ClimateWire: Scientists at the National Ice Core Laboratory in Denver are awaiting a new set of ice samples extracted 1,400 feet beneath Antarctica, hoping the ice will provide the best information yet about prehistoric concentrations of greenhouse gases.
The meter-long pillars of ice are now moving by boat from New Zealand toward their final destination, a federal freezer constantly set to minus 33 degrees Fahrenheit. The freezer already contains about 15,500 of the ice pillars.
The laboratory sends slices of the ice to university researchers, who can release trapped air by crushing the ice and then test the air to determine carbon dioxide levels. Previous testing has suggested that levels of the greenhouse gas have risen from 200 parts per million during the Ice Age to 270 ppm before industrialization and 388 ppm today.
“Right now, we have this uncertainty about what happens first: temperature rise or the rise of carbon dioxide,” said Ken Taylor, chief scientist for the West Antarctic Ice Sheet Ice Divide Core Project. “This project will answer that question. It has the potential to really change our understanding of the interaction” (Bruce Finley, Denver Post, Feb. 23). – GN