NSIDC-0290 Firn Air Inert Gas and Oxygen Observations from Siple Dome, 1996, and the South Pole, 2001 Jeffery P. Severinghaus Firn Air Inert Gas and Oxygen Observations from Siple Dome, 1996, and the South Pole, 2001 2006-08-17 Boulder, Colorado USA NSIDC: National Snow and Ice Data Center http://nsidc.org/data/nsidc-0290.html http://dx.doi.org/10.7265/N5FJ2DQC Investigator Jeffrey P. Severinghaus jseveringhaus@ucsd.edu 1 858 822.2483 1 858 822.3310

Scripps Institution of Oceanography

9500 Gilman Dr.

La Jolla CA 92037-0244 USA Investigator Mark Battle

Bowdoin College,

Brunswick, Maine

Investigator Michael Bender bender@princeton.edu 1 609 258-2936

Princeton University

Department of Geosciences

M48 Guyot Hall

Princeton NJ 08544 USA Technical Contact NSIDC User Services nsidc@nsidc.org 1 303 492-6199 x 1 303 492-2468 x

National Snow and Ice Data Center

CIRES, 449 UCB

University of Colorado

Boulder CO 80309-0449 USA EARTH SCIENCE Cryosphere Glaciers/Ice Sheets Firn EARTH SCIENCE Cryosphere Glaciers/Ice Sheets Ice Sheets EARTH SCIENCE Cryosphere Sea Ice Isotopes EARTH SCIENCE Cryosphere Snow/Ice EARTH SCIENCE Cryosphere Snow/Ice Snow/Ice Chemistry EARTH SCIENCE Oceans Sea Ice Isotopes EARTH SCIENCE Paleoclimate Ice Core Records Ice Core Air Bubbles EARTH SCIENCE Terrestrial Hydrosphere Snow/Ice EARTH SCIENCE Terrestrial Hydrosphere Snow/Ice Snow/Ice Chemistry Climatology/Meteorology/Atmosphere Antarctica Atmospheric Gases Firn Air Isotope Measurements Firn Air Isotopes Firn Isotopes Gas Isotopes Ice Core Ice Core Chemistry Ice Core Data Ice Core Gas Records Polar Firn Air Shallow Firn Air Siple Dome South Pole Thermal Fractionation Trapped Air Bubbles Trapped Gases CORING DEVICES FLASKS MASS SPECTROMETERS GROUND-BASED OBSERVATIONS 1996-12-15 1996-12-21 2001-01-21 2001-01-21 complete -80.667 -80.667 -148.767 -148.767 -90 -90 0 0 CONTINENT ANTARCTICA English NSIDC_AGDC NSIDC National Snow and Ice Data Center http://nsidc.org Data Center Contact NSIDC User Services nsidc@nsidc.org 1 303 492-6199 1 303 492-2468

National Snow and Ice Data Center

CIRES, 449 UCB

University of Colorado

Boulder CO 80309-0449 USA NSIDC_AGDC NSIDC Antarctic Glaciological Data Center http://nsidc.org/agdc/ Data Center Contact NSIDC AGDC User Services nsidc@nsidc.org 1 303 492-6199 1 303 492-2468

National Snow and Ice Data Center

CIRES, 449 UCB

University of Colorado

Boulder CO 80309-0449 USA NSIDC_USADCC NSIDC U.S. Antarctic Data Coordination Center http://nsidc.org/usadcc/ Data Center Contact NSIDC USADCC User Services nsidc@nsidc.org 1 303 492-6199 1 303 492-2468

National Snow and Ice Data Center

CIRES, 449 UCB

University of Colorado

Boulder CO 80309-0449 USA FTP 177 KB Microsoft Excel FTP 975 KB PDF Bender, M. L., T. Sowers, J. -M. Barnola, and J. Chappellaz. 1994. Changes in the O2/N2 ratio of the atmosphere during recent decades reflected in the composition of air in the firn at Vostok Station, Antarctica. Geophysical Research Letters 21 189–192. Bender, M. L., P. P. Tans, J. T. Ellis, J. Orchardo, and K. Habfast. 1994. A high-precision isotope ratio mass-spectrometry method for measuring the O2/N2 ratio of air. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 58 4751–4758. Bender, M. L., D. T. Ho, M. B. Hendricks, R. Mika, M. O. Battle, P. P. Tans, T. J. Conway, B. Sturtevant, and N. Cassar. 2005. Atmospheric O2/ N2 changes, 1993–2002: implications for the partitioning of fossil fuel CO2 sequestration. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 19 GB4017. Severinghaus, J. P., A. Grachev, B. Luz, and N. Caillon. 2003. A method for precise measurement of argon 40/36 and krypton/argon ratios in trapped air in polar ice with applications to past firn thickness and abrupt climate change in Greenland and at Siple Dome, Antarctica. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 67 325–343. Severinghaus, J. P., and M. O. Battle. 2006. Fractionation of gases in polar ice during bubble close-off: new constraints from firn air Ne, Kr and Xe observations. Earth and Planetary Science Letters EPSL-08011.

This data set includes gas ratios in polar firn air: O₂/N₂, ¹⁵N/¹⁴N, ⁴⁰Ar/N₂, ⁴⁰Ar/³⁶Ar, ⁴⁰Ar/³⁸Ar, ⁸⁴Kr/³⁶Ar, ¹³²Xe/³⁶Ar, and ²²Ne/³⁶Ar. Investigators sampled air from the permeable snowpack (firn) layer at two sites: Siple Dome, Antarctica in 1996 and at the South Pole in 2001. They observed and modeled the processes of gravitational settling, thermal fractionation, and preferential exclusion of small gas molecules from closed air bubbles. The purpose of this study was to understand these physical processes, which affect the composition of bubbles trapped in ice. By measuring these gas ratios in the ancient air preserved in bubbles trapped in ice, researchers can determine past atmospheric composition and local temperature changes along with the relative timing and magnitude of such events. The data file is available in Microsoft Excel format. The research paper is available in PDF. Data and the research paper are available via FTP.

VIEW RELATED INFORMATION http://nsidc.org/data/nsidc-0098.html Firn Air Isotope and Temperature Measurements from Siple Dome and South Pole VIEW RELATED INFORMATION http://nsidc.org/data/nsidc-0123.html Siple Dome Core Data from Measurements of the d18O of Paleoatmospheric O2 VIEW RELATED INFORMATION http://nsidc.org/data/nsidc-0251.html Siple Dome Ice Core Chemistry and Ion Data AMD/US CEOS IDN DIF 9.7 2006-08-17 2013-03-18 Added DOI