Core Drilling Through the Ross Ice Shelf (Antarctica) Confirmed Basal Freezing

New techniques that have been used to obtain a continuous ice core through the whole 416-meter thickness of the Ross Ice Shelf at Camp J-9 have demonstrated that the bottom 6 meters of the ice shelf consists of sea ice. The rate of basal freezing that is forming this ice is estimated by different me...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science
Main Authors: Zotikov, Igor A., Zagorodnov, Victor S., Raikovsky, Juriy V.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 1980
Subjects:
Ross Ice Shelf
Antarc*
Antarctica
ice core
Ice Shelf
Sea ice
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.207.4438.1463
https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.207.4438.1463
Description
Summary:New techniques that have been used to obtain a continuous ice core through the whole 416-meter thickness of the Ross Ice Shelf at Camp J-9 have demonstrated that the bottom 6 meters of the ice shelf consists of sea ice. The rate of basal freezing that is forming this ice is estimated by different methods to be 2 centimeters of ice per year. The sea ice is composed of large vertical crystals, which form the waffle-like lower boundary of the shelf. A distinct alignment of the crystals throughout the sea ice layer suggests the presence of persistent long-term currents beneath the ice shelf.

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