Continuous flow analysis chemistry, melt stratigraphy, age scale and line-scan images from firn Core S2, Brunt Ice Shelf, Antarctica, 2024
GB/NERC/BAS/PDC/02265
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Summary
Abstract:
These data describe firn Core S2 recovered from the Brunt Ice Shelf, Antarctica, close to Halley VI Research Station, during January 2024 as part of the RIFT-TIP (Rates of Ice Fracture and Timing of Tabular Iceberg Production) project. The deposit contains continuous flow analysis (CFA) chemistry measured through the upper approximately 33 m of recovered core (hydrogen peroxide, sulfate, methanesulfonic acid and nitrate), a CFA-derived age scale, manually identified melt-related stratigraphic features, and high-resolution greyscale line-scan images of the scanned core segments. All depths in the deposited tabular datasets use recovered-core coordinates, with zero depth at the top of the recovered core; the approximately 1.65 m of near-surface snow not recovered during drilling is not included in these depth values.
Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), grant NE/X014991/1 (RIFT-TIP).
Keywords:
Brunt Ice Shelf, age scale, continuous flow analysis, firn core, surface melt
Citation
Pearce, E., Marsh, O., Thomas, E., & Baur, D. (2026). Continuous flow analysis chemistry, melt stratigraphy, age scale and line-scan images from firn Core S2, Brunt Ice Shelf, Antarctica, 2024 (Version 1.0) [Data set]. NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/db075c2a-0b32-4ea9-a6f6-41e3bc922c24
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Constraints
| Access Constraints: | None |
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| Use Constraints: | Data are governed by the NERC Data Policy and supplied under the Open Government Licence v3.0: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/ |
Basic Information
| Creation Date: | 2026-08-26 |
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| Dataset Progress: | Complete |
| Dataset Language: | English |
| ISO Topic Categories: |
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| Parameters: |
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| Personnel: | |
| Name | UK Polar Data Centre |
| Role(s) | Metadata Author |
| Organisation | British Antarctic Survey |
| Name | Emma Pearce |
| Role(s) | Investigator, Technical Contact |
| Organisation | British Antarctic Survey |
| Name | Dorothea E Baur |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | British Antarctic Survey |
| Name | Elizabeth R Thomas |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | British Antarctic Survey |
| Name | Oliver J Marsh |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | British Antarctic Survey |
| Parent Dataset: | N/A |
Additional Information
| Reference: | Pearce, E., Moser, D. E., Thomas, E. R., Marsh, O. J. and Buzzard, S. Melt occurrence and preservation in firn from the Brunt Ice Shelf, Antarctica. Journal of Glaciology (associated manuscript in prep). Pearce, E., Marsh, O. J., Mitchell, T. M., Tuhkuri, J., Thomas, E. R. and Johnson, S. (2026). Impact of surface melt and brine infiltration on fracture toughness of ice shelves. The Cryosphere, 20, 2723-2734. https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-2723-2026 Mulvaney, R., Bremner, S., Tait, A., and Audley, N.: A medium-depth ice core drill, Memoirs of National Institute of Polar Research, 56, 82-90, 2002. https://ci.nii.ac.jp/naid/110000010496 |
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| Quality: | All depth values in the deposited CFA, melt-feature, age-scale and segment-length files are in recovered-core coordinates and do not include the approximately 1.65 m of unrecovered surface snow. Missing CFA measurements are retained as missing values. Melt features were identified manually from line-scan images. CFA chemistry is supplied at the processed depth sampling of each analytical system (depth values are included explicitly in the file). Melt-feature and age-scale records are discrete depth picks. Line-scan data consist of one image per scanned core segment. |
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| Lineage/Methodology: | Core S2 was drilled at approximately 75.566 degrees S, 25.641 degrees W on the Brunt Ice Shelf between 23 and 25 January 2024 using a medium-depth mechanical ice-core drill without drill fluid. The recovered core was approximately 106 mm in diameter. Approximately 1.65 m of soft near-surface snow was not recovered. For CFA, a 32 mm by 32 mm stick was cut from the clean inner part of the core and continuously melted. Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) was measured by fluorescence detection, while sulfate (SO4), methanesulfonic acid (MSA) and nitrate (NO3) were measured by fast ion chromatography. The chronology was developed primarily from repeated H2O2 summer maxima, with sulfate and MSA used as supporting seasonal markers. H2O2 summer horizons were independently picked repeatedly to distinguish confident annual horizons from possible additional years. The uppermost confident summer horizon was assigned to December 2022. Winter picks were calculated from the minimum smoothed H2O2 value between successive confident summer horizons. Possible additional summer horizons were used to calculate an age uncertainty that accumulates with depth. For melt feature logging, one longitudinal half of each available core segment was line-scanned in a cold laboratory using transmitted illumination. Melt-related features were manually picked from the images by their shallowest and deepest visible extent and classified as crust, coarse, complex or distinct. | |
Locality
| Temporal Coverage: | |
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| Start Date | 2024-01-23 |
| End Date | 2024-01-25 |
| Paleo Temporal Coverage: | |
| Paleo Start Date | 1984-12 |
| Paleo End Date | 2022-12 |
| Chronostratigraphic Unit | N/A |
| Spatial Coverage: | |
| Latitude | |
| Southernmost | -75.566 |
| Northernmost | -75.566 |
| Longitude | |
| Westernmost | -25.641 |
| Easternmost | -25.641 |
| Altitude | |
| Min Altitude | 25m |
| Max Altitude | 25m |
| Depth | |
| Min Depth | N/A |
| Max Depth | N/A |
| Location: | |
| Location | Antarctica |
| Detailed Location | Brunt Ice Shelf |
Instrumentation
| Data Collection: | Core recovered using a British Antarctic Survey medium-depth mechanical ice-core drill. Line-scan images were acquired with a flat-bed line scanner using transmitted illumination in a cold laboratory. H2O2 was measured using a FIAlab photomultiplier tube fluorescence detector (PMT-FL). Sulfate, MSA and nitrate were measured using a Dionex ICS-6000 fast ion chromatography system. |
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Storage
| Distribution: | |
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| Distribution Media | Online Internet (HTTP) |
| Distribution Size | 1.8 GB |
| Distribution Format | N/A |
| Fees | N/A |
| Data Storage: | The deposit comprises: (1) CFA_data.csv, containing four depth/concentration column pairs for H2O2, SO4, MSA and NO3, with depth in metres and concentrations in ppm; (2) melt_data.csv, containing the Core S2 identifier, core-segment number, melt-feature start and end depth in centimetres, and the original feature-category label; (3) age_scale.csv, containing summer/winter pick type, pick status, assigned date (YYYY-MM), recovered-core depth in metres and one-sided older-age uncertainty in years; (4) a line-scan image folder containing the greyscale core images; and (5) S2_core_segment_lengths.csv, a companion file giving segment number, recovered-core top and bottom depths, measured segment length and line-scan length in centimetres for the segment records available in the supplied source table. There are 44 files, totalling 1.8 GB in size |