UK Relic Air Extraction and Gas Analysis System (UK RArE-GAS)

大气中二氧化碳的增加主要是由化石燃料的燃烧引起的，是推动我们星球气候最近变化的最重要因素。对大气中二氧化碳的直接测量始于20世纪50年代-那么我们如何知道大气中二氧化碳的上升是前所未有的呢？为了了解过去，我们使用了一个独特的地质档案：极地冰盖冰芯中的气泡。从特别挑选的地点取得的冰芯，可以产生最近几个世纪的详细年度记录，或跨越过去80万年（解剖学上现代人类首次出现的时间）的记录。在变化的自然档案中，冰芯是独一无二的，它包含了降雪后不久捕获的三种主要温室气体（二氧化碳、甲烷和一氧化二氮）的样本，以及大气温度的同位素记录。因此，冰芯提供了最令人信服的证据，证明温室气体浓度的变化正在推动自然气候变化，这使地球经历了许多冰川和温暖的循环。在未来几年，冰芯将回答关键问题。1)温室气体（GHG）浓度上升与全球气温之间的滞后是什么？2)为什么地球在50万年前进入了一个有规律的冰期到间冰期的过渡周期，这个周期在工业时代之前一直主导着行星的变化？3)在12万年前的最后一次间冰期，温室气体浓度高于工业化前是如何影响我们的地球的？从南极洲、格陵兰岛和高山冰川收集的现有和计划中的冰芯是了解过去大气变化的独特窗口。提供关键数据来驱动和测试计算机模型，探索过去气候变化的方式和原因。这反过来又为预测未来气候将如何变化提供了信息。我们建议在英国南极调查局（BAS）开发一个设施UK-RArE-GAS，以帮助来自英国各地的科学家及其合作者从冰中提取和分析古代空气样本。该定制系统将采用提取方法，确保妥善管理这些珍贵的古代空气样本的设施，并使用新型激光光谱仪进行分析。英国目前没有这样的设施，这限制了我们的科学家在欧盟或美国的一两个实验室进行合作和支付分析费用。UK-RArE-GAS将扩大到英国冰核科学中心和国际社会领导者BAS现有的冰核实验室。现有的冰核实验室拥有一个大型实验室冷冻机，最先进的冰化学仪器（ICP质谱和快速离子色谱），以及一个连续流分析系统，用于测量冰中的一套化学和稳定的水同位素。BAS还提供了一套快速访问，浅，中，深冰芯钻，被广泛使用的英国社区和我们的合作者。创新的“天然气管线”将大大提高现有的能力，为英国科学提供无与伦比的能力。托马斯鲍斯卡博士作为皇家学会会员加入了BAS，他在开发类似的冰核气体方法方面有直接的经验，并将监督该设施的设计和开发。UK-RAr-GAS实验室将建立一个英国和国际合作伙伴之间的合作中心，他们可以使用该实验室提取冰川冰样品中的气体。

The rise in atmospheric CO2, caused largely by the burning of fossil fuel, is the most important factor driving the recent change in our planet's climate. Direct measurements of atmospheric CO2 only started in the 1950s - so how do we know that the rise in atmospheric CO2 is unprecedented? To look into the past we use a unique geologic archive: the bubbles of air trapped in ice cores from the polar ice sheets. Ice cores from specially selected sites, can yield, detailed yearly records for recent centuries, or records spanning the last 800 thousand years (the time that anatomically modern humans first appeared). Uniquely among natural archives of change, ice cores contain samples of the three major greenhouses gases (carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide) captured a little after the snow fell, and an isotopic record of atmosphere temperature. Ice cores thus provide the most compelling evidence that the changing concentration of greenhouse gases is driving natural climate change, which has taken the planet through many cycles of glaciation and warmth. In coming years, ice cores will answer key questions. 1) What is the lag between rising greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations and global temperature? 2) Why did the Earth enter a regular cycle of glacial to interglacial transitions 500 thousand years ago that dominated planetary change until the industrial era? 3) How did the higher than pre-industrial concentrations of GHG affect our planet in the last interglacial period 120 thousand years ago? Existing and planned ice cores, collected from Antarctica, Greenland and high-mountain glaciers, are a unique window into the past changes in the atmosphere. Providing crucial data to drive and test computer models exploring how and why climate changed in the past. This in turn informs projections of how the climate will change in the future. We propose to develop a facility, UK-RArE-GAS, at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), to help scientists from around the UK, and their collaborators, to extract and analyse ancient air samples from ice. The custom system will incorporate an extraction method, facilities to ensure proper stewardship of these precious ancient air samples, and analysis with a novel laser spectrometer. No such facility is currently available in the UK, and this limits our scientists to collaborating and paying for analyses in one or two laboratories in the EU or US. UK-RArE-GAS will be augmented into the existing ice core laboratory at BAS, the centre of ice core science in the UK and a leader in the international community. The existing ice core lab hosts a large laboratory freezer, state-of-the-art ice chemistry instrumentation (ICP-mass spectrometry and Fast-ion chromatography), and a continuous flow analysis system to measure a suite of chemistry and stable water isotopes in ice. BAS also provides a suite of rapid-access, shallow, intermediate and deep ice-core drills that are widely used by the UK community and our collaborators. The innovative 'gas-line' will considerably enhance the existing capabilities, providing an unparalleled capability to UK science. Dr Thomas Bauska, who joined BAS as a Royal Society Fellow has direct experience in development of similar ice-core gas methods, and will oversee design and development of the facility.The UK-RArE-GAS laboratory will create a centre for collaboration among UK and International partners who can use the laboratory to extract gases in glacial ice samples.