It is best known for the poorly-explained steps in water isotopes during the deglacial, which are unique to this core and may indicate a rapid decrease in the surface elevation of the adjoining ice streams during the deglacial[2] and a record of atmospheric carbon dioxide.[3]
The Chief Scientist was Kendrick Taylor.
Radar surveys of internal ice structure
In the 1990s a team from the University of Washington and St Olaf College surveyed the ice, measuring thickness and determining internal structure, [4]
finding evidence for the operation of the Raymond Effect. They also found that the ice had a maximum thickness of around 1000 m.
In popular culture
A documentary on climate change research associated with the Siple Dome ice core was produced by Nova: Warnings from the Ice, 1998. The documentary explains how reductions in Antarctic ice mass can raise sea level.
The climate is ice cap (Köppen: ET), as is most of the continent. Without marine moderation and a few hundred meters above sea level, it has one of the harshest winters on the continent outside the Antarctic plateaus. Unlike Alert, NU at slightly higher latitude and positive high averages during summer, in Siple Dome temperatures remain below freezing during the afternoon of the warmer months on average.[5][6]
Climate data for Siple dome, elevation: 620 m or 2,030 ft, 1997-2011 normals and extremes
^Brook, E. J., White, J. W., Schilla, A. S., Bender, M. L., Barnett, B., Severinghaus, J. P., ... & Steig, E. J. (2005). Timing of millennial-scale climate change at Siple Dome, West Antarctica, during the last glacial period. Quaternary Science Reviews, 24(12), 1333-1343.
^Taylor, K. C., White, J. W. C., Severinghaus, J. P., Brook, E. J., Mayewski, P. A., Alley, R. B., ... & Lamorey, G. W. (2004). Abrupt climate change around 22ka on the Siple Coast of Antarctica. Quaternary Science Reviews, 23(1), 7-15.
^Ahn, J., Wahlen, M., Deck, B. L., Brook, E. J., Mayewski, P. A., Taylor, K. C., & White, J. W. (2004). A record of atmospheric CO2 during the last 40,000 years from the Siple Dome, Antarctica ice core. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 109(D13)
