Predicted time-scales for GISP2 and GRIP boreholes at Summit, Greenland

Abstract

AbstractTwo deep-drilling projects (GISP2 and GRIP) in central Greenland will provide ice cores for paleoclimate studies. Drilling decisions and preliminary interpretations require age-depth curves (time-scales). Using a finite-element momentum-balance model, we calculate the modern ice-flow pattern on the flowline through the two drill sites. Our model appears to require relatively soft ice either throughout the ice sheet or below the Wisconsinan-Holocene transition in order to match the modern geometry and mass balance. By scaling the ice velocity to an assumed mass-balance history throughout the past 200 000 years, we estimate the time-scales at both sites. At GISP2, a flank site, we place the 10 000 years BP isochrone (representing the Wisconsinan-Holocene transition) at 1535 m ice-equivalent depth. At GRIP, on the ice divide, the corresponding depth is 1377 m. Our calculations show ice older than 200 000 years at 100 m above the bed at both coring sites. The time-scale calculation can be used for drilling decisions and preliminary interpretations. It should be refined as more regional-survey and ice-core data become available.