What does Antarctic ice core data tell us?
Ice cores can tell scientists about temperature, precipitation, atmospheric composition, volcanic activity, and even wind patterns. The thickness of each layer allows scientists to determine how much snow fell in the area during a particular year.
How reliable is ice core data?
Abstract. Ice cores are remarkably faithful recorders of past climate, providing multiply duplicated reconstructions with small and quantifiable uncertainties.
How far back does Antarctic ice core data go?
800,000 years
They allow us to go back in time and to sample accumulation, air temperature and air chemistry from another time[1]. Ice core records allow us to generate continuous reconstructions of past climate, going back at least 800,000 years[2].
Why do glaciologists study ice cores?
Glaciologists, scientists who study glaciers, go to the polar regions to learn about the earth’s past and present climate in order to predict future climatic change. One method of studying climatic history is to drill ice cores up to 70 meters deep.
Why is gas age different from ice age?
Ice Age. Age is calculated in two different ways within an ice core. The gas age data accounts for the fact that gas is only trapped in the ice at a depth well below the surface where the pores close up.
What is the oldest ice in Antarctica?
To get that kind of neatly layered ice sample, scientists need to drill straight down through the thick Antarctic ice sheet. So far, the oldest ice collected that way goes back 800,000 years. Now, several groups from around the world want to drill down to ice that’s even older, more than 1.5 million years old.
How long does it take to drill an ice core?
Setting up base camp and drilling into the ice may take six to eight weeks for two cores that are each 700 feet long, Osterberg says. Some researchers, particularly in Antarctica, may drill two miles and take much longer.
What do air bubbles in ice cores indicate?
Additionally, as the ice compacts over time, tiny bubbles of the atmosphere—including greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane—press inside the ice. These air pocket “fossils” provide samples of what the atmosphere was like when that layer of ice formed, LeGrande said.
How are NGRIP, grip, and GISP2 ice cores dated?
In the construction of the GICC05 time scale, the DYE-3, GRIP, and NGRIP cores have been dated in parallel using annual cycles in δ 18 O data back to 1814 b2k, and based on the experiences obtained in this interval, the maximum difference in arrival times and peak maximum location between two Greenland sites is estimated to be 1 yr.
What is the date of the NGRIP core?
The NGRIP core has been cross-dated to the GRIP core ss09sea chronology 15 down to 105 kyr bp using the high-resolution ice isotope profiles and volcanic events found in the ECM and DEP records 5, 16.
Is there an ice core in the Arctic?
Whilst the Antarctic is a continent, the only major area of land in the Arctic covered with snow is Greenland. There have been several ice cores drilled in Greenland but these core do not go as deep as those in the Antarctic. Figure 7 shows temperature calculated for the GISP2 Greenland ice core in comparison to the Vostok Antarctic ice core.
Where did the GRIP ice core project take place?
The GRIP logistics were managed by what is now called Centre for Ice and Climate at the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. This research centre maintains a web page about ice core research: This climatology / meteorology –related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.