scholarly journals Theoretical and Experimental Analysis for Cleaning Ice Cores from EstisolTM 140 Drill Liquid

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 3830
Author(s):  
Francesco Enrichi ◽  
Dorthe Dahl-Jensen ◽  
Jørgen Peder Steffensen ◽  
Carlo Barbante
Keyword(s):  
Drilling Fluid ◽  
Ice Core ◽  
Temperature Stability ◽  
Ice Cores ◽  
Climate History ◽  
Run Off ◽  
Different Temperatures ◽  
History Of ◽  
Core Storage

To reconstruct climate history of the past 1.5 Million years, the project: Beyond EPICA Oldest Ice (BEOI) will drill about 2700 m of ice core in East Antarctica (2021–2025). As drilling fluid, an aliphatic ester fluid, EstisolTM 140, will be used. Newly drilled ice cores will be retrieved from the drill soaked in fluid, and this fluid should be removed from the cores. Most of it will be vacuum-cleaned off in a Fluid Extraction Device and wiped off with paper towels. Based on our experiences in Greenland deep ice coring, most of the residual fluid can be removed by storing the cores openly on shelves in a ventilated room. After a week of “drying”, the cores have a dry feel, handling them do not give “wet” gloves and they can easily be marked with lead pencils. This paper presents a theoretical investigation and some simple testing on the “drying” process. The rates of sublimation of ice and evaporation of fluid have been calculated at different temperatures. The calculations show that sublimation of the ice core should not occur, and that evaporation of fluid should be almost negligible. Our test results support these calculations, but also revealed significant fluid run-off and dripping, resulting in the removal of most of the fluid in a couple of days, independent of temperature and ventilation conditions. Finally, we discuss crucial factors that ensure optimal long-term ice core preservation in storage, such as temperature stability, defrosting cycles of freezers and open core storage versus storage of cores in insulated crates.

scholarly journals 1000 year ice-core records from Berkner Island, Antarctica

2002 ◽  
Vol 35 ◽  
pp. 45-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Mulvaney ◽  
Hans Oerter ◽  
David A. Peel ◽  
Wolfgang Graf ◽  
Carol Arrowsmith ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decadal Variability ◽  
Ice Core ◽  
Ice Cores ◽  
Aerosol Deposition ◽  
Climate History ◽  
Joint Project ◽  
The Past ◽  
Annual Layer ◽  
History Of ◽  
Field Season

AbstractTwo medium-depth ice cores were retrieved from Berkner Island by a joint project between the Alfred-Wegener-Institut and the British Antarctic Survey in the 1994/95 field season. A 151m deep core from the northern dome (Reinwarthhöhe) of Berkner Island spans 700 years, while a 181 m deep core from the southern dome (Thyssenhöhe) spans approximately 1200 years. Both cores display clear seasonal cycles in electrical conductivity measurements, allowing dating by annual-layer counting and the calculation of accumulation profiles. Stable-isotope measurements (both δ18O and δD), together with the accumulation data, allow us to estimate changes in climate for most of the past millennium: the data show multi-decadal variability around a generally stable long-termmean. In addition, a full suite of major chemistry measurements is available to define the history of aerosol deposition at these sites: again, there is little evidence that the chemistry of the sites has changed over the past six centuries. Finally, we suggest that the southern dome, with an ice thickness of 950 m, is an ideal site from which to gain a climate history of the late stages of the last glacial and the deglaciation for comparison with the records from the deep Antarctic ice cores, and with other intermediate-depth cores such as Taylor Dome and Siple Dome.

Microfluidic device for continuous-flow analysis of organics in oldest ice

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniele FIlippi ◽  
Chiara Giorio
Keyword(s):  
Time Resolution ◽  
Ice Core ◽  
Flow Analysis ◽  
Ice Cores ◽  
Core Sample ◽  
High Time ◽  
High Time Resolution ◽  
Continuous Analysis ◽  
Climate History ◽  
History Of

