Connecting calendar ages to radiocarbon (14C) ages, i.e. constructing a calibration curve, requires 14C samples that represent, or are closely connected to, atmospheric 14C values and that can also be independently dated. In addition to these data, there is information that can serve as independent tests of the calibration curve. For example, information from ice core radionuclide data cannot be directly incorporated into the calibration curve construction as it delivers less direct information on the 14C age–calendar age relationship but it can provide tests of the quality of the calibration curve. Furthermore, ice core ages on 14C-dated volcanic eruptions provide key information on the agreement of ice core and radiocarbon time scales. Due to their scarcity such data would have little impact if directly incorporated into the calibration curve. However, these serve as important “anchor points” in time for independently testing the calibration curve and/or ice-core time scales. Here we will show that such information largely supports the new IntCal20 calibration record. Furthermore, we discuss how floating tree-ring sequences on ice-core time scales agree with the new calibration curve. For the period around 40,000 years ago we discuss unresolved differences between ice core 10Be and 14C records that are possibly related to our limited understanding of carbon cycle influences on the atmospheric 14C concentration during the last glacial period. Finally, we review the results on the time scale comparison between the Greenland ice-core time scale (GICC05) and IntCal20 that effectively allow a direct comparison of 14C-dated records with the Greenland ice core data.

In polar ice sheets, the average grain size varies with depth. Ice grain size increases due to several factors including ice temperature and impurity content, which in turn varies with climate. The effect of impurities on grain growth is thought to be crucial but has never been observed experimentally. Using a methodology recently developed at Royal Holloway University of London, in situ chemical analysis of frozen ice at sub-ppm concentrations with unprecedented spatial resolution (~150 μm) is achievable using ultraviolet laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (UV-LA-ICPMS) featuring a two-volume cryo-LA-cell. Following surface cleaning with a custom-built vice equipped with a ceramic blade, NGRIP ice slabs (~86 ka before AD 2000) have been analysed using a series of one-dimensional profiles and two-dimensional maps of laser spots at a resolution of 200–300 μm. Results demonstrate that cation impurities are not uniformly distributed in ice layers and show significant variations in concentration on a sub-millimetre scale. Furthermore, a different pattern of elemental distribution between clear ice and layers enriched in impurities (cloudy bands) has been identified: while concentration differences for cloudy bands are not resolvable between boundaries and inner grain domains, within clear ice, grain boundaries and junctions are significantly (up to 100 times) impurity-enriched relative to corresponding grain interiors.

Introduction: In mass-casualty situations, communications and information management to improve situational awareness is a major challenge for responders. In this study, the feasibility of a prototype system that utilizes commercially available, low-cost components, including Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and mobile phone technology, was tested in two simulated mass-casualty incidents.

Methods: The feasibility and the direct benefits of the system were evaluated in two simulated mass-casualty situations: one in Finland involving a passenger ship accident resulting in multiple drowning/hypothermia patients, and another at a major airport in Sweden using an aircraft crash scenario. Both simulations involved multiple agencies and functioned as test settings for comparing the disaster management’s situational awareness with and without using the RFID-based system. Triage documentation was done using both an RFID-based system, which automatically sent the data to the Medical Command, and a traditional method using paper triage tags. The situational awareness was measured by comparing the availability of up-to date information at different points in the care chain using both systems.

Results: Information regarding the numbers and status or triage classification of the casualties was available approximately one hour earlier using the RFID system compared to the data obtained using the traditional method.

Conclusions: The tested prototype system was quick, stable, and easy to use, and proved to work seamlessly even in harsh field conditions. It surpassed the paper-based system in all respects except simplicity of use. It also improved the general view of the mass-casualty situations, and enhanced medical emergency readiness in a multi-organizational medical setting. The tested technology is feasible in a mass-casualty incident; further development and testing should take place.

