Chemistry & impurities group
MSc and BSc projects in Continuous Flow Analysis (CFA) of chemistry and impurities.
Contact: Helle Kjær, Anders Svensson and Vasileios Gkinis
These particular master and bachelor projects involve chemical measurements of ice cores, for example informing on wind patterns, aridity, volcanic eruptions and sea ice variability.
Global volcanism of the last glacial period (60, 30, 15 ECTS)
Volcanism has significant impact on climate and volcanic records are used to force climate models together with orbital forcing, greenhouse gasses etc. Using existing acidity records from Greenland and Antarctic ice cores we are currently mapping out the magnitude and frequency of large volcanic eruptions occurring during the last glacial period (11-115 ka BP). Student projects related to this topic could involve quantification of the deposition of sulfate and chloride on the ice sheets, the frequency and duration of past eruptions based on ice core records, estimates of the climatic impact of the eruptions, or attempts to correlate the major eruptions seen in the ice to well-known pre-historical eruptions. It is also possible to work on tephra particles from the ice cores that are applied to identify the source of eruptions. The projects typically involve some programing for manipulation of large datasets.
Contact: Anders Svensson
Recording the sound of ancient bubbles in ice cores
Msc Thesis Project: The sonic signature of ancient air bubbles in ice cores
Keywords: ice cores; paleoclimate; Greenland; polar research; Continuous Flow Analysis; sound measurements; total air content; Python; spectral analysis; bubbles
The air bubbles occluded in polar ice cores contain extremely valuable paleoclimatic information in the form of ancient air, whose composition can be determined in the lab yielding time series of gas concentrations in atmosphere spanning millennia. Another characteristic of the ancient air bubbles is their popping sound emission when ice core samples are being controllably melted for high-resolution Continuous Flow Analysis measurements.
We would like to investigate the audio signal of the “popping” bubbles. Our goal is to perform high quality sound recordings followed by spectral analysis of the bubble popping frequencies in order to infer how many and how large the bubbles are. Therefore, we offer a Master thesis project for a motivated student who will further develop the recording and melting system as well as work on the data analysis of the sounds recordings.
You can expect to gain skills in sound and bubble physics, sound recordings as well as high resolution ice core measurements. You will also work with noise filtering and spectral analysis techniques. Prior experience in data 
analysis with Python/Matlab is a plus. PICE is an active, multinational/multicultural group with plenty of learning opportunities.
We will be happy to hear from you!
Should you have any questions on the project feel free to contact: Vasileios Gkinis
EGRIP CFA analysis (60, 30 ECTS)
Online impurity measurements of ice core from a continuous melt stick -so-called Continuous Flow Analysis (CFA-Bigler et al, 2011) are used to infer the past climate varibility. In late summer/eraly autumn 2022 CFA will be done on the EastGRIP ice core to retrieve a continuous gas profile. The 1 year project involves system development, measurement campaign and interpretation of the climate record.
Contact: Helle Astrid Kjær
Bigler, Matthias, et al. "Optimization of high-resolution continuous flow analysis for transient climate signals in ice cores." Environmental science & technology 45.10 (2011): 4483-4489.
A light weight analysis system (60 ECTS)
Online impurity measurements of ice core from a continuous melt stick -so-called Continuous Flow Analysis (CFA-Bigler et al, 2011) are used to infer the past climate varibility. As part of a MSC thesis the first prototype of a portable CFA system was developed-called the Light Weight In Situ Analysis (LISA) box. LISA was tested at EGRIP in 2017 and 2018, and succesfully can monitor peroxide acid and conductivity usefull for constraining annual layers in snow and firn (Kjær et al. 2020). This project aims to further minimize, and optimize the LISA box, as well as develop and implement within a density measureemnt system. The 1 year project involves system development, testing, measurement campaign and interpretation of the climate record. Dependent on timing some possibilities for field work can be part of the project.
Contact: Helle Astrid Kjær
A novel sea ice proxy (60 ECTS)
Sea ice is rapidly disapearing in the Arctic. To constrain if this is abnormal compred to earlier climate states, proxies from ice cores can be used. A novel ice core proxy based on diatom species found in ice cores (Tezner et al. 2022) from land glaciers will be developed and compared to existing sea ice proxies to constrain sea ice extent and variations over the current warm period. Further the connections between past sea ice variability and climate observed in the same ice cores and other climate archives will be studied. The 1 year project involves system development, testing, measurement campaign and interpretation of the climate record. Dependent on timing some possibilities for field work exist.
Contact: Helle Astrid Kjær
Tetzner, Dieter R., Claire S. Allen, and Elizabeth R. Thomas. "Regional variability of diatoms in ice cores from the Antarctic Peninsula and Ellsworth Land, Antarctica." The Cryosphere 16.3 (2022): 779-798.
Chemical record from ice cores (15, 30 or 60 ECTS)
The chemical content in the ice is analysed by continuous flow analysis systems (CFA-Bigler et al. 2011) or discrete eg, by means of Ion Chromatography (IC). The impurities come from different sources and thus yield different information about the climate system. Some of the impurities have an annual cycle, and these records can therefore be used for identification of the annual layers in the ice. This project involves measurement campaign and interpretation of the climate record.
Contact: Helle Astrid Kjær
The NEEM and NGRIP CFA profiles covering the Last glacial period. Figure from Erhardt, Tobias, et al. "High-resolution aerosol concentration data from the Greenland NorthGRIP and NEEM deep ice cores." Earth System Science Data 14.3 (2022): 1215-1231.
Novel methods for CFA (60 ECTS)
Ice cores from Greenland and Antarctica contain very small amounts of impurities because they are formed at locations very far from most sources of impurities and pollution.Typically, the concentration levels of impurities are very low, often in the order of magnitude of parts per billion of the melted ice (ppb, 1:109). Therefore the detection methods have to be very sensitive. They must be able to detect concentrations similar to a pinch of salt in a 50 m swimming pool filled of pure water. The chemical content in the ice can be analysed by continuous flow analysis systems (CFA-Bigler et al. 2011). CFA methods are often based on absoprtion or flourescence spectroscopy methods, but conventional methods need improvements to meet the low concentrations in the ice cores. This project works on optimizing novel methods for CFA. The 1 year project involves system development, testing, measurement campaign and interpretation of the climate record.
Contact: Helle Astrid Kjær
Student Projects
