Stratigraphic Map of Greenland's Ice
Greenland is one of only two places on Earth (the other being Antarctica) that is still covered in a continental glacier—a large expanse of moving ice that is not confined to valleys like its mountain glacier cousins. The conditions of these continental glaciers (also called ice sheets) in Greenland reveal a lot about the effects of climate change and have consequently been under intense scrutiny.
Using both ice cores and ice-penetrating radar, scientists have pieced together a cross-section of what the ice layers look like. While ice-penetrating radar can determine the depth of the ice and the shape of the hidden landscapes below, ice cores tell us age.
The topmost layer of Greenland’s ice is Holocene in age (11,500 years ago to today) as expected. Beneath that there is a layer of ice that formed during the most recent ice age (11,700 to 115,000 years ago), also as expected. Most surprising though, is the final strata of ice—a precious, patchy layer that has survived since the Eemian (115,000 to 130,000 years ago).
The Eemian ice is particularly important since this period was much warmer than neighboring glacial periods. Studying the Eemian ice may help scientists understand what’s in store for ice, oceans, and atmosphere in our warming climate today.
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For a video of the 3D map: http://bit.ly/1CPUJ1R Photo credit: University of Texas Institute for Geophysics
