The North Greenland Icecore Project (NorthGRIP) deep drilling site (75˚05’47’’N, 42˚19’42’’ W) is located at the north-northwest ridge of the Greenland ice sheet, 320 km from Summit. A strain net has been established around the NorthGRIP site and surveyed with global positioning system. Our results show that ice flows with a horizontal surface velocity of 1.329 ±0.015ma–1 along the ridge. Estimated principal surface strain rates at NorthGRIP are and in the directions along and transverse to the north-northwest ridge, respectively, i.e. ice is compressed along the ridge but stretched transverse to the ridge. Possible implications of the observed flow pattern for the stratigraphy are discussed. the average thickening rate in the strain-net area is found to be ∂H/∂t = 0.00 ±0.04ma– 1, in agreement with previous estimates of mass balance in high-elevation areas of Greenland.

The North Greenland Icecore Project (NorthGRIP) drill site was chosen in order to obtain a good Eemian record. At the present depth, 3001 m, the Eemian interstadial has yet to be seen. Clearly the flow in this area is poorly understood and needs further investigation. After a review of specific features of the bottom topography, it is believed that the geology changes along the flowline. In order to investigate whether this explains the observed age–depth relationship at NorthGRIP, the inverse Monte Carlo method has been applied to a simple model. the inversion reveals that the main reason no Eemian is observed is a high basal melt rate (2.7 mma–1). the melting is a consequence of a higher geothermal heat flux than the expected 51 mWm–2 of the Precambrian shield. from our analyses it is concluded that the geothermal heat flux at NorthGRIP is 98 mWm–2.The high basal melt rate also gives rise to sliding at the bed. In addition to these results, an accumulation model has been established specifically for NorthGRIP. These results are essential for further modelling of the NorthGRIP flow and depth–age relationship.

Ice-crystal textures (sizes and shapes) and fabrics (c-axis orientations) have been determined in 3 m of vertical thin sections from the Greenland Icecore Project (GRIP) ice core. the samples cover ice from before, during and after Greenland interstadial 3 (IS3) that occurred about 25 kyr BP. the texture of 60 000 crystals has been obtained from stacked digital images by semi-automated methods, and the fabric of 5000 selected crystals has been measured on the Automatic Ice Fabric Analyzer at the Alfred Wegener Institute, Bremerhaven. the area distribution function of the crystals is close to a log normal distribution, and the mean area is found to be 3.36 mm2 in ice from IS3, and 3.04 mm2 in ice from colder periods before and after IS3. the overall c-axis orientations show a strong single maximum with vertical orientation. These results agree well with earlier GRIP fabric studies obtained by manual methods. from comparisons of crystal areas with the concentrations of dust, Ca2+, SO42–, Cl– and NO3– in the ice we determine that NO3– correlates best with crystal areas. Crystals within clearly visible cloudy bands are significantly smaller than the surrounding crystals, and their c-axis orientations are less well confined than the average.

In this study a powerful tool to investigate the permeabilities and effective diffusion coefficients of polar firn is presented using a combination of an experimental method for three-dimensional pore-structure reconstruction and two models to simulate advective and diffusive transports of gases through the pore space. the reconstruction follows a semi-automated digital analysis of serial surface sections. the simulations are based on a three-dimensional lattice Boltzmann formulation. They separately solve the Navier–Stokes equation and the diffusive transport equations. In a first application, effective diffusion coefficients and permeabilities are calculated from firn samples of a core drilled during the North Greenland Traverse 1993–95. the estimated relationships of diffusivity and permeability to the open porosity are expressed by power-law functions with exponents 2.1 and 3.4, respectively.

We present a simulation tool, based on a cellular automaton algorithm developed by D. Ktitarev and others, for the modelling of fabric and texture evolution in polycrystalline ice. the numerical results for the case of vertical uniaxial compression are compared with data obtained from boreholes GRIP–GISP2 in Greenland. A reasonable agreement is obtained, and guidelines are presented for further formulation of more realistic simulations. In particular, we discuss the rise of girdle-type fabrics, as well as the importance of intra- and intercrystalline stresses, temperature and impurity effects on the evolving ice microstructure.

We present a detailed analysis of the microstructure in the shallow part (100–580m) of the European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica (EPICA) ice core at Dome Concordia. In the Holocene ice, the average grain-size increases with depth. This is the normal grain-growth process driven by a reduction of the total grain-boundary energy. Deeper, associated with the Holocene–Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) climatic transition, a sharp decrease of the average grain-size is observed. to explain modifications to the microstructure with climatic change, we discuss the role of soluble and insoluble (microparticles) impurities in the grain-growth process of Antarctic ice, coupled with an analysis of the pinning of grain boundaries by microparticles. Our data indicate that high soluble impurity content does not necessarily imply a slowing-down of grain-growth kinetics, whereas the pinning of grain boundaries by dust particles located along the boundaries does explain modifications to the microstructure (small grain-sizes; change in grain-size distributions, etc.) observed in volcanic ash layers or dusty LGM ice.Moreover, classical mean-field models of grain-boundary pinning are in good quantitative agreement with the evolution of grain-size along the EPICA ice core. This suggests a major role for dust in the modification of shallow polar ice microstructure.

Samples taken from the Dome C ice core, Antarctica, and the GRIP ice core, Greenland, are examined using the scanning electron microscope to determine their microstructure. In both cores, samples are taken from two differing climatic periods: the Holocene and the last glacial period. Many of the usual features observed in similar samples under the light microscope are observed, including: bubbles, grain boundaries and clathrate hydrates. Features not resolvable using the light microscope are also found. Dust particles are found in situ. Eighty-five per cent of those observed contained silicon, which was generally associated with aluminium and magnesium. An estimation is made of the relative proportions of dust particles located at grain boundaries and in the bulk of the ice grain. At Dome C a higher proportion than expected from a random distribution of particles was found located at grain boundaries, although in Greenland this was not found to be the case for most samples. Direct evidence is also presented indicating the role of dust particles and microscopical inclusions in impeding or ``pinning’’ grain-boundary migration. Soluble impurities are also detected at some triple junctions and grain boundaries.

Ice-flow properties within a polar ice sheet are examined using the comprehensive data gathered from ice-core drilling by Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions (ANARE) at Dome Summit South (DSS), on Law Dome, East Antarctica. Using the shear strain rates derived from borehole inclination measurements we demonstrate the need to modify the ice-flow relations to treat enhanced shear deformation deep within the ice sheet. We show that the relation between enhanced flow and the measured crystallographic properties is generally in accord with expectations, at least in the upper parts of the ice sheet, but it becomes clear that nearer to the bedrock the situation is more complicated. We also compare the observed shear strain-rate profile with results from a model that describes flow enhancement as a function of the applied stresses.