17 research outputs found

    Changes in Black Carbon Deposition to Antarctica from Two Ice Core Records, A.D. 1850-2000

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    Continuous flow analysis was based on a steady sample flow and in-line detection of BC and other chemical substances as described in McConnell et al. (2007). In the cold room, previously cut one meter ice core sticks of 3x3cm, are melted continuously on a heated melter head specifically designed to eliminate contamination from the atmosphere or by the external parts of the ice. The melted ice from the most inner part of the ice stick is continuously pumped by a peristaltic pump and carried to a clean lab by Teflon lines. The recorded signal is continuous, integrating a sample volume of about 0.05 mL, for which the temporal resolution depends on the speed of melting, ice density and snow accumulation rate at the ice core drilling site. For annual accumulation derived from the WAIS and Law Dome ice cores, we assumed ~3.1 cm water equivalent uncertainty in each year's accumulation from short scale spatial variability (glaciological noise) which was determined from several measurements of annual accumulation in multiple parallel ice cores notably from the WAIS Divide ice core site (Banta et al., 2008) and from South Pole site (McConnell et al., 1997; McConnell et al., 2000). Refractory black carbon (rBC) concentrations were determined using the same method as in (Bisiaux et al., 2011) and adapted to continuous flow measurements as described by (McConnell et al., 2007). The technique uses a single particle intracavity laser induced incandescence photometer (SP2, Droplet Measurement Technologies, Boulder, Colorado) coupled to an ultrasonic nebulizer/desolvation (CETAC UT5000) Flow Injection Analysis (FIA). All analyses, sample preparation etc, were performed in a class 100 cleanroom using anti contamination "clean techniques". The samples were not acidified

    The WAIS Divide deep ice core WD2014 chronology - Part 2: Annual-layer counting (0-31 ka BP)

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    International audienceWe present the WD2014 chronology for the upper part (0–2850 m; 31.2 ka BP) of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) Divide (WD) ice core. The chronology is based on counting of annual layers observed in the chemical, dust and electrical conductivity records. These layers are caused by seasonal changes in the source, transport, and deposi-tion of aerosols. The measurements were interpreted manually and with the aid of two automated methods. We validated the chronology by comparing to two high-accuracy, absolutely dated chronologies. For the Holocene, the cos-mogenic isotope records of 10 Be from WAIS Divide and 14 C for IntCal13 demonstrated that WD2014 was consistently accurate to better than 0.5 % of the age. For the glacial period, comparisons to the Hulu Cave chronology demonstrated that WD2014 had an accuracy of better than 1 % of the age at three abrupt climate change events between 27 and 31 ka. WD2014 has consistently younger ages than Green-land ice core chronologies during most of the Holocene. For Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union. 770 M. Sigl et al.: The WAIS Divide deep ice core WD2014 chronology the Younger Dryas–Preboreal transition (11.595 ka; 24 years younger) and the Bølling–Allerød Warming (14.621 ka; 7 years younger), WD2014 ages are within the combined uncertainties of the timescales. Given its high accuracy, WD2014 can become a reference chronology for the Southern Hemisphere, with synchronization to other chronologies feasible using high-quality proxies of volcanism, solar activity , atmospheric mineral dust, and atmospheric methane concentrations

