Dr. Stanislav Kutuzov, Head of Glaciology Department
Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences
A 182m ice core was recovered from a borehole drilled into bedrock on the western plateau of Mt. Elbrus (43°20’53.9’’ N, 42°25’36.0’’ E; 5115 m a.s.l.) in the Caucasus, Russia, in 2009. This is the first ice core in the region that represents a paleoclimate record that is practically undisturbed by seasonal melting. Relatively high snow accumulation rates at the drilling site enabled the analysis of the intraseasonal variability in climate proxies. Borehole temperatures ranged from -17 °C at 10 m depth to -2.4 °C at 182 m. A detailed radio-echo sounding survey showed that the glacier thickness ranged from 45 m near the marginal zone of the plateau up to 255 m at the glacier center. The ice core has been analyzed for stable isotopes (δ18O and δD), major ions (K+, Na+, Ca2+, Mg2+, NH+4 , SO2-4 , NO-3 , Cl-, F-), succinic acid (HOOCCH2COOH), and tritium content.The mean annual net accumulation rate of 1455 mm w.e. for the last 140 years was estimated from distinct annual oscillations of δ18O, δD, succinic acid, and NH+4 . Annual layer counting agreed with the absolute markers of the tritium 1963 bomb horizon and the sulfate peak of the Katmai eruption (1912).
Data on BC, isotopic composition and dust covering the period 1822-2013 will be presented. The glaciological and initial chemical analyses from the Elbrus ice core help reconstruct the atmospheric history of the European region.
