This award supports work on trapped gases in Antarctic and other ice cores for paleoenvironmental and chronological purposes. The project will complete a ~ 100,000 year, high-resolution record of atmospheric methane from the Siple Dome ice core and use these data to construct a precise chronology for climate events recorded by the Siple Dome record. In addition, the resolution of the GISP2 (Greenland) ice core record will be increased in some critical intervals to help with the Siple Dome chronology and that of future ice cores. Finally, an upgrade to the analytical capabilities of the laboratory, including increasing precision and throughput and decreasing sample size needed for ice core methane measurements will be an important goal of this work. The proposed work will contribute to the understanding of the timing of rapid climate change in the Northern and Southern hemispheres during the last glacial period, the evolution of the global methane budget in the late Quaternary, and the late Quaternary climate history of Antarctica. It will also improve our ability to generate methane records for future ice coring projects, and inform and enrich the educational and outreach activities of our laboratory.

Agency
National Science Foundation (NSF)
Institute
Division of Polar Programs (PLR)
Type
Standard Grant (Standard)
Application #
0512971
Program Officer
Julie Palais
Project Start
Project End
Budget Start
2004-08-01
Budget End
2007-01-31
Support Year
Fiscal Year
2005
Total Cost
$89,437
Indirect Cost
Name
Oregon State University
Department
Type
DUNS #
City
Corvallis
State
OR
Country
United States
Zip Code
97331