100,000 to 20 years before present of biogenic sulfur (methanesulfonate) measurements from the 1000-meter Siple Dome A ice core in West Antarctica. The data set provides MSA concentration and estimated ice age at various depths, analyzed at the University of California, Irvine between August 2002 and November 2003. It was produced as part of the NSF-supported WAISCORES project for deep ice coring.
Use Cases
- Analyze long-term trends in biogenic sulfur (MSA) concentration over 100,000 years to reconstruct past marine biological activity.
- Correlate estimated ice age with MSA concentration depth profiles to establish a chronology of atmospheric sulfur events.
- Use MSA concentration as a proxy for past sea ice extent and regional climate variability in the West Antarctic region.
- Validate climate models by comparing simulated historical sulfur cycles with the observed MSA concentration record from the ice core.
Strengths
- High-resolution, continuous record spanning approximately 100,000 years of climate history.
- Data originates from a 1000-meter deep ice core, providing a long, temporally ordered sequence.
Limitations
- Sample size and measurement frequency are unknown from the description.
- Data is temporally stale, with collection ending in November 2003 and no updates indicated.
Provenance
- Source
- University of California, Irvine analysis for the WAISCORES project, supported by the NSF Office of Polar Programs.
- Collection Method
- Mass spectrometer measurements of methanesulfonate (MSA) from ice core samples.
- Time Range
- 100,000 to 20 years before present (BP).
- Freshness
- Last updated 2003-11-30; static historical dataset.
- Geography
- Siple Dome, West Antarctica.