The water vapour isotopic composition (1H216O, H218O and 1H2H16O) of the Atlantic marine boundary layer has been measured from 5 research vessels between 2012 and 2015. Using laser spectroscopy analysers, measurements have been carried out continuously on samples collected 10–20 meter above sea level. All the datasets have been carefully calibrated against the international VSMOW-SLAP scale following the same protocol to build a homogeneous dataset covering the Atlantic Ocean between 4°S to 63°N. In addition, standard meteorological variables have been measured continuously, including sea surface temperatures using calibrated Thermo-Salinograph for most cruises. All calibrated observations are provided with 15-minute resolution. We also provide 6-hourly data to allow easier comparisons with simulations from the isotope-enabled Global Circulation Models. In addition, backwards trajectories from the HYSPLIT model are supplied every 6-hours for the position of our measurements.
ABSTRACT. In the mid-1990s, excellent results from the GRIP and GISP2 deep drilling projects in Greenland opened up funding for continued ice-coring efforts in Antarctica (EPICA) and Greenland (NorthGRIP). The Glaciology Group of the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, was assigned the task of providing drilling capability for these projects, as it had done for the GRIP project. The group decided to further simplify existing deep drill designs for better reliability and ease of handling. The drill design decided upon was successfully tested on Hans Tausen Ice Cap, Peary Land, Greenland, in 1995. The 5.0 m long Hans Tausen (HT) drill was a prototype for the 11 m long EPICA and NorthGRIP versions of the drill which were mechanically identical to the HT drill except for a much longer core barrel and chips chamber. These drills could deliver up to 4 m long ice cores after some design improvements had been introduced. The Berkner Island (Antarctica) drill is also an extended HT drill capable of drilling 2 m long cores. The success of the mechanical design of the HT drill is manifested by over 12 km of good-quality ice cores drilled by the HT drill and its derivatives since 1995.
Continuous good-quality deep ice cores provide excellent scientific data with which to reconstruct a past climate record for >800 ka. At depths starting from �100 m using an electromechanical drill, a drilling liquid is essential for successful recovery of the very high-quality ice cores demanded by modern scientific analysis techniques (e.g. continuous flow analysis). Finding a suitable drill fluid for use at deep ice-coring drill sites is not an easy task. Temperatures vary greatly not just from site to site, but also at a site where the average mean temperature from surface to bedrock can vary from -55°C to -2.75°C. In the past 60 years, many fluids have been used, with varying degrees of success, but for various reasons are either unavailable, are now considered unsafe and dangerous or are too environmentally damaging to be permitted. Here we report on our pre-season investigation into possible candidate drill fluids, with specific information concerning ESTISOL™ 240 and COASOL™, the rationale behind the redesign of our drill successfully used at NorthGRIP, Greenland, and EPICA DML, Antarctica, the knock-on effect of those changes, and our field experience in Greenland at Flade Isblink in 2006 and at NEEM in 2009-10.
ABSTRACT. A drill liquid is essential for the purpose of recovering good-quality scientifically useful ice cores at intermediate to deep depths, i.e. >�100 m. The pressure produced by the liquid helps to eliminate the detrimental effects of the abrupt release of isostatic pressure in the ice during the drilling process, prevents consequential fractures within the ice core, and is essential to produce an even distribution of hydrostatic pressure to balance the ice isostatic pressure and so minimize borehole deformation. To perform these tasks, while minimizing risks to health and the environment, the liquid needs to exhibit specific physical, chemical and biological characteristics. Here we report on two promising candidate drill liquids, ESTISOL™ 140 and ESTISOL™ 165, for use in the extreme conditions found within the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica, where the temperature can range from close to 0°C to below -57°C and pressures can exceed 40 MPa. From both the manufacturer's data and our laboratory tests and observations we report on the physical, chemical and biological characteristics that both liquids exhibit. We also report on how one of the candidates was field-tested on the Greenland ice sheet and the East Antarctic high plateau.
The NEEM deep ice-core drilling in northwest Greenland was completed in summer 2010 after three seasons, which included establishing all drilling infrastructure. Normal drilling operations in the main borehole were declared terminated at 2537.36 m below the surface, when further penetration was stopped by a stone embedded in the ice in the path of the drill head. The design and implementation of the drilling operation strongly resembled the NGRIP drilling program. The NEEM drill was an extended version of the Hans Tausen (HT) drill, with specific modifications to optimize its use with the highly viscous Estisol-240/Coasol drill fluid used at NEEM. Modification to the drill and its performance in the new drilling fluid was largely satisfactory and successful. Throughout the drilling, special consideration was given to the way chips were transported and collected in a new chip chamber, including the consequences of drilling a larger borehole diameter than with previous drill operations that used the HT family of drills. The problems normally associated with warm ice drilling near the base of an ice sheet were largely absent at NEEM.
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