Articles | Volume 18, issue 9
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-4379-2024
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-4379-2024
Research article
 | 
23 Sep 2024
Research article |  | 23 Sep 2024

Combining traditional and novel techniques to increase our understanding of the lock-in depth of atmospheric gases in polar ice cores – results from the EastGRIP region

Julien Westhoff, Johannes Freitag, Anaïs Orsi, Patricia Martinerie, Ilka Weikusat, Michael Dyonisius, Xavier Faïn, Kevin Fourteau, and Thomas Blunier

Related authors

Brief Communication: The Danish Replicate Drilling System – Results from the First Field Test
Julien Westhoff, Grant Vernon Boeckmann, Nicholas Mossor Rathmann, and Steffen Bo Hansen
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3081,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3081, 2024
Short summary
Chemical and visual characterisation of EGRIP glacial ice and cloudy bands within
Nicolas Stoll, Julien Westhoff, Pascal Bohleber, Anders Svensson, Dorthe Dahl-Jensen, Carlo Barbante, and Ilka Weikusat
The Cryosphere, 17, 2021–2043, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2021-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2021-2023, 2023
Short summary
Melt in the Greenland EastGRIP ice core reveals Holocene warm events
Julien Westhoff, Giulia Sinnl, Anders Svensson, Johannes Freitag, Helle Astrid Kjær, Paul Vallelonga, Bo Vinther, Sepp Kipfstuhl, Dorthe Dahl-Jensen, and Ilka Weikusat
Clim. Past, 18, 1011–1034, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-1011-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-1011-2022, 2022
Short summary
Comment on “Exceptionally high heat flux needed to sustain the Northeast Greenland Ice Stream” by Smith-Johnsen et al. (2020)
Paul D. Bons, Tamara de Riese, Steven Franke, Maria-Gema Llorens, Till Sachau, Nicolas Stoll, Ilka Weikusat, Julien Westhoff, and Yu Zhang
The Cryosphere, 15, 2251–2254, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2251-2021,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2251-2021, 2021
Short summary

Cited articles

Birner, B., Buizert, C., Wagner, T. J. W., and Severinghaus, J. P.: The influence of layering and barometric pumping on firn air transport in a 2-D model, The Cryosphere, 12, 2021–2037, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-2021-2018, 2018. a
Blunier, T. and Schwander, J.: Gas enclosure in ice: age difference and fractionation, Physics of Ice Core Records, 307–326, http://eprints.lib.hokudai.ac.jp/dspace/handle/2115/32473 (last access: 6 September 2024), 2000. a, b, c
Buizert, C., Martinerie, P., Petrenko, V. V., Severinghaus, J. P., Trudinger, C. M., Witrant, E., Rosen, J. L., Orsi, A. J., Rubino, M., Etheridge, D. M., Steele, L. P., Hogan, C., Laube, J. C., Sturges, W. T., Levchenko, V. A., Smith, A. M., Levin, I., Conway, T. J., Dlugokencky, E. J., Lang, P. M., Kawamura, K., Jenk, T. M., White, J. W. C., Sowers, T., Schwander, J., and Blunier, T.: Gas transport in firn: multiple-tracer characterisation and model intercomparison for NEEM, Northern Greenland, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 12, 4259–4277, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-12-4259-2012, 2012. a, b, c
Chappellaz, J., Stowasser, C., Blunier, T., Baslev-Clausen, D., Brook, E. J., Dallmayr, R., Faïn, X., Lee, J. E., Mitchell, L. E., Pascual, O., Romanini, D., Rosen, J., and Schüpbach, S.: High-resolution glacial and deglacial record of atmospheric methane by continuous-flow and laser spectrometer analysis along the NEEM ice core, Clim. Past, 9, 2579–2593, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-2579-2013, 2013. a
Dash, J. G., Rempel, A. W., and Wettlaufer, J. S.: The physics of premelted ice and its geophysical consequences, Rev. Modern Phys., 78, 695–741, https://doi.org/10.1103/RevModPhys.78.695, 2006. a
Download
Short summary
We study the EastGRIP area, Greenland, in detail with traditional and novel techniques. Due to the compaction of the ice, at a certain depth, atmospheric gases can no longer exchange, and the atmosphere is trapped in air bubbles in the ice. We find this depth by pumping air from a borehole, modeling, and using a new technique based on the optical appearance of the ice. Our results suggest that the close-off depth lies at around 58–61 m depth and more precisely at 58.3 m depth.
Share