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We have used laser-light scattering from ice meltwater to study variations in dust concentration along sections of an approximately 150-meter ice core retrieved by Paul Mayewski and Mark Twickler at Siple Dome, West Antarctica (81.65°S 148.81°W, 600 meters above sea level). The apparatus used for the measurements was the one Ram and Illing (1994) developed for measuring variations in dust concentration along the Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2 ice core from central Greenland.
We measured a total of 13.5 meters of ice from the Siple Dome ice core from depths of approximately 60 meters, approximately 105 meters, and approximately 140 meters. All sections measured exhibited distinct dust peaks, which we interpreted as corresponding to annual dust maxima (Hamilton and Langway 1967; Thompson 1977, pp. 351-364). The figure shows the results of two representative sets of measurements. The Xs indicate the positions of our dust maxima picks. The thickness of the annual dust layers measured were all in the range 9.5-10.5 centimeters, a range consistent with the measurements of Mayewski and Twickler (personal communication).
We would like to thank Paul Mayewski for making the Siple Dome ice available to us.
References
Hamilton, W.L., and C.C. Langway, Jr. 1967. A correlation of microparticle concentrations with oxygen isotope ratios in 700 year old Greenland ice. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 3, 363-366.
Mayewski, P.A., and M.S. Twickler. 1996. Personal communication.
Ram, M., and M. Illing. 1994. Polar ice stratigraphy from laser-light scattering: Scattering from meltwater. Journal of Glaciology, 40(136), 504-508.
Thompson, L.G. 1977. Variations in microparticle concentration, size distribution and elemental composition found in Camp Century, Greenland, and Byrd Station, Antarctica, deep ice cores. International Symposium on Isotopes and Impurities in Snow and Ice (IAHS Publication No. 118). United Kingdom: International Association of Hydrological Sciences.