<p>The Beyond EPICA Oldest Ice (BEOI) project will drill an ice core dating back to 1.5 million-years (1.5 Myr) ago. This ice core is of particular interest to the scientific community as it will be the only one covering the climate history of the Mid Pleistocene Transition, when glacial-interglacial cycles changed from a 40 Kyr to 100 Kyr cyclicity, and for which causes are not well understood currently. Obtaining useful climatic information beyond 800 Kyr represents an analytical challenge due to the fact that the deepest section of the ice core is very compact and the amount of sample available is very low.</p><p>Current analytical methods for the determination of organics in ice are characterized by a large number of steps that requires large amounts of sample for a single analysis. This results in the loss of the high time resolution desired from ice cores which is particularly problematic for deeper (i.e. older) records where the ice is more compact.</p><p>This work aims at combining the growing field of microfluidics with improvements to conventional mass spectrometry to allow for continuous analysis of organics in ice cores, melted in continuous on a melting-head. In fact, microfluidic is a powerful technology in which, only a small amount of liquid (10<sup>-9</sup>-10<sup>-18</sup> liters) is manipulated and controlled with an extremely high precision. The method invokes a three-step process: (1) the melted ice core sample is sent to a nebulizer to produce aerosol, then (2) the aerosol is dried to remove water content and concentrate the sample, and (3) the aerosol is sent to a mass spectrometer for continuous analysis through a modified electrospray ionization (ESI) probe.</p><p>This novel system, once operational, can be applied to a range of ice cores but is especially useful for older ice cores given the stratification of deeper segments. It will allow the research community to measure organic compounds with a high time resolution, even in the oldest of ice, to retrieve paleoclimatic information that would otherwise be lost using traditional methods.</p>

The past 5000 years history of solar modulation of cosmic radiation from 10 Be and 14 C studies

1990 ◽  
Vol 330 (1615) ◽  
pp. 471-480 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Cosmic Radiation ◽  
Ice Core ◽  
Ice Cores ◽  
Solar Modulation ◽  
Short Term ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of ◽  
Long Term Trends ◽  
Terrestrial Biomass

10 Be is produced in a similar way as 14 C by the interaction of cosmic radiation with the nuclei in the atmosphere. Assuming that the 10 Be and 14 C variation are proportional and considering the different behaviour in the Earth system, the 10 Be concentrations in ice cores can be compared with the 14 C variations in tree rings. A high correlation is found for the short-term variations ( 14 C-Suess-wiggles). They reflect with a high probability production rate variations. More problematic is the interpretation of the long-term trends of 14 C and 10 Be. Several explanations are discussed. The reconstructed CO 2 concentrations in ice cores indicate a rather constant value (280 ± 10 p.p.m. by volume) during the past few millenia. Measurements on the ice core from Byrd Station, Antarctica, during the period 9000 to 6000 years BP indicate a decrease that might be explained by the extraction of CO 2 from the atmosphere-ocean system to build the terrestrial biomass pool during the climatic optimum.

scholarly journals Climate history of the principality of Transylvania during the Maunder Minimum (MM) years (1645–1715 CE)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Stangl ◽  
Ulrich Foelsche
Keyword(s):  
Solar Activity ◽  
Ice Cores ◽  
Maunder Minimum ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Climate History ◽  
History Of ◽  
Solar Influence ◽  
First Time ◽  
Good Agreement

Abstract. This paper deals with the climate in the former Grand Duchy of Transylvania, now one of the three major geographical provinces of Romania, within the so-called Maunder Minimum (MM) (1645–1715), an astrophysically defined part of the Little Ice Age (LIA), which was characterized by reduced solar activity. The historical data from Transylvania are compared with that from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. This comparison for the period 1645–1715 shows good agreement but also reveals geographic characteristics of the region. For the first time, we present here a comparison between the four geographic areas in text and tabular form. Quotes from mostly German-language sources are reproduced in English translation. Furthermore, we examine for a longer period (1500–1950) the extent to which the climate of Transylvania might have been affected by long-term fluctuations in solar activity, as deduced from isotopic reconstructions from ice cores. This comparison suggests a certain solar influence but the agreement is not very pronounced. Future investigation in a pan-European context is needed to reach reliable statements. Some results are unexpected – like an unusually small number of severe winters during the last decades of the MM, where extreme cold was restricted to a few years, like the extreme winters 1699/1700 and 1708/1709.

scholarly journals Deglacial temperature history of West Antarctica

2016 ◽  
Vol 113 (50) ◽  
pp. 14249-14254 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kurt M. Cuffey ◽  
Gary D. Clow ◽  
Eric J. Steig ◽  
Christo Buizert ◽  
T. J. Fudge ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Models ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Ice Core ◽  
Ice Cores ◽  
Temperature History ◽  
West Antarctica ◽  
Climate History ◽  
History Of ◽  
Climate Forcings ◽  
Earth’S Climate

