Glaciochemical Studies at Siple Dome, West Antarctica, during the 1996–1997 Season

• Main Authors: Kreutz, Karl J., Mayewski, Paul Andrew, Twickler, Mark S., Whitlow, Sallie I., Meeker, L. David
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: DigitalCommons@UMaine 1997
• Subjects: Glaciogeology; Geochemistry; Glaciology; Cryology; Climate Change; Climate; Earth Sciences; Hydrology; Antarc*; Antarctic; Antarctica; Greenland; Greenland ice cores; ice core; Ice Sheet; West Antarctica
• Online Access: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/ers_facpub/228; https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/context/ers_facpub/article/1233/viewcontent/GlaciochemicalStudiesatSipleDoneWestAntarctricaDuring1996_1997SEason.pdf

Deep ice cores collected from the interior of the west antarctic ice sheet and the interice stream ridges along the Siple Coast potentially contain long time-series records of Southern Hemisphere environmental change. One such location is Siple Dome, an approximately l20-kilometer (km) x 250-km ice dome located between ice streams C and D (figure 1). Because of promising results from reconnaissance glaciochemical (Mayewski, Twickler, and Whitlow 1995) and geophysical (Raymond et al. 1995) research, current U.S. deep ice-coring efforts are focused in the area. Drilling at Siple Dome is advantageous for several reasons, including the site's relatively simple geometry and internal layering (Raymond et al. 1995) and its sensitivity to changes in South Pacific lower atmospheric circulation (Kreutz and Mayewski in press). Changes in the strength of these circulation conditions over the last millennium have been documented using glacio-chemical measurements from a 150-meter (m) ice core collected at Siple Dome in 1994 (Kreutz et al. 1997). As part of the U.S. WAISCORES program, the approximately 1,000-m ice core recovered from Siple Dome will extend such well-dated, multiparameter, high-resolution environmental reconstructions back about 100,000 years and be used to investigate several issues, including • local and regional climatic change through comparison with deep ice cores recovered from the west and east antarctic plateaus, • the global timing and extent of rapid climate changes based on comparison with Greenland ice cores, and • past west antarctic ice dynamics and their impact on global sea level.