A High Resolution Atmospheric Methane Record from the South Pole Ice Core

南极冰芯的高分辨率大气甲烷记录

• 批准号: 1643722
• 负责人: Edward Brook
• 金额: $ 18.5万
• 依托单位: Oregon State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-02-01 至 2020-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1643722&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Resolution; Atmospheric; Methane; Record; South

Brook/1643722This award supports a project to measure the concentration of the gas methane in air trapped in an ice core collected from the South Pole. The data will provide an age scale (age as a function of depth) by matching the South Pole methane changes with similar data from other ice cores for which the age vs. depth relationship is well known. The ages provided will allow all other gas measurements made on the South Pole core (by the PI and other NSF supported investigators) to be interpreted accurately as a function of time. This is critical because a major goal of the South Pole coring project is to understand the history of rare gases in the atmosphere like carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, ethane, propane, methyl chloride, and methyl bromide. Relatively little is known about what controls these gases in the atmosphere despite their importance to atmospheric chemistry and climate. Undergraduate assistants will work on the project and be introduced to independent research through their work. The PI will continue visits to local middle schools to introduce students to polar science, and other outreach activities (e.g. laboratory tours, talks to local civic or professional organizations) as part of the project. Methane concentrations from a major portion (2 depth intervals, excluding the brittle ice-zone which is being measured at Penn State University) of the new South Pole ice core will be used to create a gas chronology by matching the new South Pole ice core record with that from the well-dated WAIS Divide ice core record. In combination with measurements made at Penn State, this will provide gas dating for the entire 50,000-year record. Correlation will be made using a simple but powerful mid-point method that has been previously demonstrated, and other methods of matching records will be explored. The intellectual merit of this work is that the gas chronology will be a fundamental component of this ice core project, and will be used by the PI and other investigators for dating records of atmospheric composition, and determining the gas age-ice age difference independently of glaciological models, which will constrain processes that affected firn densification in the past. The methane data will also provide direct stratigraphic markers of important perturbations to global biogeochemical cycles (e.g., rapid methane variations synchronous with abrupt warming and cooling in the Northern Hemisphere) that will tie other ice core gas records directly to those perturbations. A record of the total air content will also be produced as a by-product of the methane measurements and will contribute to understanding of this parameter. The broader impacts include that the work will provide a fundamental data set for the South Pole ice core project and the age scale (or variants of it) will be used by all other investigators working on gas records from the core. The project will employ an undergraduate assistant(s) in both years who will conduct an undergraduate research project which will be part of the student's senior thesis or other research paper. The project will also offer at least one research position for the Oregon State University Summer REU site program. Visits to local middle schools, and other outreach activities (e.g. laboratory tours, talks to local civic or professional organizations) will also be part of the project.

布鲁克/1643722该奖项支持一个项目，以测量气体甲烷在空气中的浓度被困在一个冰芯收集从南极。 这些数据将通过将南极甲烷变化与年龄与深度关系众所周知的其他冰芯的类似数据相匹配，提供一个年龄尺度（年龄与深度的函数）。 所提供的年龄将允许在南极核心上进行的所有其他气体测量（由PI和其他NSF支持的调查人员）准确地解释为时间的函数。 这是至关重要的，因为南极取芯项目的一个主要目标是了解大气中稀有气体的历史，如一氧化碳，二氧化碳，乙烷，丙烷，氯甲烷和溴甲烷。 尽管这些气体对大气化学和气候很重要，但人们对大气中控制这些气体的因素知之甚少。 本科生助理将在该项目上工作，并通过他们的工作被介绍给独立的研究。 作为项目的一部分，PI将继续访问当地中学，向学生介绍极地科学和其他外联活动（例如实验室图尔斯参观、与当地民间或专业组织会谈）。新南极冰芯的主要部分（2个深度间隔，不包括宾夕法尼亚州立大学正在测量的脆性冰区）的甲烷浓度将用于通过将新南极冰芯记录与日期明确的WAIS分水岭冰芯记录相匹配来创建气体年表。结合宾夕法尼亚州立大学的测量结果，这将为整个5万年的记录提供气体年代测定。 相关性将使用一个简单但强大的中点方法，以前已经证明，和匹配记录的其他方法将被探索。这项工作的智力价值是，气体年代学将是这个冰芯项目的一个基本组成部分，并将被PI和其他调查人员用于测定大气成分的年代记录，并确定独立于冰川学模型的气体年龄-冰河时代差异，这将限制过去影响积雪致密化的过程。甲烷数据还将提供全球地球化学循环重要扰动的直接地层标志（例如，甲烷的快速变化与北方半球的突然变暖和变冷同步），这将把其他冰芯气体记录直接与这些扰动联系起来。总空气含量的记录也将作为甲烷测量的副产品产生，并将有助于了解这一参数。更广泛的影响包括，这项工作将为南极冰芯项目提供一个基本的数据集，年龄尺度（或其变体）将被所有其他研究人员使用。 该项目将聘请本科助理（S）在这两年谁将进行本科研究项目，这将是学生的毕业论文或其他研究论文的一部分。该项目还将为俄勒冈州州立大学夏季REU网站计划提供至少一个研究职位。访问当地中学和其他外联活动（例如实验室图尔斯参观、与当地民间或专业组织会谈）也将是该项目的一部分。

项目成果

The SP19 chronology for the South Pole Ice Core – Part 1: volcanic matching and annual layer counting

• DOI: 10.5194/cp-15-1793-2019
• 发表时间: 2019-10
• 期刊: Climate of the Past
• 影响因子: 4.3
• 作者: D. Winski;T. Fudge;D. Ferris;E. Osterberg;J. Fegyveresi;J. Cole‐Dai;Zayta Thundercloud;Thomas S. Cox;K. Kreutz;Nikolas Ortman;C. Buizert;Jenna A. Epifanio;E. Brook;R. Beaudette;J. Severinghaus;T. Sowers;E. Steig;Emma C. Kahle;T. Jones;Valerie Morris;M. Aydin;M. R. Nicewonger;K. Casey;R. Alley;E. Waddington;N. Iverson;N. Dunbar;R. Bay;Joseph M. Souney;M. Sigl;J. McConnell