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

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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.