Determining the age distribution of Colle Gnifetti, Monte Rosa, Alps, by combining ice cores, ground-penetrating radar and a simple flow model


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Olaf.Eisen [ at ] awi.de

Abstract

Ice cores from cold Alpine glaciers may provide unique paleoclimate information fromnon-polar latitudes. We explore the three-dimensional internal age distribution of the small cold glaciersaddle (Colle Gnifetti, Monte Rosa, Italy/Switzerland) to compare the age/depth relations from fourlocal deep ice cores. Tracking isochronous refection horizons detected by ground-penetrating radar(GPR) among the core locations reveals consistent dating up to 80 yearsbp. This approach is confned torecent ages,duetothelackofclearrefectionsbelowthefrn/icetransition.Weattempttoovercomethislimitation by including a two-dimensional fow model adapted to the GPR-derived surface accumulationand ice thickness distribution. Modeled and GPR isochrones are compared, indicating agreement inshape but featuring a potential offset of 0–3.5m. The modeled isochrones are interpolated to the corearray with ages assigned according to the ice-core datings. The resulting age distribution is consistentup to 110 yearsbp, with age uncertainties increasing from 7 to>80 years in the lower half of the ice.This combination of methods is novel for Alpine sites and may be adapted for spatial extrapolation ofice properties other than age



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Published
Eprint ID
25894
DOI 10.3189/2013JoG12J072

Cite as
Konrad, H. , Bohleber, P. , Wagenbach, D. , Vincent, C. and Eisen, O. (2013): Determining the age distribution of Colle Gnifetti, Monte Rosa, Alps, by combining ice cores, ground-penetrating radar and a simple flow model , Journal of Glaciology, 59 (213), pp. 179-189 . doi: 10.3189/2013JoG12J072


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