    Black Carbon Nanoparticles in Paleo-Records: A Combustion Proxy

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    Emitted to the atmosphere through fire and fossil fuel combustion, refractory black carbon nanoparticles (rBC) impact the global climate, atmospheric chemistry, human health, and the carbon cycle. In the Southern Hemisphere (SH), rBC is transported in the atmosphere from low latitudes to Antarctica and deposited to the polar ice sheet, preserving a history of the variability of emissions and atmospheric transport. Here we present a total of eight records of rBC over the polar continent, covering a period ranging from the pre-industrial era to the modern era. These new records represent one of the first surveys of rBC deposition variability over Antarctica for that period of time. Firstly, two high-resolution rBC records from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet divide (WAIS) and Law Dome, on the periphery of the East Antarctic ice sheet, spanning calendar years 1850-2001, are investigated. Highly correlated over the past 60 years, the records show that coherent large-scale changes in rBC deposition to Antarctica occurred at decadal to inter-annual time scales, notably in ENSO-like periodicities. Since about 1940, the records show decadal trends similar to the inventories of SH rBC emissions from grass fires and biofuels. The two records suggest a large-scale reduction in rBC deposition from 1950 to 1990 to WAIS and Law Dome. In order to better understand the spatial and temporal variability in rBC deposition to the polar continent, those high resolution records are compared to six other rBC ice core records from the East-Antarctic Plateau. Located on the Dronning Maud Land, those additional records are characterized by a lower accumulation and thereby lower temporal resolution compared to the WAIS and Law Dome sites. Temporal and spatial analysis of rBC concentrations and fluxes in the East-Antarctic ice cores for the period 1800-2000 reveals high variability of concentrations, and a slightly increasing general trend. Some of the variability recorded at those sites is similar to the high resolution records and suggests a link with short and long-term variability of ENSO.Once emitted to the atmosphere, rBC particles also enter aquatic environments, where they may affect the fate of other pollutants. However, measurements of very low rBC-concentrated waters have almost never been investigated for that purpose. Here, a study determining rBC in waters of the Lake Tahoe watershed in the western United States from 2007 to 2009 are presented. The study period spanned a large fire within the Tahoe basin, seasonal snow-melt, and a number of storm events, which injected urban runoff into the Lake with rBC concentrations up to four orders of magnitude higher than background concentrations. The results show that rBC pulses from both the wildfire and urban runoff were rapidly attenuated within the lake, suggesting unexpected removal from the water column or aggregation to sizes outside of analysis detection capability. Those processes prevent rBC concentrations from building up in the clear and oligotrophic Lake Tahoe. Results obtained for the Tahoe study are compared to similar measurements performed in other oligotrophic lakes, and interpreted to characterize rBC transfer to sediments. Additionally, we measure rBC concentrations in a sediment core from Lake Tahoe, to evaluate the potential of this archive as a combustion record. Despite loss of rBC particles observed in the water column, rBC is transferred to sediments which preserve a local-to-regional scale history of its emissions as revealed by comparison with other pollutant records

    L’innovation pédagogique pour construire durable : le projet amàco

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    International audienceFace aux problématiques liées au changement climatique, le secteur du bâtiment initie aujourd’hui une transition, allant d’une architecture consommatrice d’énergies fossiles vers une architecture frugale, intégrant les ressources physiques, humaines et culturelles des territoires. Le programme pédagogique innovant « atelier matières à construire » (amàco) stimule une mutation rapide de ce secteur en formant les futurs et actuels professionnels de la construction à la conception et à la mise en oeuvre de matériaux bruts ou peu transformés (terre, bois, paille, etc.) durant leurs formations initiales et continues. C’est par les sciences de la matière, l’art et l’architecture qu’amàco suscite l’intérêt et éveille la curiosité des apprenants. Les méthodes pédagogiques d’amàco, basées sur l’expérimentation, la créativité et l’émotion, facilitent une compréhension intuitive des matières permettant à l’apprenant de penser et mettre en oeuvre des solutions constructives adaptées à leur territoire. Soutenu depuis 2012 par le dispositif IDEFI (Initiatives d’Excellence en Formations Innovantes) pour une période de 8 ans, amàco a formé, en trois années de fonctionnement, plus de 5500 personnes. À moyen terme, l’objectif d’amàco est de poursuivre la diffusion de ses méthodes et contenuspédagogiques à l’international et d’en favoriser la transmission et la réappropriation, notamment via la formation de formateurs

    Snow depths of volcanic events and accumulation rates of firn cores from the IPY traverse, Antarctica

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    Volcanic signatures in ice-core records provide an excellent means to date the cores and obtain information about accumulation rates. From several ice cores it is thus possible to extract a spatio-temporal accumulation pattern. We show records of electrical conductivity and sulfur from 13 firn cores from the Norwegian-USA scientific traverse during the International Polar Year 2007-2009 (IPY) through East Antarctica. Major volcanic eruptions are identified and used to assess century-scale accumulation changes. The largest changes seem to occur in the most recent decades with accumulation over the period 1963-2007/08 being up to 25% different from the long-term record. There is no clear overall trend, some sites show an increase in accumulation over the period 1963 to present while others show a decrease. Almost all of the sites above 3200 m above sea level (asl) suggest a decrease. These sites also show a significantly lower accumulation value than large-scale assessments both for the period 1963 to present and for the long-term mean at the respective drill sites. The spatial accumulation distribution is influenced mainly by elevation and distance to the ocean (continentality), as expected. Ground-penetrating radar data around the drill sites show a spatial variability within 10-20% over several tens of kilometers, indicating that our drill sites are well representative for the area around them. Our results are important for large-scale assessments of Antarctic mass balance and model validation
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