Getting to the Core of Climate Change:
How can we use ice core data from the polar regions to investigate changes in Earth's climate past, present, and future?

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Database

Graphs are from: Climate Change 2001: Working Group I: The Scientific Basis, p. 3: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Houghton, J.T., Y. Ding, D.J. Griggs, M. Noguer, P.J. van der Linden, X. Dai, K. Maskell, C.A. Johnson, eds.

The data that follow in the tables are from the following site. We have deleted much of the data so that a reasonable amount of data for hand graphing remains. If you are graphing on a computer, you might choose to download the data direclty from the site so that you have the data set in its entirety.

The text that follows is from the site referenced. We have changed the years listed (in B.P.; before present) to actual years, with negative years indicating BC.

http:/ /www.ngdc.noaa.gov/paleo/icecore/greenland/summit/document/gispisot.htm

GISP2 Bidecadal Oxygen Isotope Data

REFERENCES:
Stuiver, M., T.F. Braziunas, P.M. Grootes, and G.A. Zielinski. 1997. Is there evidence for solar forcing of climate in the GISP2 oxygen isotope record? Quaternary Research 48:259-266.

Stuiver, M., P.M. Grootes, and T.F. Braziunas. 1995. The GISP2 18O climate record of the past 16,500 years and the role of the sun, ocean and volcanoes. Quaternary Research 44:341-354.

Meese, D.A., R.B. Alley, R.J. Fiacco, M.S. Germani, A.J. Gow, P.M. Grootes, M. Illing, P.A. Mayewski, M.C. Morrison, M. Ram, K.C. Taylor, Q. Yang, and G.A. Zielinski. 1994. Preliminary depth-agescale of the GISP2 ice core. Special CRREL Report 94-1, US.

Steig, E.J., P.M. Grootes, and M. Stuiver. 1994. Seasonal precipitaion timing and ice core records. Science 266:1885-1886.

DATA DESCRIPTION:
This file contains the GISP2 bidecadal delta 18O data set back to 16,510 yr B.P., measured at the Quaternary Isotope Laboratory, University of Washington, as of February 1st, 1997. The timescale includes revisions by D. A. Meese as of September 1994. The GISP2 depths below 167 meters are those of the D core; above 167 meters the core depths are those of the B core + 1.09 meters. See the file gisp2age.dat for further information on the timescale.

Between 1650.29 and 1844.88 meters, the delta 18-O values of this time series are based on high resolution data (0.2 meter). They differ slightly from the 2-meter time series (file UW2md18O.dat).

The data columns represent:

1. top depths of intervals (in meters)
2. mean delta Oxygen 18 values (in per mil) starting at top depths. Standard deviation in a single delta Oxygen 18 measurement is 0.14 per mil. Multiple measurements (such as for the ones below) reduce the standard deviation to the 0.05 to 0.1 per mil range.
3. layer count ages at top depths (in yr BP) where 0 BP represents AD 1950 SUMMER to AD 1949 SUMMER

(Added for this exercise: column 4: year AD)

Depth	O 18	Age	Year
Top (m)	(per mil)	age (before present)	time (AD)
36.85	-35.18	50	1900
119.2	-35.08	350	1600
212.31	-35.17	750	1200
304.02	-34.8	1150	800
389.62	-34.8	1550	400
470.32	-34.72	1950	0
548.74	-34.47	2350	-400
622.82	-35.16	2750	-800
695.12	-34.12	3150	-1200
763.02	-35.15	3550	-1600
829.43	-34.83	3950	-2000
892.7	-35.39	4350	-2400
954.41	-35.07	4750	-2800
1013.63	-34.68	5150	-3200
1069.27	-34.55	5550	-3600
1121.41	-34.52	5950	-4000
1172.74	-34.62	6350	-4400
1223.15	-34.28	6750	-4800
1270.57	-35.04	7150	-5200
1317.18	-34.55	7550	-5600
1363.05	-34.68	7950	-6000
1405.96	-34.81	8350	-6400
1447.99	-34.61	8750	-6800
1488.56	-35.06	9150	-7200
1525.95	-34.6	9550	-7600
1560.4	-35	9950	-8000
1592.86	-35.82	10350	-8400
1621.71	-36.21	10750	-8800
1648.47	-36.76	11150	-9200
1672.67	-36.39	11550	-9600
1686.85	-39.18	11950	-10000
1697.68	-40.77	12350	-10400
1708.24	-39.03	12750	-10800
1723.47	-39.25	13150	-11200
1740	-37.93	13550	-11600
1759	-37.35	13950	-12000
1779.23	-36.51	14350	-12400
1800	-39.54	14750	-12800
1811.32	-39	15150	-13200
1821.23	-38.48	15550	-13600
1830.95	-41.43	15950	-14000
1840.98	-40.23	16350	-14400

Lake Vostok Carbon Dioxide Data

This data is from the following web site and refernce below. We have changed this data so that there is a reasonable anount to graph by hand. If you are going to be graphing with computers, you might want to download the data directly from the site referenced to have a complete set.

There are 5 columns of data, the last two are the ones to graph, the year and CO2 information. The other three columns are information about the sample; the depth in the ice core and the year in BP (before present.) You may notice that there is a difference between the ice age and the gas age; this is due to the gas in the snow rising before it froze completely.

