Articles | Volume 8, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-8-253-2016
https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-8-253-2016
Review article
 | 
07 Jun 2016
Review article |  | 07 Jun 2016

Ice crystal c-axis orientation and mean grain size measurements from the Dome Summit South ice core, Law Dome, East Antarctica

Adam Treverrow, Li Jun, and Tim H. Jacka

Abstract. We present measurements of crystal c-axis orientations and mean grain area from the Dome Summit South (DSS) ice core drilled on Law Dome, East Antarctica. All measurements were made on location at the borehole site during drilling operations. The data are from 185 individual thin sections obtained between a depth of 117 m below the surface and the bottom of the DSS core at a depth of 1196 m. The median number of c-axis orientations recorded in each thin section was 100, with values ranging from 5 through to 111 orientations. The data from all 185 thin sections are provided in a single comma-separated value (csv) formatted file which contains the c-axis orientations in polar coordinates, depth information for each core section from which the data were obtained, the mean grain area calculated for each thin section and other data related to the drilling site. The data set is also available as a MATLAB structure array. Additionally, the c-axis orientation data from each of the 185 thin sections are summarized graphically in figures containing a Schmidt diagram, histogram of c-axis colatitudes and rose plot of c-axis azimuths. All these data are referenced by doi:10.4225/15/5669050CC1B3B and are available free of charge at https://data.antarctica.gov.au.<

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Short summary
We present ice crystallographic c-axis orientation and grain size data from the Dome Summit South (DSS) ice core drilled 4.7 km SSW of the summit of Law Dome, East Antarctica. These data are from 185 individual thin sections obtained between a depth of 117 m below the surface and the bottom of the DSS core at a depth of 1196 m. Observations of ice microstructures from polar ice cores play a vital role in the development and validation of ice flow relations for numerical ice sheet models.