Centro de Estudios CientíficosValdivia

Glaciology and Climate Change

Gino Casassa*, Andrés Rivera*.#, Francisca Bown*, Rodrigo Zamora*, Guisella Gacitúa*, Masiel Cerón# (*CECS, #Universidad de Chile)

Jefferson Simoes, UFRGDS, Brazil

TRAVERSES FROM PATRIOT HILLS TO SOUTH POLE: CHILEAN (BRAZILIAN) CONTRIBUTION TO ITASE

Nov/Dec 2004

Patriot Hills

VEHICLE: BERCO TL-6 CREW CAB, SWEDEN

COST: ~ USD 750,000

CONVOY LENGTH: 32 m

VEHICLE LENGTH & WEIGHT: 8 m – 6.6 ton

CONVOY PAYLOAD: 20 ton

ENGINE: CUMMINS EURO III B 5.9 ECHO 250 HP

FUEL: DIESEL-JA1

FUEL COMPT.: 0.2-0.4 km/l (2.5-5.0 l/km)

MAXIMUM ROAD SPEED: 40 km/h

MAX SPEED OVER SNOW WITH LOAD: 14 km/h

MAX. SPEED OVER DEEP SNOW (>2000 m a.s.l.): 8 km/h

2004/2005• VHF chirp radar at 150 MHz from P.Hills to S.Pole (U.

Kansas radar)• 400 MHz GPR from S.Pole to Patriot Hills• kinematic GPS for surface positioning• deployment of stakes every ~20 km measured by static

GPS for velocity & accumulation• shallow firn coring (~46 m depth) at 7 sites every 2°

latitude• surface snow samples every ~10 km for chemical

analysis• Surface snow density• gravity measurements every ~20 km for determination of

crustal structure, associated isostatic conditions and geoid determination

• Geodetic reference point on rock south of Thiel Mountains

STATISTICSP. HILLS-S.POLE: 1145 km, 18 days

S.POLE STAY: 8 days (repairs, refueling, firn drilling)

S.POLE-P.HILLS: 1266 km, 23 days (including 130 km to Thiel Mts.)

1145 km of radar ice depth data (~1,000 ~ 3,000 m depth)

1145 km of shallow (~ 60 m) radar snow stratigraphy data

1145 km x 2 = 2290 km of precise GPS data

Short-term ice velocity on 54 stakes every 20 km along the route

Precise gravity data every 10 km along the route

Surface (top 1.2 m) snow density data every 20 km along the route

105 surface snow samples (every 10 km along the route)

225 m of firn density cores at 7 sites along the route

GPS measurements of 1 geodetic rock point at Lewis Nunatak, Thiel Mts.

GPS measurements of 10 geodetic rock points at P.Hills

GPS re-measurements at 165 snow/ice sites at P.Hills within a radius of 30 km

Meteorological measurements at P.Hills every 3 h

Firn cores recovered in December 2004

Core Location Altitude(m a.s.l.)

Depth Drilling period

10 m temp (°C)

IC1 89°58’27.7”S28°09’53.9”W

2833 m 30.81 m 03–06/12/2004

-49±0.5

T1 89°07’33.1”S83°04’20.2”W

2774 m 4.04 m 10/11/2004 ---------

IC2 88°01’21.3”S82°04’21.7”W

2621 m 42.92 m 11–13/12/2004

-45±0.5

IC3 85°59’57.3”S81°35’06.3”W

1621 m 46.31 m 16–18/12/2004

-36±0.5

IC4 83°58’59.4”S80°07’01.4”W

1295 m 22.20 m 21–22/12/2004

-33±0.5

IC5 82°30’30.8”S79°28’02.7”W

950 m 42.51 m 24–26/12/2004

-29±0.5

IC6 81°03’10.1”S79°50’09.1W

750 m 36.06 m 28–30/12/2004

-27±0.5

MAINE (Paul Mayewski et al.)Maine: Stables isotopes, ionic chromatography, traces by ICP-MS.

