This data set consists of water isotope ratios from the Mt. Moulton ice-trench record, as well as data from the Taylor Dome, EPICA Dome C, Talos Dome, Vostok, and EPICA Dronning Maud Land ice cores.
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Mount Moulton Isotopes and Other Ice Core Data, Version 1
Geographic Coverage
Spatial Coverage: |
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Spatial Resolution: | Not Specified |
Temporal Coverage: |
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Temporal Resolution: | 6000 month |
Parameter(s): |
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Platform(s) | LABORATORY |
Sensor(s): | MASS SPECTROMETERS |
Data Format(s): |
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Version: | V1 |
Data Contributor(s): | Eric Steig, James White, Trevor Popp |
Metadata XML: | View Metadata Record |
Data Citation
As a condition of using these data, you must cite the use of this data set using the following citation. For more information, see our Use and Copyright Web page.
Steig, E. J., J. White, and T. Popp. 2015. Mount Moulton Isotopes and Other Ice Core Data, Version 1. [Indicate subset used]. Boulder, Colorado USA. NSIDC: National Snow and Ice Data Center. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7265/N5FT8J0N. [Date Accessed].Literature Citation
As a condition of using these data, we request that you acknowledge the author(s) of this data set by referencing the following peer-reviewed publication.
Steig, E. J. et al. 2015. Influence of West Antarctic Ice Sheet Collapse on Antarctic Surface Climate, Geophysical Research Letters. 42. 4862–4868. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2015GL063861
Detailed Data Description
This data set includes isotope data from Mt. Moulton, as well as 500-year averages of isotope data from the EPICA Dome C, Talos Dome, Vostok, and EPICA Dronning Maud Land ice cores placed on the AICC2012 timescale by interpolating the original depth-isotope data onto the AICC2012 depth-age relation for each core. NOTE: These should not be considered the official AICC2012 records for these cores.
See Figure 1 for the locations of the different ice core sites.

The data are in ASCII text (.txt) format.
Data are available on the FTP site in the ftp://sidads.colorado.edu/pub/DATASETS/AGDC/nsidc0640_steig directory. Within this directory, there are two files: Moulton_500_year_avgs.txt and Moulton_Isotope_Data_Complete.txt.
The files are 26.8 and 43.7 KB respectively.
The volume of the data 70.5 KB.
The spatial coverage is 74°04' S; 134°43' W at an elevation of 2815 m.
Spatial Resolution
The spatial resolution is 25 cm.
The data were collected from 1 January 2007 to 31 December 2008.
Temporal Resolution
The temporal resolution is 500-year averages.
The parameters are oxygen isotopes (18O and 16O) (ppm).
Sample Data Record
The Moulton_500_year_avgs.txt file contains 11 columns. See Table 1 for the column headers and their definitions and Figure 2 for a sample of the data.
Column Header | Definition |
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Age (ka) | nominal AICC2012 timescale |
EDC | Epica Dome C δD (Jouzel et al., 2007) |
Talos | Talos Dome δ18O (Stenni et al., 2011) |
Fuji | Dome Fuji δ18O (Watanabe et al., 2003) |
Vostok | Vostok δD (Jouzel et al., 1993) |
EDML | EPICA Dronning Maud Land δ18O (EPICA Community Members, 2006) |
EDML_corr | EPICA Dronning Maud Land corrected for ice flow E (EPICA Community Members, 2006) |
(Mt. Moulton - header missing) | Mount Moulton |
---- | column empty |
Age (ka) | Original timescale |
Taylor Dome | Taylor Dome δ18O (Steig et al., 2000) |

The Moulton_Isotope_Data_Complete.txt file contains four columns. See Table 2 for the column headers and their definitions and Figure 3 for a sample of the data in the file (this image is only a partial representation of the columns in the file).
Column Header | Definition |
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top (m) | Distance from top of section (top of sample, meters) |
bottom (m) | Distance from top of section (bottom of sample, meters) |
age | Original timescale (ka BP 1950) (Popp, 2008) |
age (rev.) | Revised age (ka BP 1950) |

Software and Tools
The data can be accessed using any text editor.
Data Acquisition and Processing
The Mt. Moulton isotope data were analyzed on samples from an ice trench in an exposed 600 m long section of blue ice on the southern shoulder of Mt. Moulton, in the Flood Range of coastal Marie Byrd Land.
Data Sources
The following references provide the original data found in the Moulton_500_year_avgs.txt. See Table 3 for the different ice cores and the relevant citation.
Ice Core | Reference |
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Vostok | Jouzel, J., et al. 1993. Extending the Vostok ice-core record of palaeoclimate to the penultimate glacial period. Nature364(6436): 407-412. doi: 10.1038/364407a0. |
Dome Fuji | Watanabe, O., J. Jouzel, S. Johnsen, F. Parrenin, H. Shoji, and N. Yoshida. 2003. Homogeneous climate variability across East Antarctica over the past three glacial cycles. Nature 422(6931): 509-512. doi: 10.1038/nature01525. |
EPICA Dome C | Jouzel, J., et al. 2007. Orbital and millennial Antarctic climate variability over the past 800,000 years. Science 317(5839): 793-796. doi: 10.1126/science.1141038. |
Talos Dome | Stenni, B., et al. 2011. Expression of the bipolar see-saw in Antarctic climate records during the last deglaciation. Nature Geoscience 4(1): 46-49. doi: 10.1038/ngeo1026. |
EPICA Dronning Maud Land | EPICA Community Members. 2006. One-to-one coupling of glacial climate variability in Greenland and Antarctica. Nature444(7116): 195-198. doi: 10.1038/nature05301. |
Taylor Dome | Steig, E. J, D. Morse, E. D. Waddington, M. Stuiver, P. Grootes, P. Mayewski, S. Whitlow, and M. Twickler. 2000. Wisconsinan and Holocene climate history from an ice core at Taylor Dome, western Ross Embayment, Antarctica. Geografiska Annaler 82A: 213-235. doi: 10.1111/j.0435-3676.2000.00122.x. |
Processing Steps
Isotope measurements were performed at the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research Stable Isotope Laboratory at the University of Colorado, Boulder, using an automated CO2-H2O equilibration system coupled to a dedicated Micromass SIRA Series II dual inlet mass spectrometer. Precision for δ18O is ± 0.07 ppm or better. All values are reported relative to the Vienna Standard Mean Ocean Water (V-SMOW), normalized to the Standard Light Antarctic Precipitation (SLAP) standard (-55.5 ppm).
References and Related Publications
Contacts and Acknowledgments
Eric J. Steig
Department of Earth and Space Sciences
University of Washington
Johnson Hall Rm-070, Box 351310
4000 15th Avenue NE
Seattle, WA 98195-1310
James W. C. White
University of Colorado Boulder
Environmental Studies
397 UCB, 4001 Discovery Dr.
Boulder, CO 80309
Trevor Popp
The Niels Bohr Institute, Ice and Climate
University of Copenhagen
Juliane Maries Vej 30
2100 København Ø
This research was supported by NSF Division of Polar Programs (PLR) Grant Number 0230316.
Document Information
Document Creation Date
23 November 2015
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