Advances in Polar Science Vol.2 No.2 1991

Publication: Advances in Polar Science (APS). Antarctic Research, Vol. 2, No. 2, 1~14, December 1991

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Author: Li Jun, N.W. Young and C.W. Wookey

CNARC member: Polar Research Institute of China (PRIC)

Abstract: An approximately 195 mm diameter firn / ice core, 234 m long, was thermally drilled in 1987 austral summer at DE08 (66°43´S, 113°12´E) on Law Dome, East Antarctica, where the accumulation rate is about 1200kg/(m2·a); 10m ice temperature is about -18.8°C. Analysis was mainly made at the site immediately after drilling. The snow stratigraphy at DE08 is charactersed by the lack of coarse-grained snow and other distinct visible feature normally corresponding to annual layers. There is a smooth transformation from fine-grained snow at shallow depth to ice at about 80-90m which is greater than that at most other polar locations due to its abnormally high accumulation rate. According to the marked change in the trend of density with depth and in the crystal properties four stages of the transformation of snow to ice and development of crystal structure can be distinguished; settling stage (0-10m); sintering stage (10-90m); rapid crystal growth stage (90-170m); and dynamic metamorphism stage (170-234m).  (to read more please go to the download link

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