Vostok Ice Core

Having become involved in discussions about carbon dioxide, I decided it was about time to take a bit of a look at the data.  Previously, I had only given it a cursory glance rather than really studying it. I downloaded some data with the following header reference:

J.M. Barnola, Raynaud, & C. Lorius

Laboratoire de Glaciologie et de Geophysique de l'Environnement

38402 Saint Martin d'Heres Cedex, France

N. I. Barkov

Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute

Beringa Street 38

St. Petersburg 199226, Russia

January 2003

The file has four data columns:

Depth (m)

Ice Age (Years BP)

Air Age (Years(BP)

CO2 Concentration (ppmv)

First things first, I plotted the data. Everything was much as expected. I was intrigued that there was such a difference between the ice and gas ages, so I decided to plot the difference on the same graph as the four basic measurements:

What I found striking was the apparent correlation between the age difference and the concentration of carbon dioxide.  It had to be investigated, so I cross-plotted the two parameters, achieving the following:

As can be seen, the correlation is significant (Corr. Coeff. = 0.8998). But it is also very interesting to note the y-intercept of the fitted equation. It is equal to 328.25 ppmv. If this trend is continued back to zero age difference, then the measured CO2 concentration would be expected to be about 328 ppmv. Zero age difference implies a measurement made soon after snow has fallen and captured the air.

Rather than repeat this information in two forms, I have decided to write a paper.  It is linked to here as a pdf file.

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