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Climate and Geo-Sciences pp 77–103Cite as

Polar Ice Cores and Climate

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Part of the book series: NATO ASI Series ((ASIC,volume 285))

Abstract

Although there are needs for a better understanding of the atmosphere-snow and ice connection and for improving deep ice dating polar ice cores are providing multiple proxy records of climate and related parameters. They show evidences of anthropogenic impact on aerosol concentrations in Greenland snow (i.e. SO4 and NO3) and, on a global scale, on greenhouse gases such as CH4 and CO2. Over the last climatic cycle (i.e. ~ 150 ky) they indicate temperature changes up to about 10°C with periodicities characteristic of earth orbital parameters. Very cold climatic stages are associated with lower snow accumulation and high concentrations of marine and continental aerosols, likely reflecting strengthened sources and atmospheric transport. Greenland ice has recorded rapid changes of climate during the last ice age and deglaciation. Antarctic cores have shown a close association between CO2 and climate throughout the last climatic cycle. New results on methane and sulfates further support the picture of large chemical atmospheric modifications, some of them involving the biosphere, which have likely contributed in glacial interglacial climatic changes.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire de Glaciologie et Géophysique de l’Environnement, B.P. 96, 38402, ST Martin d’Hères Cedex, France

    C. J. Lorius

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  1. C. J. Lorius
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institut d’Astronomie et de Géophysique Georges Lemaître, Université Catholique de Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

    A. Berger

  2. National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado, USA

    S. Schneider

  3. Centre des Faibles Radioactivités, Laboratoire Mixte CNRS-CEA, Gif-sur-Yvette, France

    J. Cl. Duplessy

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© 1989 Kluwer Academic Publishers

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Lorius, C.J. (1989). Polar Ice Cores and Climate. In: Berger, A., Schneider, S., Duplessy, J.C. (eds) Climate and Geo-Sciences. NATO ASI Series, vol 285. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-2446-8_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-2446-8_5

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-7923-0412-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-009-2446-8

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