Spring Break
Ice core leads to discovery of new greenhouse gas
Researchers in geosciences, ocean sciences benefit from information on methane, CO2
Daniel Acee
Issue date: 5/23/08 Section: News
A new discovery in greenhouse gases and climate effects has surfaced from an ice core obtained in Antarctica that dates back 800,000 years.
The ice core has provided researchers in geosciences and ocean sciences with valuable information that shows patterns of methane, carbon dioxide and temperature levels over that large amount of time.
Edward Brook, associate professor for the OSU geosciences department, was chosen by the weekly science journal "Nature" to write a column about the ice core that was found by the European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica.
"Direct evidence of past environmental conditions is rare, which makes it all the more valuable where it does occur," said Brook in his article for "Nature." "The EPICA collaboration presented the latest, and longest, record from perhaps the most valuable of these archives: the atmospheric gases trapped and preserved in ice cores extracted from Earth's polar regions."
The ice core is created as snowfall weighs down on itself increasing over time, according to Brook.
This puts constantly increasing pressure on lower snow layers. The layers eventually packed down with great force and sinter together, a geological process that causes powders to form a coherent mass, eventually trapping the air bubbles from each time period into solid ice.
Using a specifically designed drill, teams of scientists spend, at times, up to five years removing six-meter long sections of ice core at a time measuring about 12 centimeters in diameter.
"A relatively small band of international scientists are gradually drilling further down into the ice cap and progressively analyzing older ice cores," Brook said in his article.
Brook has dealt with many skeptics saying that humans have no correlation to the increase in carbon dioxide levels, which are warming up Earth's climate.
"What we are trying to do is to understand gases on many time scales, over thousands of years," Brook said.
The ice core has provided researchers in geosciences and ocean sciences with valuable information that shows patterns of methane, carbon dioxide and temperature levels over that large amount of time.
Edward Brook, associate professor for the OSU geosciences department, was chosen by the weekly science journal "Nature" to write a column about the ice core that was found by the European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica.
"Direct evidence of past environmental conditions is rare, which makes it all the more valuable where it does occur," said Brook in his article for "Nature." "The EPICA collaboration presented the latest, and longest, record from perhaps the most valuable of these archives: the atmospheric gases trapped and preserved in ice cores extracted from Earth's polar regions."
The ice core is created as snowfall weighs down on itself increasing over time, according to Brook.
This puts constantly increasing pressure on lower snow layers. The layers eventually packed down with great force and sinter together, a geological process that causes powders to form a coherent mass, eventually trapping the air bubbles from each time period into solid ice.
Using a specifically designed drill, teams of scientists spend, at times, up to five years removing six-meter long sections of ice core at a time measuring about 12 centimeters in diameter.
"A relatively small band of international scientists are gradually drilling further down into the ice cap and progressively analyzing older ice cores," Brook said in his article.
Brook has dealt with many skeptics saying that humans have no correlation to the increase in carbon dioxide levels, which are warming up Earth's climate.
"What we are trying to do is to understand gases on many time scales, over thousands of years," Brook said.
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