Article
 

Where to find 1.5 million yr old ice for the IPICS “Oldest-Ice” ice core

Public Deposited

Downloadable Content

Download PDF
https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/articles/v692tb47k

Descriptions

Attribute NameValues
Creator
Abstract
  • The recovery of a 1.5 million yr long ice core from Antarctica represents a keystone of our understanding of Quaternary climate, the progression of glaciation over this time period and the role of greenhouse gas cycles in this progression. Here we tackle the question of where such ice may still be found in the Antarctic ice sheet. We can show that such old ice is most likely to exist in the plateau area of the East Antarctic ice sheet (EAIS) without stratigraphic disturbance and should be able to be recovered after careful pre-site selection studies. Based on a simple ice and heat flow model and glaciological observations, we conclude that positions in the vicinity of major domes and saddle position on the East Antarctic Plateau will most likely have such old ice in store and represent the best study areas for dedicated reconnaissance studies in the near future. In contrast to previous ice core drill site selections, however, we strongly suggest significantly reduced ice thickness to avoid bottom melting. For example for the geothermal heat flux and accumulation conditions at Dome C, an ice thickness lower than but close to about 2500 m would be required to find 1.5 Myr old ice (i.e., more than 700 m less than at the current EPICA Dome C drill site). Within this constraint, the resolution of an Oldest-Ice record and the distance of such old ice to the bedrock should be maximized to avoid ice flow disturbances, for example, by finding locations with minimum geothermal heat flux. As the geothermal heat flux is largely unknown for the EAIS, this parameter has to be carefully determined beforehand. In addition, detailed bedrock topography and ice flow history has to be reconstructed for candidates of an Oldest-Ice ice coring site. Finally, we argue strongly for rapid access drilling before any full, deep ice coring activity commences to bring datable samples to the surface and to allow an age check of the oldest ice.
License
Resource Type
DOI
Date Available
Date Issued
Citation
  • Fischer, H., Severinghaus, J., Brook, E., Wolff, E., Albert, M., Alemany, O., Arthern, R., Bentley, C., Blankenship, D., Chappellaz, J., Creyts, T., Dahl-Jensen, D., Dinn, M., Frezzotti, M., Fujita, S., Gallee, H., Hindmarsh, R., Hudspeth, D., Jugie, G., Kawamura, K., Lipenkov, V., Miller, H., Mulvaney, R., Parrenin, F., Pattyn, F., Ritz, C., Schwander, J., Steinhage, D., van Ommen, T., and Wilhelms, F.: Where to find 1.5 million yr old ice for the IPICS "Oldest-Ice" ice core, Climate of the Past, 9, 2489-2505. doi:10.5194/cp-9-2489-2013, 2013.
Journal Title
Journal Volume
  • 9
Journal Issue/Number
  • 6
Rights Statement
Funding Statement (additional comments about funding)
  • This work is an outgrowth of the effortsof IPICS (International Partnerships in Ice Core Sciences;http://www.pages-igbp.org/ipics/), which is affiliated to the IGBPproject PAGES (Past Global Changes), SCAR (Scientific Committeeon Antarctic Research) and IACS (International Associationof Cryospheric Sciences). IPICS has received substantial supportfrom NSF (US National Science Foundation) and EPB (EuropeanPolar Board). This paper has been initiated during an Oldest-Ice workshop in October 2012, which was financially supportedthrough the EPICA (European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica)Descartes Prize for Transnational Collaboration 2007.
Publisher
Peer Reviewed
Language
Replaces

Relationships

Parents:

This work has no parents.

Items

Thumbnail Title Date Uploaded Visibility Actions
file details BrookEdwardCEOASWhereFindMillion.pdf 2017-10-16 Public Download