Initial reconnaissance for a South Georgia ice core
Loading...
Date
2016-03-16
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Cambridge Universty Press
Abstract
We present the first snow/ice chemistry and ice radar results ever collected from South
Georgia as part of an initial reconnaissance with the ultimate goal of assessing the feasibility of a
South Georgia ice core to reconstruct past climate in the South Atlantic. South Georgia is well situated
to capture a record of past atmospheric chemical composition over the South Atlantic and of past variability
in the position and intensity of the austral westerlies. The question is how well preserved an ice
core record can be recovered from a region experiencing accelerated melting? The results presented in
this paper offer only a preliminary step in determining the feasibility of future deep ice coring on South
Georgia. However, this initial reconnaissance does provide some basic information including: the chemistry
of the atmosphere over South Georgia relative to other Southern Hemisphere ice coring sites; the
potential for preservation of ‘annual layers’ in old ice on the island; a possible age for deep ice in the
region; and an estimate of glacier health in the lower elevation regions of the island.
Description
Keywords
Ciencia, Sub antarctic island, Climate change, Ice core, Glacier volume, Ice chemistry, Radio echo sounding
Citation
Journal of Glaciology (2016), 62(231) 54–61