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WAIS Divide Ice Core Project - About: Site Details

Site Details

Borehole Locations

Hole	Year Drilled	Drill Used	Diameter (cm)	TopDepth (m)	BottomDepth (m)	Latitude, Longitude	Altitude (ft)	Remarks
WDC06A	2007/08	DISC	12.2	114	580	79^o28.058'S, 112^o05.189'W	~5927	Deep core
WDC06A	2006	4" drill	10	0	114	79^o28.058'S, 112^o05.189'W	~5927	Deep core
WDC06B	2006	4" drill	10	0	130	79^o28.048'S, 112^o05.160'W	~5927	Allocation to be determined
WDC05A	2005	4" drill	10	0	~299	79^o27.777'S, 112^o07.506'W	~5927	Collected for gas analysis
WDC05B	2005	3" Eclipse drill	7.5	0	~75	79^o27.775'S, 112^o07.422'W	~5927	Hole drilled for firn gas sampling; core will be used for chemistry method development
WDC05C	2005	3" Eclipse drill	7.5	0	~80	79^o27.777'S, 112^o07.362'W	~5927	Hole drilled for firn gas sampling; core will be used for chemistry method development
WDC05Q	2005	4" drill	10	0	~130	79^o28.052'S, 112^o05.137'W	~5927	Drilled at the arch pit; used for chemistry and isotopes
WDC05E	2005	4" drill	10	0	~32	79^o27.777'S, 112^o07.506'W	~5927	Collected for firn structure studies

Site Characteristics

Longitude:	112.085^oW
Latitude:	79.467^oS
Surface elevation:	1,759 m
Distance from current flow divide:	24 km
Current ice-accumulation rate:	24 cm/yr
Current average annual surface temperature:	-31^oC
Age at 90% of total depth¹:	98-105 ka
Age at 96% of total depth¹:	175-236 ka
Age by which annual layers have thinned to a thickness of 1 cm²:	45-46 ka
Age of the ice in the depth range when the ice is brittle³:	1.8-9.4 ka
Ice thickness:	3,465 m
Ice age-gas age difference in Holocene:	200 years
Ice age-gas age difference in the glacial period:	300-500 years

Notes:
¹ Calculated with the expected high and low geothermal heat flux.
² Calculated with the expected high and low geothermal heat flux. This is approximately how far back the core can be dated by counting annual layers.
³ Core quality will be lower in this age range.

WAIS Divide Ice Core Project



	This site is administered by the WAIS Divide Ice Core Project Science Coordination Office (Desert Research Institute and University of New Hampshire) This material is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under award OPP-0440817 to the Desert Research Institute, Nevada System of Higher Education. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
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