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Icecores 2015

An ice core is a cylinder-shaped sample of ice drilled from a glacier that provides direct evidence of past climate and atmospheric conditions. Snowfall each year traps gases, particles, pollen, ash, dust, and salt from the atmosphere and environment, recording information in the layers of ice. Scientists can determine the carbon dioxide and temperature from different eras by analyzing the ratios of oxygen isotopes in the ice. They also date ice cores by understanding the typical ice formation rate and using this to assign an age to each core section.

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2K views2 pages

Icecores 2015

An ice core is a cylinder-shaped sample of ice drilled from a glacier that provides direct evidence of past climate and atmospheric conditions. Snowfall each year traps gases, particles, pollen, ash, dust, and salt from the atmosphere and environment, recording information in the layers of ice. Scientists can determine the carbon dioxide and temperature from different eras by analyzing the ratios of oxygen isotopes in the ice. They also date ice cores by understanding the typical ice formation rate and using this to assign an age to each core section.

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© © All Rights Reserved
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ICECORES

WhatisanIceCore?
Anicecoreisacylindershapedsampleoficedrilledfroma
glacier.Icecorerecordsprovidethemostdirectanddetailed
waytoinvestigatepastclimateandatmosphericconditions.
Snowfallthatcollectsonglacierseachyearcapturesgasesand
particlesfromtheatmospheric.

Whatareexamplesofinformationscientistscangetfromicecores?
Analyzingicecoresshowsscientistshowmuch
carbondioxide
wasintheatmosphereofat
differentpointsinEarthshistory.Scientistscanalsotellthe
temperature
ofearthbystudyingice
18
16
cores.Thereare2differenttypes
(isotopes)
ofoxygenatomsknownas
Oand
O,whichhave
16
differentweights.IcethatcontainsahighproportionofO(lightoxygen)wasformedwhenthe
18
Earth'stemperaturewaslow,whileicecontaininglotsof
O(heavyoxygen)wasformedinwarmer
temperatures.Thismethodiscalledisotopeanalysis.

Icecanalsotrap
pollen
fromdifferentplants,
ash
fromvolcaniceruptions,
dust
fromdeserts,and
salt
fromtheocean.Thesaltistransportedbywindfromtheocean.Themoresaltintheice,the
closertheoceanwaslocated.

HowdoweFindtheageoftheice?
Scientistshavetobeabletoworkouttheageoftheicetheyarestudying.Anicecoreislikea
timeline
thenewesticeliesclosesttothesurfacewhileicethatwasformedthousands,oreven
millions,ofyearsagoisdeeplyburied.Scientistsalsoknowhowquicklyiceusuallyformsin
particularregionsoftheworldandthishelpsthemworkoutwheneachsectionofanicecorewas
formed.Antarcticaisthoughttohavebeencoveredbyiceforover30millionyears.Sofar,
scientistshavedrilledicecoresstretchingback800,000years,andtheyarenowworkingtoextend
theirrecordsbackto1.4millionyearsago.

ICECORESAMPLES

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