Law Dome Ice Core CO2 Records from 1987-1993 Antarctic Drilling

Historical CO2 records derived from three ice cores drilled at Law Dome, East Antarctica between 1987 and 1993. The data is presented by David Etheridge of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation and is hosted on the CDIAC data transition website. The Law Dome site is described as having high snow accumulation, low impurities, and undisturbed stratigraphy, making it suitable for atmospheric CO2 reconstructions.

Use Cases

• Reconstructing historical atmospheric CO2 concentrations based on ice core gas measurements.
• Analyzing long-term climate trends based on high-resolution paleoclimate proxy data.
• Calibrating climate models based on historical greenhouse gas levels mentioned in the description.
• Studying Antarctic ice core site characteristics for ideal atmospheric reconstructions.

Strengths

• Data sourced from three distinct ice cores (DE08, DE08-2, DSS) drilled over a multi-year campaign (1987-1993).
• The Law Dome site is described as having desirable characteristics for CO2 reconstruction, including high snow accumulation and low impurities.
• Provenance is documented with references to specific scientific publications (Etheridge et al. 1996, 1989; Morgan et al. 1997).

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.
• Row count and file size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), David Etheridge.

Collection Method

Derived from ice core samples drilled at Law Dome, East Antarctica.

Time Range

Ice cores obtained from 1987 to 1993; temporal coverage of the reconstructed CO2 records is not specified.

Freshness

Last updated date is unknown.

Geography

Law Dome, East Antarctica.