Studies of the Concentration and Isotopic Composition of O2, N2 and Ar in Trapped Gases from the Vostok Ice Core

气候和生物圈之间的相互作用对我们环境的性质产生了深远的影响。生物圈通过调节二氧化碳和微量温室气体的浓度，并对水文循环产生重大影响，直接影响气候。气候对陆地生态系统的分布有很大影响，与之相关的海洋环流过程，是海洋生产和海洋生态系统特征的主要决定因素。描述气候-生物圈相互作用的性质是理解气候演变及其对行星生态系统影响的基础。冰期-间冰期的时间尺度与这里的气候和生物圈之间的相互作用特别相关。在这段相对较短的时间间隔(102KYR)内，气候不受大陆位置变化、造山等长期构造事件或动植物演变的影响。相反，气候变化是由地球表面太阳辐射分布的变化，辐射活性气体大气浓度的变化，以及可能还不完全了解的构造、随机气候学和生物过程造成的。对更新世生物地球化学和古化学的详细研究是了解气候-生物圈相互作用的极好途径，也是理解人类对行星环境的改变将如何影响地球气候的关键。这项研究涉及气候和生物圈之间相互作用的广泛问题。这项实验工作将确定沃斯托克冰芯中被困空气中O2、N2和Ar的浓度和同位素组成，该冰芯保留了160Kyr B.P.的环境记录。

Interactions between climate and the biosphere have a profound influence on the nature of our environment. The biosphere directly affects climate through regulating the concentration of CO2 and trace greenhouse gases, and by exerting a major influence on the hydrologic cycle. Climate has a great effect on the distribution of terrestrial ecosystems, and the related process of ocean circulation, is a major determinant of oceanic production and the characteristics of marine ecosystems. Describing the nature of climate-biosphere interactions is fundamental to understanding climatic evolution and its effects on the planetary ecosystem. The glacial-interglacial time scale is of special relevance to the interactions between climate and the biosphere here. Over this relatively short time interval (102 kyr), climate is not influenced by changing continental positions, long-term tectonic events such as mountain building, or the evolution of the fauna and flora. Rather, climate change is forced by variations in the distribution of solar insolation on the Earth's surface, variations in the atmospheric concentrations of the radiatively active gases, and perhaps by incompletely understood tectonic, stochastic climatological, and biotic processes as well. The detailed study of Pleistocene biogeochemistry and paleochemistry is an excellent way to learn about climate-biosphere interactions and is also crucial to the understanding of how Earth's climate will be influenced by man's alteration of the planetary environment. This research addresses a wide range of issues concerning interactions between the climate and the biosphere. The experimental work will determine the concentration and isotopic composition of O2, N2, and Ar in trapped air in the Vostok ice core, which preserves a record of the ambient environment back to 160 Kyr B.P.