Collaborative Research: Integrated High Resolution Chemical and Biological Measurements on the Deep WAIS Divide Core

This collaborative research project (Collaborative Research: Integrated High Resolution Chemical and Biological Measurements on the Deep WAIS Divide Core) was funded by NSF-OPP and was part of the WAIS Divide deep core project to investigate the Last Deglaciation at sub-annual resolution through an integrated set of chemical and biological analyses. This project involves high‐resolution, continuous analysis of ~ 1000 m of ice from the WAIS Divide project extending from the Last Glacial Maximum to the early Holocene. A wide range of elemental, inorganic, organic, and biological analyses were conducted to provide insight into the magnitude and variability of inputs from various continental and oceanic sources (e.g., sea salt, oceanic sulfur emissions, continental dust, continental and oceanic bacteria and dissolved organic carbon, and biomass burning). The Montana State University (PI, Priscu) component of the project focused on developing technology to accurately enumerate bacteria in small sample volumes and to characterize the quality of dissolved organic carbon. With other high resolution Greenland cores (GISP2 and GRIP) and lower resolution Antarctic cores, the combined record will yield new insights into worldwide climate dynamics and abrupt change.