The McMurdo Dry Valley lakes of Antarctica constitute some of the harshest and most isolated freshwater environments on Earth which might be expected to limit the biogeographical expansion of many organisms. Despite this, we found that the biodiversity of rotifer zooplankton is the highest ever recorded on the Antarctic mainland. We identified in total nine rotifer taxa, of which six are new to the Antarctic continent, in Lake Hoare, and also the first sub-adult crustacean copepod belonging to the genus Boeckella. A possible explanation for the high biodiversity is that many of the recorded species have arrived in the region in relatively recent times and then established invasive populations, suggesting that their distribution pattern was previously limited only by biogeographical borders. Interestingly, we show that the cosmopolitan rotifer taxa identified are relatively abundant, suggesting that they have established viable populations. Hence, our study suggests that the biogeographical maps have to be redrawn for several species.

Secondary ion mass spectrometry has been applied to study the transportation of Na and Li in hydrothermally grown ZnO. A dose of 1015 cm-2 of Na+ was implanted into ZnO to act as a diffusion source. A clear trap limited diffusion is observed at temperatures above 550 °C. From these profiles, an activation energy for the transport of Na of ∼1.7 eV has been extracted. The prefactor for the diffusion constant and the solid solubility of Na cannot be deduced independently from the present data but their product estimated to be ∼3 × 1016 cm-1s-1. A dissociation energy of ∼2.4 eV is extracted for the trapped Na. The measured Na and Li profiles show that Li and Na compete for the same traps and interact in a way that Li is depleted from Na-rich regions. This is attributed to a lower formation energy of Na-on-zinc-site than that for Li-on-zinc-site defects and the zinc vacancy is considered as a major trap for migrating Na and Li atoms. Consequently, the diffusivity of Li is difficult to extract accurately from the present data, but in its interstitial configuration Li is indeed highly mobile having a diffusivity in excess of 10-11 cm2s-1 at 500 °C.

Sulphate (SO42–) is a major ion found in polar ice cores and is related to different aerosol sources and processes. Explosive volcanic eruptions, even far away, can cause distinct sulphate peaks in ice core records. Thus, a robust sulphate detection system which is suitable for fieldwork and which enables the measurement of sulphate at high temporal resolution is of great interest. In this study, we present the adaptation of a new continuous flow analysis system for sulphate that is based on a spectrophotometric method using dimethylsulfonazo III and an inline reactor column containing barium sulphate particles. The method shows a detection limit of ∽70 ng g–1 and a linear range up to at least 3000 ng g–1. It is simple, robust and less prone to interferences compared to the previously used method.

Automatic c-axes analyzers have been developed over the past few years, leading to a large improvement in the data available for analysis of ice crystal texture. Such an increase in the quality and quantity of data allows for stricter statistical estimates. The current textural parameters, i.e. fabric (crystallographic orientations) and microstructure (grain-boundary networks), are presented. These parameters define the state of the polycrystal and give information about the deformation undergone by the ice. To reflect the findings from automatic measurements, some parameter definitions are updated and new parameters are proposed. Moreover, a MATLAB® toolbox has been developed to extract all the textural parameters. This toolbox, which can be downloaded online, is briefly described.

To improve our understanding of the deformation properties of cold-based polar glaciers, we examine here some of the factors leading to the localization of strain within the amber ice facies. We present a crystallographic case study of amber ice (a fine-grained bubbly ice containing a relatively high impurity content) sampled at the base of two Antarctic glaciers. The crystal fabrics and textures of amber ice were computed by application of a recently developed automated method. To date, it was tedious and awkward to determine amber ice facies accurately because of the sub-millimetric crystal size and relatively high debris content of this facies. The authomatic analytical method applied in this study allows not only for improving analytical accuracy in this task but also for considerably reducing the time of analysis. Our investigations reveal highly homogeneous crystallographic properties for the studied amber ice. The ice crystals are mainly polygonal, equant and sub-millimetric, and show a strong lattice-preferred orientation. These properties, beside the relatively high impurity content, are likely to exert a major control on strain enhancement in amber ice when this facies is present at the base of cold glaciers.

The North Greenland Icecore Project (NorthGRIP) palaeoclimatic information back to about 120 kyr BP. The size distributions of ice crystals in the upper 880 m of the NorthGRIP ice core, which cover a time-span of approximately 5300 years, have been obtained previously. The distributions evolve towards a universal curve, indicating a common underlying physical process in the formation of crystals. We identify this process as an interplay between fragmentation of the crystals and diffusion of their grain boundaries. The process is described by a two-parameter differential equation to which we obtain the exact solution. The solution is in excellent agreement with the measured distributions.

