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Related Experiment Videos

Gases in ice cores.

M Bender1, T Sowers, E Brook

  • 1Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI 02881, USA.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
|August 5, 1997
PubMed
Summary

Trapped air in glacial ice reveals atmospheric gas changes over millennia. This study reviews air-trapping processes and summarizes carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) records, linking them to climate change.

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Area of Science:

  • Paleoclimatology
  • Glaciology
  • Atmospheric Chemistry

Background:

  • Air bubbles trapped in glacial ice serve as invaluable archives of past atmospheric composition.
  • Understanding these archives allows for reconstruction of atmospheric gas concentrations over extensive timescales, from recent human history to glacial-interglacial cycles.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review the glaciological mechanisms of air entrapment in ice cores.
  • To discuss physical processes that may fractionate gases within ice cores relative to the bulk atmosphere.
  • To present and analyze concentration-time records for carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) over the last 200 years and two glacial-interglacial cycles.

Main Methods:

  • Review of glaciological literature on ice core formation and gas trapping.
  • Analysis of published CO2 and CH4 concentration data from ice core records.
  • Comparison of gas concentration trends with paleoclimate reconstructions.

Main Results:

  • Summarized CO2 and CH4 concentration trends for the last 200 years.
  • Detailed presentation of CO2 and CH4 records spanning the last two glacial-interglacial periods.
  • Demonstrated correlations between past atmospheric CO2 and CH4 levels and global climate variations.

Conclusions:

  • Ice core air bubbles provide robust proxy data for past atmospheric greenhouse gas levels.
  • Greenhouse gas concentrations have varied significantly over glacial-interglacial cycles, closely tracking global climate shifts.
  • These findings underscore the sensitivity of Earth's climate system to changes in atmospheric CO2 and CH4.

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