Please note that the years for each data point are not uniformly spaced.

ftp://ftp.ngdc.noaa.gov/pal eo/icecore/antarctica/vostok/co2.txt

Barnola et al, Nature 329, 408-414 1987

Depth	ice Age	Gas age	CO2	Year (AD)
m	years	years	ppmv
124.6	4050	1700	274.5	300
173.1	5970	3530	270	-1530
250.3	9320	6800	252	-4800
266	10040	7500	257	-5500
302.6	11870	9140	259	-7140
375.6	16350	12930	245	-10930
426.4	20330	16250	193	-14250
474.2	24280	20090	194.5	-18090
525.1	28530	24390	200	-22390
576	32680	28720	198	-26720
602.3	34770	30910	223	-28910
625.6	36600	32800	207	-30800
651.6	38600	34870	210	-32870
700.3	42320	38660	207	-36660
748.3	45970	42310	178.5	-40310
775.2	48000	44350	200	-42350
800	49850	46220	207.7	-44220
852.5	53770	50150	201	-48150
874.3	55450	51770	201	-49770
902.2	57660	53860	219.5	-51860
926.8	59670	55780	214.5	-53780
951.9	61790	57800	206.5	-55800
975.7	63880	59770	201	-57770
1002.5	66230	62080	192	-60080
1023.5	68040	63960	193	-61960
1052.4	70470	66540	205.5	-64540
1074.8	72330	68490	226.5	-66490
1101.4	74500	70770	243	-68770
1124.19	76330	72690	235	-70690
1148.69	78270	74720	230.5	-72720
1175	80320	76860	219.5	-74860
1225.69	84220	80900	222.5	-78900
1251.5	86220	82820	234	-80820
1274.19	87980	84700	218.8	-82700
1299.3	89940	86680	210	-84680
1322.5	91760	88520	221.5	-86520
1349	93860	90630	226	-88630
1374.8	95910	92700	234	-90700
1402.5	98130	94940	226.5	-92940
1425.5	100000	96810	236	-94810
1451.5	102210	98950	225	-96950
1476.09	104410	101040	229	-99040
1499.59	106610	103130	238.5	-101130
1526.3	109240	105620	234.5	-103620
1547	111250	107650	244	-105650
1575.19	113850	110510	233.5	-108510
1598	115850	112700	240	-110700
1626.5	118220	115290	276	-113290

Lake Vostok Methane Data
This data is from the following web site and refernce below. We have changed this data so that there is a reasonable anount to graph by hand. If you are going to be graphing with computers, you might want to download the data yourslef to have a complete set.

ftp://ftp.ngdc.noaa.gov/pal eo/icecore/antarctica/vostok/ch4.txt

Chappellaz et al, Nature 345,127-131 (1990)

Age	CH4 content
(BC)	(PPBV)
569	668
1701	595
4197	574
7195	667
8537	477
9827	662
10385	642
14242	395
16752	349
19532	348
23172	384
24870	415
28902	432
30796	522
33892	484
38525	441
41598	402
45123	504
48755	514
52574	442
56665	414
60858	434
65396	458
69714	462
73815	438
77642	545
81680	529
85460	417
89806	443
93792	407
96943	480
99037	493
103611	591
105164	437
109253	468
113400	443
116938	515
120577	557
124486	584
129120	620
130788	637
132136	688
134302	526
139040	431
141980	352
143869	374
145485	348
147130	318
151613	345

This data is from the following site. We have delted much of the data so that a reasonable amount of data for hand graphing remains. If you are graphing on a computer, you might choose to download the data direclty from the site so that you have the data set in its entirety.

The text that follows is from the site referenced. We have changed the years listed (in B.P.; before present) to actual years, with negative years indicating BC.

This data set may be for more advanced graphers, since the years are not in even intervals. They are all approximately 2200 years apart, but there is significant variation.

It should also be noted that there is a gas age and an ice age here; there is a slight difference (approximately 200 years) between these numbers, since before the snowfall completely freezes, the gas can rise slightly.

ftp://ftp .ngdc.noaa.gov/paleo/icecore/greenland/summit/gisp2/gases/gispch4.txt

GISP2 Methane Concentrations

REFERENCE:
Brook, E.J., T. Sowers, and J. Orchardo. 1996. Rapid variations in atmospheric methane concentration during the past 110,000 years. Science 273:1087-1091.

DATA DESCRIPTION:
Gas ages were calculated according to the methods described in Brook et al. 1996, and are subject to change. Ice ages were calculated by by linear interpolation from the Meese et al. timescale.

Year	CH4	Gas Age	Ice Age
	(ppbV)	(yr BP 1950)	(yr BP 1950)
1810	754	140	343
581	665	1369	1566
-665	615	2615	2809
-2378	598	4328	4524
-4709	603	6659	6854
-6681	662	8631	8819
-7714	710	9664	9874
-9007	732	10957	11251
-9855	534	11805	12493
-10550	497	12500	13105
-11833	666	13783	14153
-12768	593	14718	15299
-15313	404	17263	17892
-18119	394	20069	20638
-23836	384	25786	26551
-27599	412	29549	30745
-31294	462	33244	33728
-33122	583	35072	35949
-35918	571	37868	38208
-37571	461	39521	40255
-39640	408	41590	42110
-41257	434	43207	43764
-43390	528	45340	46072
-46097	462	48047	49145
-47975	536	49925	51357
-50062	555	52012	53467
-53184	538	55134	55426
-55641	592	57591	57275
-57191	435	59141	58671
-59268	454	61218	59874
-60924	504	62874	61161
-63313	512	65263	63067
-65632	488	67582	65520
-68902	467	70852	69567
-71048	448	72998	73105
-73828	475	75778	75933
-75736	522	77686	78223
-77829	580	79779	80453
-79940	639	81890	82506
-82397	505	84347	85022
-84926	449	86876	87479
-87372	534	89322	89492
-89537	443	91487	91549
-92101	430	94051	93565
-95265	535	97215	96132
-98019	566	99969	98648
-99844	502	101794	100725
-101807	514	103757	102855
-103622	487	105572	105081
-105758	503	107708	107898
-108161	656	110111	112078