A Nitrate Signal of Solar Flares in Polar Snow and Ice

• Main Authors: Dreschhoff, Gisela A., Zeller, Edward J.
• Other Authors: KANSAS UNIV LAWRENCE DEPT OF PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1992
• Subjects: Astrophysics; Atmospheric Physics; Geology; Geochemistry and Mineralogy; *ICE; *SOLAR FLARES; *CORE SAMPLING; *NITRATES; POLAR REGIONS; DEPOSITION; AURORAE; SOLAR ACTIVITY; GREENLAND; CORE STORAGE; STRATOSPHERE; DRILLING; CHEMICAL ANALYSIS; RECORDS; IONIZATION; SNOW; WINDLESS BIGHT(ANTARCTICA); FIRN CORE; PE61102F; Antarctic; Greenland; Ross Ice Shelf; The Antarctic; Windless Bight; Antarc*; Antarctica; ice core; Ice Shelf
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA260559; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA260559

The operations described in this report are separated into two sections, one involving the high-resolution sampling, analysis,-and interpretation of a firn core from Windless Bight Antarctica and a second section concerned with the acquisition of a 120 meter firn core from the GISP2 site in Central Greenland. Most of the Antarctic work is involved with detailed correlation with records from two-drill cores located - 10 km apart on the Ross Ice Shelf where snow deposition involves little mixing and highly precise correlations are possible with known solar flare events. In Greenland, a much longer time period of roughly 400 years has been sampled. The core drilling was completed in June 1992 and the cores have been shipped to the National Ice Core Storage Facility in Denver, Colorado. The upper - 12 meters of firn core was analyzed on site in Greenland and shows that a high quality ice core record can be obtained. Sponsored in part by grant DPP-8919190.