The EPICA deep ice cores: first results and perspectives

• Published in: Annals of Glaciology
• Main Authors: Stauffer, Bernhard, Flückiger, Jacqueline, Wolff, Eric, Barnes, Piers
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: International Glaciological Society 2004
• Subjects: 530 Physics; Greenland; Kohnen; Kohnen Station; Annals of Glaciology; Antarc*; Antarctica; DML; EPICA; ice core
• Online Access: https://boris.unibe.ch/158773/1/the-epica-deep-ice-cores-first-results-and-perspectives.pdf; https://boris.unibe.ch/158773/

Two deep ice cores are being drilled in Antarctica in the frame of the European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica (EPICA). The Dome C ice core will provide more information about mechanisms of global climatic changes over several climatic cycles. The DML core, drilled at Kohnen station, will provide a detailed record over the last climatic cycle, which can be compared with Greenland records. The drilling at Dome C reached 3200 m depth during field season 2002/03, and the age of the ice at the bottom of the hole could be 900 000 years according to preliminary estimates. The depth at Kohnen station is 1564.6 m at present, corresponding to an age of about 55 000 years. Analyses along the top parts of both ice cores have provided interesting first results. A few selected results from these parts, mostly published already, are summarized. Only a few measurements are available from the deeper parts of both cores. Dielectric profiling and electrical conductivity measurements, performed in the field, provide continuous and high-resolution records concerning the acidity and the salt concentration of the ice. Continuous flow analyses and Fast Ion Chromatography also provide high-resolution records of several chemical compounds. These records give some clues as to the age scale of the EPICA Dome C ice core, but they also leave us with many open questions.