Abstract:
This data was collected under the award NSF-ANT08-39031, "Collaborative Research: A "horizontal ice core" for large-volume samples of the past atmosphere, Taylor Glacier, Antarctica". The data consists of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide concentrations measured in the air trapped in bubbles, and their isotopes. Oxygen isotopes of air and ice, dust concentrations, and ancillary stratigraphic information used for dating the ice is also included.
Purpose:
This outcrop of old ice in the Taylor Glacier ablation zone allows much larger samples to be taken than are available from ice cores. For example, the carbon-14 content of atmospheric methane in the past is of value in understanding possible methane hydrate release to the atmosphere, but it requires 1 ton of ice per sample. Thus horizontal ice cores permit the first measurements of this tracer prior to the advent of direct atmospheric sampling in the 1950s. The age of the outcropping ice ranges from 8 kyr to 130 kyr.
