Mar 15, 2006 12:36
Ice core sampling:
Ice core sampling is the method used by scientists to collect core samples, commonly from Greenlandic and Antarctic ice sheets, to be analysed to determine climatic change. This is done by interpreting the layered structure of ice in the core samples which are formed by snowfall each cold season. The thickness of the layers varies depending upon how much snow has fallen.
The layers are analysed as to their wind-blown dust, ash, atmospheric gas and radioactive substance content. This can give information about the conditions of the year, or period of time that that level was formed in, not just for the area that it was extracted from, but also the rest of the world.
Ice core sampling is most valuable method for climatic research as it contains the most information out of all possibly usable methods. Information that can be gained from ice core sampling includes temperature, ocean volume, precipitation, chemistry and gas composition of the lower atmosphere, volcanic eruptions, solar variability, sea-surface productivity, desert extent and forest fires.
The distance into the past the ice core sample can show informat6ion for is directly proportional to the depth it is taken from. However, at an extreme depth, the ice layers become indistinguishable because the immense weight and pressure placed upon them by years and years of snowfall has caused them to be compressed to the extent where there is no longer a visible indication that the snowfall levels ever actually differed.
Through the use of ice core sampling, scientists have learned that