Variability of gas-trapping characteristics on the central Antarctic Plateau
- 1Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université Grenoble Alpes, Institut des Géosciences de l'Environnement, Saint Martin d'Hères, France (patricia.martinerie@univ-grenoble-alpes.fr)
- 2Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
- 3Centre for Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, United Kingdom
Central Antarctic Plateau sites display a strong contrast in deep firn gas ages with relatively high accumulation sites (South Pole, EPICA DML) showing very old (about a century) gas ages in the open porosity of deep firn on one side, and very young (few decades) gas ages and an absence of deep firn δ15N plateau (indicative of remaining gas transport) at low accumulation rate sites (Dome C, Dome F, Vostok) on the other side. Multi-tracer results from an intermediate accumulation site named "Lock-in" will be presented. At this fairly low accumulation rate site (~3.6 cm water equivalent / year), very old air ages were obtained in deep firn but the lock-in zone looks narrower than at South Pole. Analytical results, as well as gas transport and densification modelling results will be discussed in terms of variability of gas-trapping characteristics on the central Antarctic Plateau and degree of understanding of the underlying mechanisms.
How to cite: Martinerie, P., Fourteau, K., Chappellaz, J., Orsi, A., Faïn, X., Lee, G., Landais, A., and Sturges, W.: Variability of gas-trapping characteristics on the central Antarctic Plateau, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-9860, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-9860, 2020
