Project Description

The primary goal of the proposed research is to add high-resolution continuous black carbon measurements to the IPY Norwegian-US traverse glaciochemical analyses. At present, very little is known regarding black carbon particles over Antarctica or its presence in Antarctic snow and ice. We have very recently developed a new analytical method for measuring black carbon in water that is nearly a million times more sensitive than existing methods. During the development, we analyzed an ice core from West Antarctica at very high temporal resolution and have made a number of discoveries. We wish to analyze seven intermediate depth ice cores as part of the Norwegian-US traverse and an existing ice core from South Pole. From this array of millennial scale black carbon records, we will investigate the spatial and temporal history of black carbon deposition to Antarctica and its relationship to black carbon aerosol and climate in the Southern Hemisphere.