In the framework of the Eurocore drilling project 1989 at Summit, Central Greenland, air samples were collected from a drill hole in the firn at several depth levels. The samples have been analyzed for 85Kr, CO2, CH4, CFC's (F-11 and F-12) contents and for the isotopic composition of nitrogen and oxygen. The measured data are compared with the results of a diffusion model. CO2, for example, takes 12 years (with a standard deviation of 7.5 years) to diffuse from the surface to the firn-ice transition under the present climatic conditions at Summit. The difference between the age of the ice and the mean age of the occluded air is approximately 210 years. An enrichment of the heavier isotopes due to separation by gravity has been observed. Molecular diffusion alone suffices to explain the observed concentration trends in the firn column. We can, however, not exclude the existence of a convective zone below the surface. We have also measured the density and closed porosity along the firn core that has been retrieved when drilling the hole. The porosity data reveal that the air is occluded into bubbles mainly between 65 and 80 m, corresponding to densities of 790 and 830 kg/m 3, respectively.
Ice-core records of climate from Greenland and Antarctica show asynchronous temperature variations on millennial timescales during the last glacial period. The warming during the transition from glacial to interglacial conditions was markedly different between the hemispheres, a pattern attributed to the thermal bipolar see-saw. However, a record from the Ross Sea sector of East Antarctica has been suggested to be synchronous with Northern Hemisphere climate change. Here we present a temperature record from the Talos Dome ice core, also located in the Ross Sea sector. We compare our record with ice-core analyses from Greenland, based on methane synchronization, and find clearly asynchronous temperature changes during the deglaciation. We also find distinct differences in Antarctic records, pointing to differences in the climate evolution of the Indo-Pacific and Atlantic sectors of Antarctica. In the Atlantic sector, we find that the rate of warming slowed between 16,000 and 14,500 years ago, parallel with the deceleration of the rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and with a slight cooling over Greenland. In addition, our chronology supports the hypothesis that the cooling of the Antarctic Cold Reversal is synchronous with the Bølling–Allerød warming in the northern hemisphere 14,700 years ago
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.