Penny Ice Cap Microparticle Data: Readme file

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                   NOAA Paleoclimatology Program
                               and
              World Data Center A - for Paleoclimatology
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NOTE: PLEASE CITE ORIGINAL REFERENCE WHEN USING THIS DATA!!!!!

NAME OF DATA SET: Penny Ice Cap Microparticle Data
LAST UPDATE: 10/1999 (Original Receipt by WDCA Paleo)  
CONTRIBUTORS: Christian M. Zdanowicz, Geological Survey of Canada, 
and Greg Zielinski, University of New Hampshire.

IGBP PAGES/WDCA CONTRIBUTION SERIES NUMBER: 1999-056

SUGGESTED DATA CITATION: Zdanowicz, C.M., and Zielinski, G.A., 1999, 
Penny Ice Cap Microparticle Data, 
IGBP PAGES/World Data Center A for Paleoclimatology 
Data Contribution Series #1999-056. 
NOAA/NGDC Paleoclimatology Program, Boulder CO, USA. 

ORIGINAL REFERENCES: 
Zdanowicz, C.M., Zielinski, G.A. and Wake, C.P (1998). Characteristics of 
modern atmospheric dust deposition in snow on the Penny ice cap, Baffin Island, 
Arctic Canada.  Tellus 50B, 506-520.

Fisher, D.A. and 12 others (1998). Penny ice cap cores, Baffin Island, Canada, 
and the Wisconsinan Foxe Dome connection: Two states of Hudson Bay ice cover. 
Science 279, 692-695. 

Grumet, N.S., Wake, C.P., Zielinski, G.A., Fisher, D.A. and Jacobs, J.D. (1998).  
Preservation of glaciochemical time-series in snow and ice records from the percolation
zone of the Penny Ice Cap, Baffin Island. Geophysical Research Letters 25, 357-360.

Zdanowicz, C.M., Zielinski, G.A., Wake, C.P., Fisher, D.A. and Koerner, R.M. (2000).
A Holocene record of atmospheric dust deposition from the Penny ice cap, 
Baffin Island, Canada.  Quaternary Research, v53, No. 1, pp 62 -69, January 2000. 

GEOGRAPHIC REGION: Baffin Island, Arctic Canada
PERIOD OF RECORD:  0-11,500 YrBP

LIST OF FILES: readme_penny.txt (this file), penny_snowpit.txt,
penny_coreP95.txt (tab-delimited ASCII text files).  


DESCRIPTION:
Penny Ice Cap ice core and snowpit microparticle data.

This dataset contains a summary of microparticle measurements from 
snowpits and a 334-m long ice core (P95) from the Penny Ice Cap, 
Baffin Island, Canada.  Snowpits were excavated in 1994-1995, 
and core P95 was drilled in April-May 1995.

The P95 core was dated back to 7900 yr ago (319 m) by spectral analysis of the 
electrical conductivity record which tracks seasonal chemical variations 
(Fisher et al. 1998; Grumet et al., 1998. Additional time control was provided by 
conductivity and sulfate peaks related major volcanic eruptions. 
Beyond 7900 yr ago, the depth-age curve was adjusted to match the end of the 
Younger Dryas-Holocene transition (326 m) dated at 11,550 +/- 70 yr ago in 
Greenland ice-core records. Age values for the P95 microparticle record are 
expressed in years before A.D. 2000 (yb2k).

Microparticle concentrations and size distributions were measured 
for a size range of 0.85 to 12 µm with an Elzone 280PC multi-channel 
particle counter equipped with a 30 µm orifice (Zdanowicz et al., 1998). 

The microparticle parameters are: 
N = total number of particles [0.85-12 µm], expressed in thousands of 
particles per mililiter of meltwater (10^3 ml^-1)

M = total mass of particles [0.85-12 µm], expressed in micrograms per 
kilogram of ice (µg kg^-1 or ppb)

NMD = arithmetic mean diameter of microparticles [0.85-12 µm], in micrometers (µm)

b (beta) = slope of a Junge distribution applied to microparticles with diameter < 1 µm