 100 to 1 400 m reduced to normal conditions was 65, 70, 75, and 70 mm3 g−1 respectively. Calculations suggest that 3 to 30 ka BP the ice-sheet elevation at Vostok station was close to the present one, while 30 to 40, 40 to 55, and 55 to 75 ka BP it was 500, 1 000, and 500 m lower than at present, respectively.

scholarly journals Simulation of the Antarctic ice sheet with a three-dimensional polythermal ice-sheet model, in support of the EPICA project

1998 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
pp. 201-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Calov ◽  
A. Savvin ◽  
R. Greve ◽  
I. Hansen ◽  
K. Hutter
Keyword(s):  
Shear Deformation ◽  
Ice Core ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Climate Forcing ◽  
Drilling Process ◽  
Antarctic Ice Sheet ◽  
Atlantic Sector ◽  
Dronning Maud Land ◽  
The Antarctic

The three-dimensional polythermal ice-sheet model SICOPOLIS is applied to the entire Antarctic ice sheet in support of the European Project for Ice Coring in Antartica (EPICA). in this study, we focus on the deep ice core to be drilled in Dronning Maud Land (Atlantic sector of East Antarctica) as part of EPICA. It has not yel been decided where the exact drill-site will be situated. Our objective is to support EPICA during its planning phase as well as during the actual drilling process. We discuss a transient simulation with a climate forcing derived from the Vostok ice core and the SPECMAP sea-level record. This simulation shows the range of accumulation, basal temperature, age and shear deformation to be expected in the region of Dronning Maud Land. Based on these results, a possible coring position is proposed, and the distribution of temperature, age, horizontal velocity and shear deformation is shown for this column.

Pollen Analysis of the 1973 Ice Core from Devon Island Glacier, Canada

1984 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
John H. McAndrews
Keyword(s):  
Late Holocene ◽  
Ice Core ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Early Holocene ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Devon Island ◽  
Glacier Ice ◽  
Shrub Tundra ◽  
Low Arctic ◽  
Pollen And Spores

Meltwater from a 299-m-long ice core was filtered and analyzed for fossil pollen and spores. Pollen concentration was higher in the late Holocene and interglacial intervals (ca. 7 liter−1) than in the early Holocene and Wisconsinan (ca. 1–2 liter−1) ones. The late Holocene and interglacial assemblages were dominated by Alnus (alder), whereas the early Holocene and Wisconsinan ones were dominated by Betula (birch) and Artemisia (sage). During the Holocene and probably the last interglaciation, most of the pollen and spores were blown a minimum of 1000 km from low arctic shrub tundra and adjacent subarctic Picea (spruce) forest; these areas were dominated by the arctic air mass during the summer pollinating season. During the Wisconsinan-early Holocene, glacier ice and arctic air were more widespread and pollen sources were more distant; thus, at this time relatively little pollen was incorporated into the ice.The Devon ice-core data suggest that there should have been pollen in the continental ice sheet of Wisconsin time. When the ice sheet retreated this pollen would be carried by meltwater and redeposited with silt and clay together with contemporary pollen, producing an ecologically anomalous assemblage.

scholarly journals Brief communication: Impact of common ice mask in surface mass balance estimates over the Antarctic ice sheet

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolaj Hansen ◽  
Sebastian Bjerregaard Simonsen ◽  
Fredrik Boberg ◽  
Christoph Kittel ◽  
Andrew Orr ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mass Balance ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Regional Climate Models ◽  
Surface Mass Balance ◽  
Surface Mass ◽  
Glacier Ice ◽  
High Precipitation ◽  
The Antarctic

Abstract. Regional climate models compute ice sheet surface mass balance (SMB) over a mask that defines the area covered by glacier ice, but ice masks have not been harmonised between models. Intercomparison studies of modelled SMB therefore use a common ice mask. The SMB in areas outside the common ice mask, which are typically coastal and high precipitation regions, are discarded. Ice mask differences change integrated SMB by between 40.5 to 140.6 Gt yr−1, (1.8 % to 6.0 % of ensemble mean SMB), equivalent to the entire Antarctic mass imbalance. We conclude there is a pressing need for a common ice mask protocol.

scholarly journals Past Changes of the Antarctic Ice Sheet in Terre Adélie as Deduced from Ice-Core Data and Ice Modelling (Abstract)

1984 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 239-239
Author(s):  
N.W. Young ◽  
D. Raynaud ◽  
M. de Angelis ◽  
J.-R. Petit ◽  
C. Lorius
Keyword(s):  
Ice Core ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Antarctic Ice Sheet ◽  
Core Data ◽  
Terre Adélie ◽  
The Antarctic

scholarly journals A climate model intercomparison for the Antarctic region: present and past

2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 803-814 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. N. A. Maris ◽  
B. de Boer ◽  
J. Oerlemans
Keyword(s):  
General Circulation ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Reference Data ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Ice Core ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
General Circulation Models ◽  
Antarctic Region ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Antarctic

Abstract. Eighteen General Circulation Models (GCMs) are compared to reference data for the present, the Mid-Holocene (MH) and the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) for the Antarctic region. The climatology produced by a regional climate model is taken as a reference climate for the present. GCM results for the past are compared to ice-core data. The goal of this study is to find the best GCM that can be used to drive an ice sheet model that simulates the evolution of the Antarctic Ice Sheet. Because temperature and precipitation are the most important climate variables when modelling the evolution of an ice sheet, these two variables are considered in this paper. This is done by ranking the models according to how well their output corresponds with the references. In general, present-day temperature is simulated well, but precipitation is overestimated compared to the reference data. Another finding is that model biases play an important role in simulating the past, as they are often larger than the change in temperature or precipitation between the past and the present. Considering the results for the present-day as well as for the MH and the LGM, the best performing models are HadCM3 and MIROC 3.2.2.

scholarly journals The Vertical Structure of the Antarctic Ice Sheet and Palaeoclimatic Interpretation of the Data (Abstract only)

1982 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 344-344
Author(s):  
Ye. Korotkevich ◽  
V.N. Petrov ◽  
N.I. Barkov ◽  
V.Ya. Lipenkov
Keyword(s):  
Grain Size ◽  
Ice Core ◽  
Isotope Analysis ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Air Content ◽  
Cross Section Area ◽  
Section Area ◽  
Vostok Station ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
Gradient Change

The ice core from the 1 415 m Vostok bore hole has been studied. It was found that the ice-grain size increases with depth in the upper 700 m, a sharp gradient change occurring in the 300 to 400 m range. The grain cross-section area at depths of 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, and 700 m was 1.1, 2.0, 1.5, 1.9, 2.6, and 3.3 mm2 respectively. Since grain size is a function of age, and is determined by initial size and growth rate, the latter being exponentially related to ice temperature, an attempt was made to interpret the obtained data in terms of palaeoclimatology.Calculations show that the upper part of the ice sheet (down to 300 m depth) formed during the past 12 ka, and grew under temperatures higher than those at which the lower part of the ice formed, that is ice at 300 to 700 m depth. This conclusion was confirmed by the results of oxygen isotope analysis.The air content of ice at depths 100 to 650, 650 to 850, 850 to 1 100, and 1 100 to 1 400 m reduced to normal conditions was 65, 70, 75, and 70 mm3 g−1 respectively. Calculations suggest that 3 to 30 ka BP the ice-sheet elevation at Vostok station was close to the present one, while 30 to 40, 40 to 55, and 55 to 75 ka BP it was 500, 1 000, and 500 m lower than at present, respectively.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document