Glacier geophysics at Taylor Dome, Antarctica

Taylor Dome, South Victoria Land, Antarctica, is a small ice dome on a ridge which extends from Dome C to the Transantarctic Mtns. west of McMurdo Sound. At an elevation of 2374 m and centered at 77{dollar}spcirc47spprime{dollar}S 158{dollar}spcirc43spprime{dollar}E, the dome rises more that 100 m above the saddle connecting it with the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. An ice core paleoclimate project was conducted at this site by researchers at the University of Washington. The ice core was drilled to bedrock during 1995.; In this dissertation I present glaciological analysis in support of the ice core paleoclimate project. An extensive program of geophysical surveys were conducted at Taylor Dome, much of that work is chronicled in this dissertation. Surface and bed topography from airborne radar profiling gives the regional setting. Ground-based radar profiles reveal a detailed and complex pattern of internal layering. A strain network provides surface motion data. A borehole temperature profile, along with surface temperatures and accumulation rates complete the suite of glaciological observations. In combination, these data become boundary conditions for numerical flow modeling, which in turn gives an understanding of the ice dynamics regime.; The flow modeling is used to support stratigraphic timescale estimates and geochemically determined layer thickness measurements made in the ice core. These are then combined to give an accumulation rate profile which is compared with that derived by geochemical means. Finally, the radar internal layering, taken to be isochrons, are used to extrapolate the ice core timescale to other locations in the survey region. An inferred temporal change in the spatial pattern of accumulation rate is interpreted as a reversal of storm track direction during the last glacial maximum. The timing of this reversal is related to the advance and retreat of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.