- University of Copenhagen Denmark
- Oregon State University, College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences United States
- French National Centre for Scientific Research France
- University of Maine United States
- University of California, San Diego United States
- University of Copenhagen Denmark
- University of Copenhagen Denmark
- University of Mary United States
- University of Copenhagen Denmark
- GNS Science HQ (Lower Hutt) New Zealand
- Københavns Universitet Denmark
- Centre for Ice and Climate Niels Bohr Institute University of Copenhagen Denmark
- GNS Science New Zealand
- KOBENHAVNS UNIVERSITET Denmark
- IT University of Copenhagen Denmark
- University of Copenhagen Denmark
- College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA United States
- Washington State University United States
- KOBENHAVNS UNIVERSITET Denmark
- University of Waikato New Zealand
- University of Copenhagen Denmark
- Scripps Institution of Oceanography United States
- Department of Earth and Space Sciences University of California (UCLA) United States
- University of California System United States
- University of California San Diego, Scripps Institution of Oceanography United States
- University of Washington United States
- Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, US United States
- British Antarctic Survey United Kingdom
- Oregon State University United States
- University of Copenhagen Denmark
- University of Copenhagen Denmark
- Victoria University of Wellington New Zealand
- Grenoble Alpes University France
In 2013, an ice core was recovered from Roosevelt Island in the Ross Sea, Antarctica, as part of the Roosevelt Island Climate Evolution (RICE) project. Roosevelt Island is located between two submarine troughs carved by paleo-ice-streams. The RICE ice core provides new important information about the past configuration of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and its retreat during the most recent deglaciation. In this work, we present the RICE17 chronology and discuss preliminary observations from the new records of methane, the isotopic composition of atmospheric molecular oxygen (δ18O-Oatm), the isotopic composition of atmospheric molecular nitrogen (δ15N-N2) and total air content (TAC). RICE17 is a composite chronology combining annual layer interpretations, gas synchronization, and firn modeling strategies in different sections of the core. An automated matching algorithm is developed for synchronizing the high-resolution section of the RICE gas records (60–720 m, 1971 CE to 30 ka) to corresponding records from the WAIS Divide ice core, while deeper sections are manually matched. Ice age for the top 343 m (2635 yr BP, before 1950 C.E.) is derived from annual layer interpretations and described in the accompanying paper by Winstrup et al. (2017). For deeper sections, the RICE17 ice age scale is based on the gas age constraints and the ice age-gas age offset estimated by a firn densification model. Novel aspects of this work include: 1) stratigraphic matching of centennial-scale variations in methane for pre-anthropogenic time periods, a strategy which will be applicable for developing precise chronologies for future ice cores, 2) the observation of centennial-scale variability in methane throughout the Holocene which suggests that similar variations during the late preindustrial period need not be anthropogenic, and 3) the observation of continuous climate records dating back to ∼ 65 ka which provide evidence that the Roosevelt Island Ice Dome was a constant feature throughout the last glacial period.