Project description
Exploring climate change deep within polar ice
Air bubbles enclosed deep within polar ice cores offer a direct record of past greenhouse gas concentrations along with related changes in biogeochemical cycles and climate response. Knowledge of these changes during past periods of warming can help improve climate models to predict future warming trends caused by increasing CO2 concentrations. However, current methods to examine atmospheric samples in the polar ice cores are limited in terms of resolution and temporal scope and require more ice than available in the deepest ice core sections. Funded by the European Research Council, the deepSLice project aims to develop novel analytical methods using sublimation extraction and laser spectrometry. These techniques will enable very precise, high-resolution measurements of all major greenhouse gases with minimal sample consumption going back 1.5 million years.
Objective
The recent anthropogenic global warming makes a detailed understanding of coupling processes between climate and biogeochemical cycles of pressing importance. The atmospheric archive of air bubbles enclosed in polar ice cores provides the only direct record of greenhouse gas changes in the past, and the key to understanding the related changes in biogeochemical cycles and climate/greenhouse gas feedbacks.
Crucial questions about greenhouse gas variability on very short (decadal) and very long (orbital) time scales still remain open. To answer these questions, the ice core community has proposed new drilling projects with the goal of nearly doubling the time span of the available ice core record to the last 1.5 million years and of covering the entire Holocene greenhouse gas record in unprecedented decadal resolution. These goals have one thing in common: due to glacier flow most of this record will only be found in a very thin layer in the bottom-most ice of the cores. Completely new analytical approaches are needed to unlock the atmospheric archive in this ice in order to gain high-resolution, high-precision measurements, while at the same time drastically reducing sample consumption compared to established techniques.
The deepSLice project will make such a step change in ice core analytics by developing a novel coupled Continuous Sublimation Extraction-Quantum Cascade Laser Spectrometer system. It will allow us to simultaneously measure CO2, CH4 and N2O concentrations as well as the isotopic composition of CO2 on air samples of only 1-2 ml at standard pressure and temperature, reducing the required sample size by one order of magnitude. This non-destructive analysis will make it also possible for the complete air sample to be recollected after analysis and used for other measurements. This method will be applied to existing and new ice cores in order to study past changes in greenhouse gases and the underlying biogeochemical cycles in unparalleled detail.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences computer and information sciences software
- natural sciences physical sciences optics laser physics
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
ERC-ADG - Advanced Grant
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2014-ADG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
3012 BERN
Switzerland
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.