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Deep Radiostratigraphy of the East Antarctic Plateau: Connecting the Dome C and Vostok Ice Core SitesSeveral airborne radar-sounding surveys are used to trace internal reflections around the European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica Dome C and Vostok ice core sites. Thirteen reflections, spanning the last two glacial cycles, are traced within 200 km of Dome C, a promising region for million-year-old ice, using the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics High-Capacity Radar Sounder. This provides a dated stratigraphy to 2318 m depth at Dome C. Reflection age uncertainties are calculated from the radar range precision and signal-to-noise ratio of the internal reflections. The radar stratigraphy matches well with the Multichannel Coherent Radar Depth Sounder (MCoRDS) radar stratigraphy obtained independently. We show that radar sounding enables the extension of ice core ages through the ice sheet with an additional radar-related age uncertainty of approximately 1/3-1/2 that of the ice cores. Reflections are extended along the Byrd-Totten Glacier divide, using University of Texas/Technical University of Denmark and MCoRDS surveys. However, core-to-core connection is impeded by pervasive aeolian terranes, and Lake Vostok's influence on reflection geometry. Poor radar connection of the two ice cores is attributed to these effects and suboptimal survey design in affected areas. We demonstrate that, while ice sheet internal radar reflections are generally isochronal and can be mapped over large distances, careful survey planning is necessary to extend ice core chronologies to distant regions of the East Antarctic ice sheet.
Document ID
20160005748
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
External Source(s)
Authors
Cavitte, Marie G. P.
(Texas Univ. Austin, TX, United States)
Blankenship, Donald D.
(Texas Univ. Austin, TX, United States)
Young, Duncan A.
(Texas Univ. Austin, TX, United States)
Schroeder, Dustin M.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Parrenin, Frederic
(Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique Annecy-le-Vieux, France)
Lemeur, Emmanuel
(Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique Annecy-le-Vieux, France)
Macgregor, Joseph A.
(Texas Univ. Austin, TX, United States)
Siegert, Martin J.
(Imperial Coll. of London London, United Kingdom)
Date Acquired
May 3, 2016
Publication Date
March 28, 2016
Publication Information
Publication: Journal of Glaciology
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISSN: 0022-1430
e-ISSN: 1727-5652
Subject Category
Meteorology And Climatology
Report/Patent Number
GSFC-E-DAA-TN31687
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNX11AD33G
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNX09AR52G
CONTRACT_GRANT: ARC-0941678
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNX08AN68G
CONTRACT_GRANT: ANT-0733025
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
airborne electromagnetic soundings
radio-echo sounding
ice chronology/dating

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