Ice Core Black Carbon records: Norwegian-United States Scientific Traverse 2007-2009

Six ice core records of refractory black carbon were developed from ice cores drilled during the Norwegian-U.S. Scientific Traverse of East Antarctica from 2007 to 2009. The ice cores were drilled in disparate regions of the high East Antarctic ice sheet, at different elevations and net snow accumulation rates. Quasi - annual rBC concentrations were log-normally distributed with annual geometric means ranging from 0.10 to 0.18 μg kg−1. Geometric-mean concentrations spanning years 1800 to 2000 increased linearly with elevation at a rate of 0.025 μg kg−1/500 m ASL.

This research is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No.’s 0733089, 0538185, 0538416, 0538595 and has been carried out under the umbrella of TASTE-IDEA within the framework of IPY project no. 152 jointly funded by the US National Science Foundation, the Norwegian Polar Institute, and the Research Council of Norway. The project is part of the Trans-Antarctic Scientific Traverse Expeditions – Ice Divide of East Antarctica (TASTE-IDEA), and the International Partners in Ice Coring Sciences (IPICS) under the ISCU-WMO endorsement for the International Polar Year 2007-08 and 2008-09. We gratefully acknowledge the NUS traverse field teams, the National Science Foundation, the Norwegian Polar Institute, the DRI ice core analysis team. Logistic support in Antarctica was provided by Raytheon Polar Services in Antarctica; and the 109th New York Air National Guard. The National Ice Core Laboratory, which archived the ice cores and preformed core processing, is funded by the National Science Foundation.