This data set includes stable water isotope values at 10 m resolution along an approximately 5 km transect through the main icefield of the Allan Hills Blue Ice Area, and at 15 cm within a 225 m core drilled at the midpoint of the transect.
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Allan Hills Stable Water Isotopes, Version 1
Geographic Coverage
Spatial Coverage: |
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Spatial Resolution: | Not Specified |
Temporal Coverage: |
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Temporal Resolution: | Not specified |
Parameter(s): |
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Platform(s) | GROUND-BASED OBSERVATIONS, LABORATORY |
Sensor(s): | MASS SPECTROMETERS |
Data Format(s): |
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Version: | V1 |
Data Contributor(s): | Andrei Kurbatov, Nicole Spaulding, Paul Mayewski, Douglas Introne |
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.
Kurbatov, A. V., N. Spaulding, P. A. Mayewski, and D. Introne. 2013. Allan Hills Stable Water Isotopes, Version 1. [Indicate subset used]. Boulder, Colorado USA. NSIDC: National Snow and Ice Data Center. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7265/N5NP22DF. [Date Accessed].This data set includes stable water isotope values at 10 m resolution along an approximately 5 km transect through the main icefield of the Allan Hills Blue Ice Area, and at 15 cm within a 225 m core drilled at the midpoint of the transect.
Detailed Data Description
Data are provided in tab-delimited ASCII format.
Data are available on the FTP site in the ftp://sidads.colorado.edu/pub/DATASETS/AGDC/nsidc0541_kurbatov/
directory.
File names:
AllanHills_SurfaceTransect.txt
AllanHills_Site27.txt
Files are 15 KB and 36 KB.
Total data volume is 51 KB.
Allan Hills Blue Ice Area, Antarctica
Transect:
Southernmost Latitude: -76.83°
Northernmost Latitude: -75.67°
Westernmost Longitude: 159°
Easternmost Longitude: 159.25°
Core:
-76.70245° Latitude
159.31114° Longitude
Spatial Resolution
Surface: 10 m
Core 27: 15 cm
Paleo Temporal Coverage: 90,000 ybp to 250,000 ybp.
Data collected from 2009 to 2011.
Parameters included in the transect file and the ice core file are described in Table 1.
Parameter | Description | Units |
---|---|---|
Age | Paleo-temporal age | ka |
Distance | Distance along transect ( AllanHills_SurfaceTransect.txt ) |
Kilometers |
Depth | Depth of sample ( AllanHills_Site27.txt ) |
Meters |
d180 | Oxygen isotope δ18O ( AllanHills_SurfaceTransect.txt ) |
Per mil |
dD | Deuterium isotope δD ( AllanHills_Site27.txt ) |
Per mil |
Site | Sample site number | n/a |
Latitude | Latitude | Decimal Degrees |
Longitude | Longitude | Decimal Degrees |
Sample Data Record
The following is a sample from the AllanHills_SurfaceTransect.txt
data file.

The following is a sample from the AllanHills_Site27.txt
data file.

Software and Tools
Data Acquisition and Processing
Surface ice samples, approximately 50 grams each, were collected from 5-10 cm below the ice surface at 10 m interval between the flagged waypoints (listed as Site Numbers - coordinates provided) of a transect (A-B) through the main icefield.
The 225 m core at site number 27 was drilled at approximately the mid-point of transect A-B (near 11 at -76.70245°, 159.31114°) using an ECLIPSE electromechanical ice drill. The core was sampled at 15 cm resolution.
Processing Steps
Surface transect ice samples were processed at McMurdo Station's Crary Laboratory using the following procedure.
- Each sample was melted in a sealed plastic bag at room temperature, vigorously shaken, then decanted into an 18 ml plastic scintillation vial. As an extra precaution against evaporation during shipment, the scintillation vials were sealed with both paraffin wax and electric tape.
- The sealed samples were refrozen and shipped to the University of Maine where they remained frozen (below -10° C) until the time of analysis.
- All samples analyzed between February and April of 2010 at the University of Maine Climate Change Institute for δ18O via equilibration with CO2 gas at 25° C.
- Equilibrated gas was admitted from a Micromass Multiprep peripheral to a VG SIRA dual inlet mass spectrometer for measurement (±0.5 per mil precision).
- Isotope ratios are normalized on the V-SMOW / SLAP scale.
Samples from the 225 m core were processed as above and analyzed between September and October of 2011 at the University of Maine Climate Change Institute for δD by continuous flow isotope mass spectrometry, via Cr pyrolysis at 1050° C with an Eurovector elemental analyzer coupled to a Micromass Isoprime.
References and Related Publications
Contacts and Acknowledgments
University of Maine
Climate Change Institute
303 Bryand Global Sciences Building
Orono, Maine 04469
USA
Nicole Spaulding, Paul Mayewski, Douglas Introne
University of Maine
Climate Change Institute
303 Bryand Global Science Building
Orono, Maine 04469
USA
This research was funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Polar Programs, Antarctic Research, Glaciology grant number 0838843.
Document Information
DOCUMENT CREATION DATE
21 October 2013
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