Vostok ice core

Fig. 1-2 Chemical data from the Vostok ice core. The graph of 5D can be taken as a proxy for temperature changes, as described in Chapter 18. CO2 and CH4 are greenhouse gases and vary in the same direction as temperature. Non-seasalt sulfate and methane sulfonic acid are both sulfur species existing in the particle phase, and are positively correlated with each other, but negatively with T. Major variations for all of these variables seem to correlate either positively or negatively with each other, indicating a coupled system. <5D, non-seasalt sulfate, and methane sulfonic acid data kindly provided by Dr Eric Saltzman. CO2 data are from Bamola et al. (1987) and Jouzel et al. (1993). CH4 data are from Chappellaz et al. (1990) and Jouzel et al. (1993). (ppmv = parts per million by volume ppbv = parts per billion by volime)...

Chappellaz, ]., Barnola, J. M., Raynaud, D., Korotkevich, Y. S., and Lorius, C. (1990). Atmospheric methane record over the last climatic cycle revealed by the Vostok ice core. Nature 345,127-131. 

Jouzel, J., Lorius, J. R., Petit, C. et al. (1993). Vostok ice-core - a continuous isotope temperature record over the last climatic cycle (160000 years). Nature 329,403 08. 

Fig. 18-12 Record of atmospheric CO2 over the past 220 000 years from the Vostok ice core (Jouzel et al., 1993 Bamola et al., 1987), and the corresponding deuterium isotope record temperature proxy (Jouzel et al., 1993) (see Section 18.3.2).

Fig. 18-21 The last 250 000 years of environmental history, recorded in the central Antarctic ice sheet. Bottom three panels are data from the Vostok ice core (Lorius et al., 1990 Jouzel et at., 1993). Top panel is marine data representing global ice volume (Shackle-ton el al., 1990).

Lorius, C. (1987). Vostok ice core provides 160 000 year record of atmospheric CO2. Nature 329,408-413. 

Jouzel, J., Barkov, N. 1., Barnola, J. M. et al. (1993). Extending the Vostok ice-core record of paleoclimate to the penultimate glacial period. Nature 364, 407-412. 

The characteristics of the changes in several species discussed in this chapter are shown in Fig. 19-3. This figure depicts the changing composition of the atmosphere on three time scales. Figures 19-3a-c show the simultaneous variation of CO2, CH4, temperature, and SO from the Vostok ice core (see also Fig. 1-2). These records also clearly demonstrate that the Earth functions as a coupled system. Temperature, CO2 and CH4 are positively correlated with one another, but each is negatively correlated with (for reasons that are not yet known). This time period covers 160000 years including the... 

Such a measurement can tell us about the chemical evolution of oxygen, such as whether the isotopes differentiated via a thermal cycle in which lighter leO fractionates from the heavier lsO, much as Vostok ice-core oxygen ratios reveal the Earth s prehistoric climate. From this fixed point of the Sun s oxygen ratios, we can then trace the history of water in other planetary bodies since their birth in the solar nebulae through the subsequent cometary bombardment [13]. In NASA s search for water on the Moon, important for the establishment of a future Moon base, such isotopic ratios will determine whether the water is a vast mother lode or just a recent cometary impact residue. 

Iron concentrations as a function of depth in the Antarctic Vostok ice core, together with mean COq concentrations in air trapped in ice, versus mean age of air. Source From Martin, J. (1990). Paleoceanography 5, 1-13. 

Fig. 3.16 Correlations of 8D- and 8 0-values of Greenland (GISP-2) and Antartic (Vostok) ice cores covering the last glacial-interglacial cycles (http //www.gisp2.sr.unh.edu/GISP2/DATA/ Bender.html)...

The 8 N- and 8 0-values of atmospheric N2O today, range from 6.4 to 7.0%c and 43 to 45.5%c (Sowers 2001). Terrestrial emissions have generally lower 8-values than marine sources. The 8 N and 8 0-values of stratospheric N2O gradually increase with altitude due to preferential photodissociation of the lighter isotopes (Rahn and Wahlen 1997). Oxygen isotope values of atmospheric nitrous oxide exhibit a mass-independent component (Cliff and Thiemens 1997 Clifif et al. 1999), which increases with altitude and distance from the source. The responsible process has not been discovered so far. First isotope measurements of N2O from the Vostok ice core by Sowers (2001) indicate large and 0 variations with time (8 N from 10 to 25%c and 8 0 from 30 to 50%c), which have been interpreted to result from in situ N2O production via nitrification. 

Peterson BJ, Fry B (1987) Stable isotopes in ecosystem studies. Ann Rev Ecol Syst 18 293-320 Petit JR, et al. (1999) Qimate and atmospheric history of the past 420000 years from the Vostok ice core, Antarctica. Nature 399 429 36... 

Sowers T, Bender M, Raynaud D, Korotkevich YS, Orchardo J (1991) The 6 0 of atmospheric O2 from air inclusions in the Vostok ice core timing of CO2 and ice volume changes during the Penultimate degladation. Paleoceanography 6 679-696... 

Fig. 15a comes from N. J. Shackleton, A. Berger, and W. R. Peltier, An Alternative Astronomical Calibration of the Lower Pleistocene Timescale Based on ODP Site 677 , Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Earth Sciences, 81 (1990), 251. Fig. 156 comes from J. Jouzel et al., Extending the Vostok Ice-Core Record of Palaeocllmate to the Penultimate Glacial Period , Nature, 364 (1993), 407. 

Figure 10.37. Comparison of CO2 and deuterium trends obtained from the Vostok ice core (Barnola et al., 1987 Jouzel et al., 1987) with a polynomial model of sea level data for the past 140,000 years. (After Pinter and Gardner, 1989.)...

Figure 10.40. Comparison of a model calculation (solid line) for glacial-interglacial changes in atmospheric CO2 with the observed CO2 record (dashed line) from the Vostok ice core. The model is that of the CO2-O2 geochemical cycle in Figure 10.38.

Genthon C., Barnola J.M., Raynaud D Lorius C., Jouzel J., Barkov N.I., Korotkevich Y.S. and Kotlyakov V.M. (1987) Vostok ice core Climate response to CO2 and orbital forcing changes over the last climatic cycle. Nature 329, 414-418. 

J. R. Petit, et al Vostok Ice Core Data for 420,000 Years, NOAA/NGDC Paleoclimatolo-gy Program, IGBP PAGES/World Data Center for Paleoclimatology Data Contribution Series 2001-076, Boulder, CO, 2001. 

Bender M., Sowers T., and Labeyrie L. (1994) The dole effect and its variations during the last 130,000 years as measured in the Vostok ice core. Global Biogeochem. Cycles 8(3), 363-376. 

Barnola J. M., Pimienta P., Raynaud D., and Korotkevich Y. S. (1991) CO2 climate relationship as deduced from the Vostok ice core a re-examination based on new measurements and on a re-evaluation of the air dating. Tellus 43B, 83-91. 

Cuffey K. M. and Vimeux F. (2001) Covariation of carbon dioxide and temperature from the Vostok ice core after deuterium-excess correction. Nature 421, 523-527. 

Jouzel J., Barkov N. I., Barnola J. M., Bender M., Chappelaz J., Genthon C., Kotlyakov V. M., Fipenkov V., Forius C., Petit J. R., Raynaud D., Raisbeck G., Ritz C., Sowers T., Stievenard M., Yiou F., and Yiou P. (1993) Extending the Vostok ice-core record of paleoclimate to the penultimate glacial period. Nature 364, 407-412. 

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