Dome Argus: Ideal site for deep ice drilling

Located on the centre of ice drainage range, the highest Dome Argus (Dome A) of East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS), could be represented as an ideal site for deep ice cores drilling containing oldest paleo-climate records. To select a suitable drilling site for deep ice core, it needs gather all inform...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Xueyuan, Tang, Bo, Sun, Yuansheng, Li, Xiangbin, Cui
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Polar Research Institute of China - PRIC 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:http://library.arcticportal.org/2448/
http://library.arcticportal.org/2448/1/A20120108.pdf
Description
Summary:Located on the centre of ice drainage range, the highest Dome Argus (Dome A) of East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS), could be represented as an ideal site for deep ice cores drilling containing oldest paleo-climate records. To select a suitable drilling site for deep ice core, it needs gather all information pertaining to the local meteorology, ice sheet landforms, ice thickness, subglacial topography of bed rocks, ice velocity, internal structures of ice sheet, etc. Based on the International Partnerships in Ice Core Sciences (IPICS), we present recent achievement of glaciological research and its perspective at Dome A in this paper. We systematically discussed the merits and possible ventures of potential drilling sites around Dome A. Among all the candidates, we find that the Chinese Antarctic Kunlun Station is the best site for carrying out the first deep ice core drilling campaign. We emphasize and assess further the possibility to obtain a replicate core for studying dynamics and evolution of climate change.