Basal ice properties consortium
Names and contact details for chairs:
Jean-Louis Tison (jtison@ulb.ac.be)
Point of contact and procedure for joining the consortium mailing list
Please go to https://mailman.nbi.ku.dk/listinfo to sign up for the NEEM-basal mailing list. The list is managed by the consortium chair.
A brief description of the work of the consortium
The Basal ice properties consortium will collect multiparametric measurements (ice texture, ice fabric, stable isotopes, total gas content, gas composition, dust and particles content and composition, ice chemistry...) in the region of the core which is located in the immediate vicinity of the bedrock. This region can show very different properties, depending on the thermal conditions prevailing at the ice-bedrock interface and on the bedrock morphology. In locations where the basal ice temperature is below the pressure melting point, very old ice could be preserved, eventually pre-dating the full development of the present-day ice sheet (as was found at the GRIP core location). Often, this ice is loaded with rock particles of various sizes and concentration, and multi-parametric measurements shed more light on their entrainment processes within the main body of the ice sheet and on the initial and boundary conditions of the ice sheet itself. In regions where, on the contrary, basal melting prevails (as was found at the North GRIP core location), meltwater could be found at the interface, the properties of which sometimes revealing interesting perspectives on the processes occurring at the interface of large ice sheets. Independently, interactions between ice flow and bedrock irregularities have been found to clearly affect the paleoclimatic signature of the ice, and it will be another important task of the consortium to determine to which critical depth these signatures will remain valid within the NEEM ice core.