Firn-Ice Transition at MES and WHG

Density measurements on the recovered cores show the depth of bubble close off is reached at MES at about 60m depth while at WHG the firn- ice transition lies below the recovered 100m depth. This underpins the unique characteristics of the MES core. Currently, only the Australian Law Dome ice core has an similar shallow bubble close off depth. Once the annual snow accumulation for the site as been calculated, we can determine whether MES is also as rapid or potentially even faster than at Law Dome, providing the opportunity to measure an extremely high resolution greenhouse gas record.

Fig. 15: Density measurements on MES (blue) and WHG (pink) ice cores.