The most recent glacial to interglacial transition constitutes a remarkable natural experiment for learning how Earth’s climate responds to various forcings, including a rise in atmospheric CO2. This transition has left a direct thermal remnant in the polar ice sheets, where the exceptional purity and continual accumulation of ice permit analyses not possible in other settings. For Antarctica, the deglacial warming has previously been constrained only by the water isotopic composition in ice cores, without an absolute thermometric assessment of the isotopes’ sensitivity to temperature. To overcome this limitation, we measured temperatures in a deep borehole and analyzed them together with ice-core data to reconstruct the surface temperature history of West Antarctica. The deglacial warming was 11.3±1.8∘C, approximately two to three times the global average, in agreement with theoretical expectations for Antarctic amplification of planetary temperature changes. Consistent with evidence from glacier retreat in Southern Hemisphere mountain ranges, the Antarctic warming was mostly completed by 15 kyBP, several millennia earlier than in the Northern Hemisphere. These results constrain the role of variable oceanic heat transport between hemispheres during deglaciation and quantitatively bound the direct influence of global climate forcings on Antarctic temperature. Although climate models perform well on average in this context, some recent syntheses of deglacial climate history have underestimated Antarctic warming and the models with lowest sensitivity can be discounted.

scholarly journals Past temperature reconstructions from deep ice cores: relevance for future climate change

2006 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Masson-Delmotte ◽  
G. Dreyfus ◽  
P. Braconnot ◽  
S. Johnsen ◽  
J. Jouzel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Temperature Change ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Ice Core ◽  
Ice Cores ◽  
Future Climate ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Interglacial Period ◽  
Temperature Reconstructions

Abstract. Ice cores provide unique archives of past climate and environmental changes based only on physical processes. Quantitative temperature reconstructions are essential for the comparison between ice core records and climate models. We give an overview of the methods that have been developed to reconstruct past local temperatures from deep ice cores and highlight several points that are relevant for future climate change. We first analyse the long term fluctuations of temperature as depicted in the long Antarctic record from EPICA Dome C. The long term imprint of obliquity changes in the EPICA Dome C record is highlighted and compared to simulations conducted with the ECBILT-CLIO intermediate complexity climate model. We discuss the comparison between the current interglacial period and the long interglacial corresponding to marine isotopic stage 11, ~400 kyr BP. Previous studies had focused on the role of precession and the thresholds required to induce glacial inceptions. We suggest that, due to the low eccentricity configuration of MIS 11 and the Holocene, the effect of precession on the incoming solar radiation is damped and that changes in obliquity must be taken into account. The EPICA Dome C alignment of terminations I and VI published in 2004 corresponds to a phasing of the obliquity signals. A conjunction of low obliquity and minimum northern hemisphere summer insolation is not found in the next tens of thousand years, supporting the idea of an unusually long interglacial ahead. As a second point relevant for future climate change, we discuss the magnitude and rate of change of past temperatures reconstructed from Greenland (NorthGRIP) and Antarctic (Dome C) ice cores. Past episodes of temperatures above the present-day values by up to 5°C are recorded at both locations during the penultimate interglacial period. The rate of polar warming simulated by coupled climate models forced by a CO2 increase of 1% per year is compared to ice-core-based temperature reconstructions. In Antarctica, the CO2-induced warming lies clearly beyond the natural rhythm of temperature fluctuations. In Greenland, the CO2-induced warming is as fast or faster than the most rapid temperature shifts of the last ice age. The magnitude of polar temperature change in response to a quadrupling of atmospheric CO2 is comparable to the magnitude of the polar temperature change from the Last Glacial Maximum to present-day. When forced by prescribed changes in ice sheet reconstructions and CO2 changes, climate models systematically underestimate the glacial-interglacial polar temperature change.

scholarly journals Precipitation record since AD 1600 from ice cores on the central Tibetan Plateau

2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 175-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Yao ◽  
K. Duan ◽  
B. Xu ◽  
N. Wang ◽  
X. Guo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Ice Core ◽  
Ice Cores ◽  
The North ◽  
Northern Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Central Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Precipitation Record ◽  
Ice Field ◽  
The 19Th Century

