Age Hardening of Snow at the South Pole

Bacterial activity in South Pole snow.

Large populations (200 to 5,000 cells ml(-1) in snowmelt) of bacteria were present in surface snow and firn from the south pole sampled in January 1999 and 2000. DNA isolated from this snow yielded ribosomal DNA sequences similar to those of several psychrophilic bacteria and a bacterium which aligns closely with members of the genus Deinococcus, an ionizing-radiation- and desiccation-resistant...

Age vs depth of glacial ice at South Pole

Knowledge of age as a function of depth in glacial ice is important for both glaciology and paleoclimatology. For sites near a ridge or dome, an ice flow model together with information on accumulation rate provides a first approximation. If the accumulation rate is high enough, annual layering of isotopes and dust measured in a solid core can provide a precise age vs depth relationship. For So...

Temperatures, heating rates and vapour pressures in near-surface snow at the South Pole

A finite-volume model is used to simulate 9 years (1995–2003) of snow temperatures at the South Pole. The upper boundary condition is skin-surface temperature derived from routine upwelling longwave radiation measurements, while the lower boundary condition is set to the seasonal temperature gradient at 6.5m depth, taken from prior measurements at the South Pole. We focus on statistics of tempe...

Bacterial activity in South pole snow is questionable.

Formaldehyde and hydrogen peroxide in air, snow and interstitial air at South Pole

Average H2O2 (HCHO) mixing ratios measured above the snowpack at South Pole (SP) were 278 pptv (103 pptv) in December 2000 and between 4 and 43 times (1.4–2.6 times) the value estimated from gas-phase photostationary state (PSS) model calculations. The larger difference is realized if dry deposition of both species is included in the model. H2O2 and HCHO fluxes from the snowpack were independen...