Лëд и снег (Mar 2015)
The prospective development of Climate and Environmental Research Laboratory of AARI, Roshydromet, after gaining the grant of Russian Science Foundation
Abstract
In November 2010 a new research unit was inaugurated in Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (St. Petersburg) – Climate and Environmental Research Laboratory (CERL) – that became the first lab in Russia dedicated to the complex studies of ice cores, paleoclimate and subglacial environments in Antarctica. The total investments to construct the laboratory were 28.8 million rubles, provided by Roshydromet and AARI in frames of implementing the program of International Polar Year. The total area of the laboratory is about 300 m² that includes mass-spectrometric and gas analyses labs, cold chambers and utility rooms. The CERL’s equipment comprises laser stable water isotope analyzer Picarro L2120-i, IR mass-spectrometer Delta V Plus, system of gas extraction from ice, facilities for ice petrographic observations, for ice core treatment and storage. Before 2014 CERL was the head unit in the project “Complex studies of Lake Vostok and glaciological investigations of Antarctica” of the sub-program “Antarctica” of the FTP “World Ocean”. Now CERL is the leading organization in International Associated Laboratory “Ice archives of climatic and environmental data” that combines 4 French and 5 Russian scientific research groups. In 2014 the specialists of CERL won a grant of Russian Science Foundation for fundamental scientific works implemented by operating research laboratories. Project 14-27-00030 “Evolution of climate, glaciation and subglacial environments of Antarctica from the deep ice core and Lake Vostok water sample studies” (2014–2016) is intended to refine the reconstruction of Antarctic climate history over the past 400,000 years using the newly developed geochemical methods of ice core studies. Another goal is to develop the approaches to study the hydrological parameters of subglacial Lake Vostok using the samples of lake ice and water. The funding to be received through the grant (58.5 million rubles) will be mainly spent to develop the analytical infrastructure of the laboratory. In particular, we plan to equip the “Delta” with the dual inlet system and “Gas Bench II” device, as well as to purchase the new generation of laser isotope analyzer, Picarro L2140-i. This will allow us to measure precisely the concentrations of deuterium, oxygen 18 and 17 in water, snow and ice samples, to define the О₂/N₂ ratio in the gas probes, as well as to develop new methods of ice core analyses.
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