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

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posted on 2023-05-18, 19:52 authored by 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, Tasman van OmmenTasman van Ommen, Wilhelms, F
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 2500m would be required to find 1.5 Myr old ice (i.e., more than 700m 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.

History

Publication title

Climate of the Past

Volume

9

Pagination

2489-2505

ISSN

1814-9324

Department/School

Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies

Publisher

Copernicus GmbH

Place of publication

Germany

Rights statement

Copyright 2013 Authors.Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Repository Status

  • Open

Socio-economic Objectives

Effects of climate change on Antarctic and sub-Antarctic environments (excl. social impacts)

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