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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


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