High-precision temperature measurements in the GISP2 and GRIP boreholes 

Arctic Research of the The United States, Vol. 9, p. 44-47, 1996 

G.D. Clow
U.S. Geological Survey. Climate History Program, MS-975, Mendo Park, CA 94041, USA.
E.D. Waddington
University of Washington, Geophysics Program, Box 351650, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
N. Gundestrup
Geofysisk Afdeling, Niels Bohr Instituttet for Astronomi, Fysik og Geofysik, Københavns Universitet

ABSTRACT.
High-precision temperature measurements are being acquired in the 3-km-deep GISP2 borehole and in the companion European borehold at the GRIP site, 30 km to the east. These data will be used to reconstruct paleotemperatures on the surface of the ice sheet directly from the climate-induced temperature transients still remaining at depth in the ice. The data are also necessary for several other GISP2/GRIP studies, including:

  • An improved calibration of the δ18O isotopic paleothermometer for central Greenland;

  • Evaluation of the non-thermal effects present in the stable isotope signals within the ice cores;

  • Ice dynamics studies; and

  • Detection of shear heating at the base of the ice sheet.