Abstract. Lack of reliable long-term precipitation record from the northern Tibetan Plateau has constrained our understanding of precipitation variations in this region. We drilled an ice core on the Puruogangri Ice Field in the central Tibetan Plateau in 2000 to reveal the precipitation variations. The well dated part of the core extends back to AD 1600, allowing us to construct a 400-year annual accumulation record. This record shows that the central Tibetan plateau experienced a drier period with an average annual precipitation of ~300 mm in the 19th century, compared to ~450 mm in the wetter periods during 1700–1780 and the 20th century. This pattern agrees with precipitation reconstructions from the Dunde and Guliya ice cores on the northern Plateau but differs from that found in the Dasuopu ice cores from the southern Plateau The north-south contrasts in precipitation reconstruction reveals difference in moisture origin between the south Tibetan Plateau dominated by the Asian monsoon and the north Tibetan Plateau dominated by the continental recycling and the westerlies.

scholarly journals History of desert dust deposition recorded in the Elbrus ice core

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stanislav Kutuzov ◽  
Michel Legrand ◽  
Suzanne Preunkert ◽  
Patrick Ginot ◽  
Vladimir Mikhalenko ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
North Africa ◽  
Drought Index ◽  
Decadal Variability ◽  
Ice Core ◽  
Ice Cores ◽  
Dust Deposition ◽  
The Past ◽  
Dust Sources ◽  
Increasing Trend ◽  
History Of

Abstract. Ice cores are one of the most valuable paleo-archives. Records from the ice cores can provide information not only about the amount of dust in the atmosphere but also about dust sources and its changes in the past. A 182 m long ice core has been recovered at the western plateau of Mt. Elbrus (5115 m elevation) in 2009. This record was extended with the shallow ice core drilling in 2013. Here we present analysis of the concentrations of Ca2+, a commonly used proxy of dust, recorded in Elbrus ice core over the period 1774–2013. The calcium record reveals a quasi decadal variability with a general increasing trend. Using multiple regression analysis we found a statistically significant spatial correlation of the Elbrus Ca2+ summer concentrations and precipitation and soil moisture content in Levant region (specifically Syria and Iraq). The Ca2+ record also correlates with drought index in North Africa (r = 0.69 p 

scholarly journals Methanesulphonic acid loss during ice-core storage: recommendations based on a new diffusion coefficient

2009 ◽  
Vol 55 (193) ◽  
pp. 784-788 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason L. Roberts ◽  
Tas D. Van Ommen ◽  
Mark A.J. Curran ◽  
Tessa R. Vance
Keyword(s):  
Diffusion Coefficient ◽  
Ice Core ◽  
Ice Cores ◽  
Core Surface ◽  
Phonic Acid ◽  
Core Storage ◽  
Storage Times

AbstractThe loss of methanesul phonic acid (MSA) from stored ice cores can be significant over typical storage times, with diffusion to the ice-core surface controlling the loss. Methods for minimizing this loss are discussed and it is shown how measurements can be corrected by calculating the amount of MSA lost. A revised diffusion coefficient for MSA in solid ice, (4.1 × 10−13) ± (2.5 × 10−14) m2 s−1, is derived to improve such MSA loss corrections.

Understanding the past-climate history from Antarctica

2005 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 487-495 ◽  
Author(s):  
ERIC W. WOLFF
Keyword(s):  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Ice Core ◽  
Ice Cores ◽  
Environmental Parameters ◽  
Snow Accumulation ◽  
Climate History ◽  
Past Climate ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Concentrations ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
Climate Events

Antarctic ice cores have become a unique and powerful resource for studies of climate change. They contain information on past climate, on forcing factors such as greenhouse gas concentrations, and on numerous other environmental parameters. For recent centuries, sites with high snow accumulation are chosen. They have, for example, provided the only direct evidence that carbon dioxide concentrations have increased by over 30% over the last two centuries. They have provided key datasets for other greenhouse gases, and for other forcings such as solar and volcanic. Over longer timescales, the Vostok ice core has shown how greenhouse gas concentrations and climate have closely tracked one another over the last 400 000 years. Other cores have shown detailed spatial and temporal detail of climate transitions, including the Antarctic response during rapid climate events such as Dansgaard-Oeschger events. The new core from Dome C has extended the range of ice cores back beyond 800 000 years, and even older ice could be obtained in future projects.

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