Antarctic Micrometeorite Elemental Analysis from 1100-1500 AD

181 cosmic glass spherule and micrometeorite samples dated between 1100 A.D. and 1500 A.D. were collected from the South Pole Water Well in December 1995. Elemental analysis data is provided in tabular format, accompanied by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) images. The dataset was produced by AMD_USAPDC and made available via NASA's EarthData platform.

Use Cases

• Classify micrometeorite types (e.g., cosmic spherules) based on elemental analysis features using clustering techniques.
• Analyze the temporal variation in extraterrestrial material composition by correlating elemental data with the 1100-1500 AD date range.
• Train image segmentation models to identify and measure spherule morphologies from the provided SEM TIFF images.
• Correlate visual features from SEM images with quantitative elemental analysis data for multimodal sample characterization.

Strengths

• Contains 181 analyzed micrometeorite and cosmic spherule samples.
• Provides a 400-year temporal coverage of historical cosmic dust (1100-1500 AD).
• Includes both quantitative elemental analysis and qualitative SEM imagery for each sample.

Limitations

• Sample size is limited to 181 particles, which may constrain statistical analyses.
• Data is temporally stale, last updated from the collection date in December 1995.
• Geographic scope is limited to a single collection site at the South Pole.

Provenance

Source

AMD_USAPDC via NASA EarthData (nasa_earthdata).

Collection Method

Samples collected from the bottom of the South Pole Water Well; analyzed with elemental techniques and Scanning Electron Microscopy.

Time Range

1100 A.D. to 1500 A.D. (particle age). Collected December 1995.

Freshness

1995-12-31

Geography

South Pole Water Well, Antarctica.