Dating of snow/ice cores by means of instrumental analyses

Abstract

Snow-ice cores obtained from ice sheets and glaciers are formed from deposited snow and other materials of terrestrial, cosmic and artificial origin. Depositional mode of these materials is presumed to be a good indicator of climatic and environmental changes during the past several 10^0-10^5 years. On the other hand, core dating methods have not been well established. In this paper, sample preparation procedures, instrumental analyses, active and stable isotope analyses, and stratigraphic analysis relating to the core dating are reviewed with reference to cores obtained from the Antarctic and Arctic.