Detailed measurements of crystal outlines and fabrics have been performed on 35 000 crystals in fifteen 10 × 20 cm2 vertical thin sections from the North Greenland Icecore Project (NorthGRIP) ice core, evenly distributed in the depth interval 115–880m. The crystals exhibit important changes over this period. As the ice gets older the mean crystal area increases towards a constant value, the shape of the crystals becomes increasingly irregular, and the area distribution of crystals develops from a single log-normal distribution into a bimodal lognormal distribution. The c-axis fabric of the ice shows a smooth development of an increasingly stronger vertical fabric with depth, and the formation of a weak vertical girdle. Already in the younger samples the fabric is rather strongly oriented towards vertical. The fabric and the area of individual crystals are found not to correlate. A simple model, which takes into account the vertical strain of the ice, is applied in an attempt to determine the crystal growth rate at NorthGRIP.

The aim of this case study is to quantify the seasonal variability in crystal properties and to discuss the reason for the variability. A continuous 1.10 m long vertical thin-section profile covering approximately five annual cycles has been obtained from the North Greenland Icecore Project (NorthGRIP) ice core at around 301 m depth. The crystal outline and the c-axis orientation of more than 13000 crystals in the profile have been measured on a new Australian automated ice-crystal analyzer. In 2.5 cm resolution we observe a strong seasonal variability in crystal areas of >30%deviation from the average value of 6.7 mm2. Each year, a band of smaller crystals is observed in ice deposited during spring. The area distribution function is found to be close to a lognormal distribution. The crystal areas are compared to the concentration of chemical impurities in the ice; at a 5 cm resolution, the best correlation is found with the concentration of Ca2+. Our results show no seasonal variability of the average c-axis orientation of ice crystals.

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.

The North Greenland Icecore Project (NorthGRIP) was initiated in 1995 as a joint international programme involving Denmark, Germany, Japan, Belgium, Sweden, Iceland, the U.S.A., France and Switzerland. the main goal was to obtain undisturbed high-resolution information about the Eemian climatic period (115–130 kyr BP). the records from the Greenland Icecore Project (GRIP) and Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2 (GISP2) in central Greenland are different and disturbed down in the ice covering this period. Internal radio-echo sounding layers show that NorthGRIP, placed 325 km north-northwest of GRIP at the Summit of the Greenland ice sheet, is located on a gently sloping ice ridge with very flat bedrock and internal layers found so high that an undisturbed Eemian record is possible. Internal layers much farther above bedrock than their apparent counter parts at GRIP suggest that conditions are favourable for recovery of an undisturbed Eemian record. So far, a 1351 mdeep ice core (NorthGRIP1) and a 3001 mdeep ice core (NorthGRIP 2) have been recovered. the ice thickness is expected to be 3080 m, and the ice temperature at 3001 m is –5.6°C, so we expect basal melting at the bedrock. Most of the Eemian ice will be melted away, leaving only the last part and the transition between the Eem and the Last Glacial Period. At 3001 m the age of the ice is 110 kyr BP and the annual layers are of the order 1 cm.With modern methods the annual layers can be resolved, resulting in detailed information on the decline of the warm Eemian period into the Last Glacial Period.

The contamination of pasteurized milk by Bacillus cereus during the filling process was studied in two dairy plants. Samples of pasteurized milk were taken at four different sites along the production line. The samples were stored at 7 °C for 7 d, or at 10 °C for 5 d, before plate counting and random selection of B. cereus isolates. Isolates of B. cereus were typed by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based method randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD). Samples taken at three different sites between the pasteurizer and the filling machine were all holding similar low concentrations of B. cereus, while an increase of the B. cereus count was seen in the consumer packages. More B. cereus of different RAPD types was growing in the consumer packages than in samples taken just before the filling machine. Several RAPD types found in the consumer packages were not detected in the samples taken just before the filling machine.