This award is for support for a study to log temperature as a function of depth in pre-existing boreholes on a transect from Taylor Dome, through the Dry Valleys to the Ross Sea. Paleo- temperature will be derived from the data sets by formal inverse methods. A comparison will be made between the oxygen-isotope proxy record from the Taylor Dome ice core with a true thermal record in order to calibrate the oxygen-isotope proxy record. Vertical strain rate will be measured in an existing 130 meter dry hole to allow correction for firn compaction and ice advection. The data will provide a direct thermal measurement of climate warming, if any, in the Ross Sea sector of Antarctica, and when combined with existing Dry Valleys climate records and indicators, should provide information about past regional coherence of climate factors of cloudiness, air tempeature, and wind patterns.
