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Firn Air Inert Gas and Oxygen Observations from Siple Dome, 1996, and the South Pole, 2001

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Entry ID

NSIDC-0290

Summary

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.

Geographic Coverage

 

Spatial Coordinates:
N: -80.667°     S: -80.667°     E: -148.767°     W: -148.767°    
N: -90°     S: -90°     E: 0°     W: 0°    

Data Set Citation

Dataset Creator: Jeffery P. Severinghaus
Dataset Title: Firn Air Inert Gas and Oxygen Observations from Siple Dome, 1996, and the South Pole, 2001
Dataset Release Date: 2006-08-17
Dataset Release Place: Boulder, Colorado USA
Dataset Publisher: NSIDC: National Snow and Ice Data Center
Online Resource: http://nsidc.org/data/nsidc-0290.html
Dataset DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7265/N5FJ2DQC

Temporal Coverage

Start Date: 1996-12-15
Stop Date: 1996-12-21

Start Date: 2001-01-21
Stop Date: 2001-01-21

Location Keywords

  • CONTINENT ANTARCTICA

Science Keywords

  • Cryosphere Glaciers/Ice Sheets Firn
  • Cryosphere Glaciers/Ice Sheets Ice Sheets
  • Cryosphere Sea Ice Isotopes
  • Cryosphere Snow/Ice
  • Cryosphere Snow/Ice Snow/Ice Chemistry
  • Oceans Sea Ice Isotopes
  • Paleoclimate Ice Core Records Ice Core Air Bubbles
  • Terrestrial Hydrosphere Snow/Ice
  • Terrestrial Hydrosphere Snow/Ice Snow/Ice Chemistry

Ancillary Keywords

  • 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

ISO Topic Category (View Definitions)

  • Climatology/Meteorology/Atmosphere

Platform

  • GROUND-BASED OBSERVATIONS

Instrument

  • CORING DEVICES
  • FLASKS
  • MASS SPECTROMETERS

Data Set Progress

complete

Originating Center

NSIDC_AGDC

Data Center

National Snow and Ice Data Center
Data Center URL: http://nsidc.org

Data Center Personnel

Name: NSIDC User Services
Phone: 1 303 492-6199
Fax: 1 303 492-2468
Email: nsidc@nsidc.org
Contact Address:

  • National Snow and Ice Data Center
  • CIRES, 449 UCB
  • University of Colorado

City: Boulder
Province or State: CO
Postal Code: 80309-0449
Country: USA

NSIDC Antarctic Glaciological Data Center
Data Center URL: http://nsidc.org/agdc/

Data Center Personnel

Name: NSIDC AGDC User Services
Phone: 1 303 492-6199
Fax: 1 303 492-2468
Email: nsidc@nsidc.org
Contact Address:

  • National Snow and Ice Data Center
  • CIRES, 449 UCB
  • University of Colorado

City: Boulder
Province or State: CO
Postal Code: 80309-0449
Country: USA

NSIDC U.S. Antarctic Data Coordination Center
Data Center URL: http://nsidc.org/usadcc/

Data Center Personnel

Name: NSIDC USADCC User Services
Phone: 1 303 492-6199
Fax: 1 303 492-2468
Email: nsidc@nsidc.org
Contact Address:

  • National Snow and Ice Data Center
  • CIRES, 449 UCB
  • University of Colorado

City: Boulder
Province or State: CO
Postal Code: 80309-0449
Country: USA

Distribution

Distribution Media: FTP
Distribution Size: 177 KB
Distribution Format: Microsoft Excel

Distribution Media: FTP
Distribution Size: 975 KB
Distribution Format: PDF

Personnel

Jeffrey P. Severinghaus
Role: INVESTIGATOR
Phone: 1 858 822.2483
Fax: 1 858 822.3310
Email: jseveringhaus@ucsd.edu
Contact Address:

  • Scripps Institution of Oceanography
  • 9500 Gilman Dr.

City: La Jolla
Province or State: CA
Postal Code: 92037-0244
Country: USA

Mark Battle
Role: INVESTIGATOR
Contact Address:

  • Bowdoin College,
  • Brunswick, Maine

Michael Bender
Role: INVESTIGATOR
Phone: 1 609 258-2936
Email: bender@princeton.edu
Contact Address:

  • Princeton University
  • Department of Geosciences
  • M48 Guyot Hall

City: Princeton
Province or State: NJ
Postal Code: 08544
Country: USA

NSIDC User Services
Role: TECHNICAL CONTACT
Phone: 1 303 492-6199 x
Fax: 1 303 492-2468 x
Email: nsidc@nsidc.org
Contact Address:

  • National Snow and Ice Data Center
  • CIRES, 449 UCB
  • University of Colorado

City: Boulder
Province or State: CO
Postal Code: 80309-0449
Country: USA

Related URL

VIEW RELATED INFORMATION
Firn Air Isotope and Temperature Measurements from Siple Dome and South Pole

VIEW RELATED INFORMATION
Siple Dome Core Data from Measurements of the d18O of Paleoatmospheric O2

VIEW RELATED INFORMATION
Siple Dome Ice Core Chemistry and Ion Data

Reference

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.

Metadata Name and Version

Metadata Name: CEOS IDN DIF
Metadata Version: 9.7

Creation and Review Dates

DIF Creation Date: 2006-08-17
Last DIF Revision Date: 2013-03-18

Metadata Views

DIF Text-Only

Directory Interchange Format (DIF) in plain text

DIF XML

Directory Interchange Format (DIF) in Extensible Markup Language (XML)

FGDC HTML

U.S. Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata (CSDGM)

ISO HTML

International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 19115:2003 Geographic Information Metadata

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