Ice Core Lab_Fall 2022

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EES 1510L Ice Cores and Paleoclimate Name: ___________________________ Ice Cores and Paleoclimate Objective: Use information recorded in ice cores to make observations about local, regional, or global climate, both in earth’s recent history and the more distant past. Part I: Qualitative Paleoclimate Analysis of Ice Cores Working in your lab group, you will make basic observations about the ice core in the image provided in hard copy (also at the end of this lab document). 1. Record any general observations in the space below. What colors do you see in the ice? Do you see distinct layers, banding, texture, etc? Don’t interpret yet, just observe. 2. Annotate the hard copy photo of your ice core, as follows. Submit your annotated copy of your ice core to your TA before leaving lab. a. draw an arrow to mark the bottom (start) of each light-colored layer b. label any ash and/or dust layers (including the year for the ash layer) 3. Create a measured data log of your core from the hard copy image provided (which is true to scale) by completing the table below, recording observations with depth in your ice cores. Not all rows necessarily need to be used. DO NOT FILL IN THE INTERPRETATION COLUMN UNTIL INSTRUCTED TO DO SO. Observations will be color (light/dark) and any dust (which is light brown in color) or ash (which is very dark in color) Observations Depth (top- bottom, cm) Interpretation

EES 1510L Ice Cores and Paleoclimate Name: ___________________________ Now, read the following website and take notes below on the key information that will to guide your interpretation of your ice core: https://eo.ucar.edu/staff/rrussell/climate/paleoclimate/ice_core_proxy_records.html Notes: 4. Now fill in the ‘interpretation’ column of your table with interpreted season and any other critical notes (dry or wet, for example, if indicated especially). 5. How many years of climate data do you think you have recorded in your core? How did you arrive at this number? 6. Do you note any differences in layer thickness? What do you think the differences in layer thickness represent? Consider the relationship between air temperature and precipitation. 7. Did you find an ash layer from one of the 2011 volcanic eruptions? If so, at what depth?

EES 1510L Ice Cores and Paleoclimate Name: ___________________________ 8. One of the worst El Nino years in recorded history occurred in 2015, resulting in widespread drought conditions in certain regions of the Northern Hemisphere. In 2020, Australia experienced historically devastating wildfires as part of a global drought that is still ongoing. Did you find a dust layer in your core? If so, which year do you think it is from and why? 9. Given your answer to the previous question, which ice core do you think you are working on? NGRIP/GISP2 or EPICA/WDC? What evidence do you have to support this? 10. Based on the core site you are working on, which volcanic eruption do you think your ice core is recording? 11. What additional proxies or further analyses could you use to support your interpretation of layer thickness with respect to temperature and precipitation? Part II – Quantitative Paleoclimate Analysis of Ice Cores For this part of the lab, you’ll be exploring further into the past and using quantitative data. You have been provided methane (CH4) and d18O data from two ice cores. GISP is from Greenland and Byrd is from Antarctica. You will graph the trends in methane (CH4) and d18O, and then explore and interpret your findings in the context of what we know was happening to Earth’s climate through the times represented. Download the Excel file from Brightspace that contains the relevant data. Take a few minutes to look over the two sheets within the excel workbook, to familiarize yourself with the data available.

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EES 1510L Ice Cores and Paleoclimate Name: ___________________________ 1. What data do you have in these two sheets? 2. How does CH4 relate to climate? This will come from your background knowledge from class, or you can read a refresher here: https://www.epa.gov/gmi/importance-methane 3. How does d18O relate to climate? This will come from your background knowledge from class (check out the lecture video from that unit) OR from the reading in part 1. 4. Create two x-y scatterplots (the type with straight lines, no markers) to display this data. Format both graphs appropriately and drop then in this document below. a. Make one graph for age vs. methane. It will have two series, one per core. b. Make one graph for age vs. d18O. It will have two series, one per core. [INSERT TWO GRAPHS HERE] 5. Make some observations about the data in each graph (descriptions/observations, not interpretations). Pay attention to whether the two cores from two different hemispheres show the same or different trends. 6. This graph shows earth’s climate during the Pleistocene. Does your data correlate well with this data, or no? What does that mean? 7. Note these two graphics showing major periods in climate during the Pleistocene. Annotate your graphs above to label the Wisconsin and the Younger Dryas periods (use precise age for Younger Dryas from the reading above).

EES 1510L Ice Cores and Paleoclimate Name: ___________________________ 8. Read about the Younger Dryas event here: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/sites/default/files/2021- 11/3%20The%20Younger%20Dryas%20-FINAL%20NOV%20%281%29.pdf 9. Describe the data for both methane and isotopes from the two cores you plotted (Antarctica and Greenland) during the younger dryas event. 10. Interpret both datasets in terms of this event. Does your data show what you would expect during the Younger Dryas Event? Why or why not? Hint: Be sure to consider what might be happening in the northern vs. southern hemisphere and what the variables you’ve plotted actually indicate about climate.

EES 1510L Ice Cores and Paleoclimate Name: ___________________________ Bottom of core Top of core

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Ice Core Lab_Fall 2022

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