Located on the centre of ice drainage range, the highest Dome Argus （Dome A） of East Antarctic Ice Sheet （EAIS）, could be represented as an ideal site for deep ice cores drilling containing oldest paleo-climate records. To select a suitable drilling site for deep ice core, it needs gather all information pertaining to the local meteorology, ice sheet landforms, ice thickness, subgla- cial topography of bed rocks, ice velocity, internal structures of ice sheet, etc. Based on the International Partnerships in Ice Core Sciences （IPICS）, we present recent achievement of glaciological research and its perspective at Dome A in this paper. We system- atically discussed the merits and possible ventures of potential drilling sites around Dome A. Among all the candidates, we find that the Chinese Antarctic Kunlun Station is the best site for and assess further the possibility to obtain a replicate core for carrying out the first deep ice core drilling campaign. We emphasize studying dynamics and evolution of climate change.
TANG Xueyuan SUN Bo LIYuansheng LI Xin CUI Xiangbin
As fundamental parameters of the Antarctic Ice Sheet,ice thickness and subglacial topography are critical factors for studying the basal conditions and mass balance in Antarctica.During CHINARE 24（the 24 th Chinese National Antarctic Research Expedition,2007/08）,the research team used a deep ice-penetrating radar system to measure the ice thickness and subglacial topography of the ＂Chinese Wall＂ around Kunlun Station,East Antarctica.Preliminary results show that the ice thickness varies mostly from 1600 m to 2800 m along the ＂Chinese Wall＂,with the thickest ice being 3444 m,and the thinnest ice 1255 m.The average bedrock elevation is 1722 m,while the minimum is just 604 m.Compared with the northern side of the ice divide,the ice thickness is a little greater and the subglacial topography lower on the southern side,which is also characterized by four deep valleys.We found no basal freeze-on ice in the Gamburtsev Subglacial Mountains area,subglacial lakes,or water bodies along the ＂Chinese Wall＂.Ice thickness and subglacial topography data extracted from the Bedmap 2 database along the ＂Chinese Wall＂ are consistent with our results,but their resolution and accuracy are very limited in areas where the bedrock fluctuates intensely.The distribution of ice thickness and subglacial topography detected by ice-penetrating radar clarifies the features of the ice sheet in this ＂inaccessible＂ region.These results will help to advance the study of ice sheet dynamics and the determination of future locations of the GSM＇s geological and deep ice core drilling sites in the Dome A region.
