Earth’s Cryosphere, 2018, Vol. XXII, No. 2, p. 14-25
HOW AIR BUBBLES FORM IN POLAR ICE
V.Ya. Lipenkov
Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, 38, Bering str., St. Petersburg, 199387, Russia; lipenkov@aari.ru
Experimental results for 22 ice cores from Antarctica and Greenland provide insights into principal mechanisms that govern the formation and evolution of air bubble systems in polar ice. A semi-empirical model has been suggested to relate the size and number of bubbles in ice with snow accumulation rate and temperature during ice formation. Air bubble sizes and specific numbers (number concentrations) can be used as reference for updating paleoclimate reconstructions based on ice core data.
Air bubble, polar ice formation, ice core, paleoclimate reconstruction