BRAZIL (Jefferson Simoes et al.)Microparticle analysis (Porto Alegre)TritiumDNA traces

CHILE (Masiel Cerón - Ph.D. Chemistry Student – University of Chile) - Prof. Andrés Rivera – CECS)Analysis of dioxines and total arsenic of Ice Cores 5 and 6 acquired by PSI Switzerland in 2004 and an ice core record from Cerro Mercedario (central Andes, 30°S, 6100 m)

ONGOING ANALYSIS OF 2004 CORES

Dec 2007-

Jan 2008

Etapas de esta expedición

2007/2008• VHF chirp radar at 150 MHz (ULUR radar, Ulloa et al., 2008)• 400 MHz GPR from Patriot Hills to South Pole• kinematic GPS for surface positioning• deployment of stakes every ~20 km measured by static GPS for

velocity & accumulation• shallow firn coring (~20 m depth) at 2 sites ~220 km apart• surface snow samples every ~40 km for biological analyses & every

20 km for chemical analysis• gravity measurements every ~20 km for determination of crustal

structure, associated isostatic conditions and geoid determination• determination of surface roughness, its relation with local patterns of

snow accumulation and correlation with satellite imagery texture

53 balizas instaladas en la expedición 2004……19 balizas encontradas en la expedición 2007

Balizas encontradas de la expedición pasada

Algunos resultados preliminares en la ruta al Polo sur…

Este método: 115 mm/año eq ag

Radar GPR: 120 mm/año eq ag

Valores de acumulación (mm/año agua eq) calculados entre los 84° y los 90°S

Promedio acumulación anual: 84 mm año eq agua

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

80 82 84 86 88 90

latitude

altit

ude

(m)

-10

10

30

50

70

90

110

130

150

mas

s ba

lanc

e in

mm

/yr

of w

eq.

>120 mm/yr w eq.

~80 mm yr w eq

Estimaciones de acumulación (mm/año agua eq) a lo largo de toda la ruta P.Hills-Polo Sur

Pamela Santibañez

Biological analyses of snow/ice cores

INTRODUCTIONBIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS

Winter - Spring Spring - Summer Autumn - Winter

Formation of Algal layer is incorporated

inside the glacier

are transported to the glacier surface by wind

Ablation

Temperature increase Temperature decrease

Accumulation

algal layers

Dust, microalgae and other material

Melting Freezing

Light

snowfall

Light decrease

•Melt and percolation (e.g. Schwikowski et al., 1999; Eichler et al., 2001)

• Previous studies • Yala glacier in the Nepal Himalayas (Yoshimura et al., 2000). Ice core dating with microalgae.

• Tyndall glacier in the Southern Patagonia Icefield, Chile (Shiraiwa et al., 2002; Kohshima et al., 2007). Dating and estimation of past mass balance.

• Sofiyskiy Glacier in the Russian Altai (Uetake et al., 2006). Dating and estimation of past mass balance with microalgae and pollen.

• Mocho-Choshuenco volcano and Osorno volcano in the Chilean lake district (Santibañez et al., in press) Dating and estimation of past mass balance with microalgae, pollen and protozoa (testate amoebae)

TEMPERATE GLACIERS

Chlamydomonas nivalis, Chloromonas spmicroalgae genre/species reino – phylum (division) -

clase - orden - familia-genero y especie

MATERIALS AND METHODSBIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS

• Sample analysis

• Laminar flow table • Hydrophilic polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) membrane filters (JHWP1300: 0.2 m pore size, 13 mm diameter; Millipore, USA). • Each filter mounted and fixed in glycerol, formalin and water solution (volume 1:1:1)

• Counts of microorganisms and pollen grains

• Fluorescent microscope (OLYMPUS BX-FLA). • Scanning electron microscope (SEM), UACH.• Technique developed by Yoshimura et al. (1997, 2000) • Microalgae and pollen measured with resolution of 4-6 cm• Filtering of 30 ml each sample (25-50 ml)

FIRST RESULTS SAN VALENTINBIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS

0

0,2

0,4

0,6

0,8

1

1,2

1,4

1,6

1,8

2

0 10 20 30 40

Algal biovolume(x10 mm mL)

Dep

th (

m)

0

0,2

0,4

0,6

0,8

1

1,2

1,4

1,6

1,8

2

0 100 200 300

Podocarpaceae (grains L)

Dep

th (

m)

Algal Biovolume(x102 m3 mL-1)

Podocarpaceae(Grains L-1)

Summer 2006/07

Summer 2005/06

Net mass balance 2006-2007

(early autumn 2006 to early autumn 2007)

53.7 cm of snow.Low for Patagonia, but

same order of magnitude as Vimeux

et al., in press

Autumn 2007 accumulation

63 cm of snow

Winter accumulation>53 cm of snow

Podocarpaceae = mañío, lleuque

Autumn 2007

Initial evidence of non Podocarpaceae pollen

FIRST RESULTSBIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS

Microalgae growth in snow and ice during melt seasonDivision Chlorophyta algae = green algae

C

C

J

E

D

U10 m C: flagellate (movement stage)

MORPHOTYPES

FIRST RESULTSBIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS

Family Podocarpaceae is the most abundant pollen in the first 2 m of the core

10 m

Clear field (white light) photograph

POLLEN