Neon Isotope Fractionation in Ice Cores at Close-Off Depth

Abstract:

Analyzing trapped air bubbles in glacial ice is a well-established and useful method to reconstruct past atmospheric gas concentrations. However, trapped gas composition can be affected by fractionation during the closure of the air bubbles, complicating the reconstruction. Gases such as dioxygen (O₂) and dihydrogen (H₂) are known to leak out of the bubbles by permeation through the ice lattice at the close-off depth,where firn turns into ice. This process also can cause isotope fractionation, which obscures the past atmospheric isotope ratios in air bubbles in glacial ice. In order to establish the most accurate measurements of past atmospheric content, we need very detailed understanding of the permeation leakage mechanism in order to establish possible corrections. In this study, we propose the use of neon stable isotopes (neon-22 and neon-20) to place constraints on the mechanism of permeation leakage. Neon isotopes are an ideal system to explore because neon has a constant atmospheric isotope ratio, and thus only is affected by close-off fractionation. Neon permeation occurs via velocity-dependent hopping between sites within the ice lattice, because the neon atom is smaller than the critical size (3.6 Å) of the opening in the lattice. Theory predicts that neon isotope fractionation will occur due to the lower velocity of the heavier isotope, but this has never been experimentally verified and the theory is unable to quantitatively predict the magnitude of the fractionation. We will present the first results of high-precision neon isotope (²²Ne/²⁰Ne) measurements made in air pumped from the firm-to-ice transition in the Greenland Ice Sheet, where actively closing air bubbles drive permeation leakage. By measuring this natural neon isotope fractionation, we hope to learn about the mass dependence of the leakage mechanism and develop a more quantitative theory that is generalizable to biogeochemically- and climatically-active gases.