Climate Change Education Across the Curricula, Across the GlobeClassroom/Laboratory Activity: Reconstruction of Paleoclimate by Using Isotopic Composition Data

Students will plot graphs to analyze data from the Vostok ice core in Antarctica, learn about the ice age and the gas age, calculate past temperatures using hydrogen isotope data, and discuss the possible impacts of changes in carbon dioxide (CO₂) and methane (CH₄) concentrations on climate.

Use this tool to help your students find answers to:

How can you use hydrogen isotope data in an ice core to determine temperature?
How can the isotopic composition of air bubbles in ice cores be used to recreate past climate?

About the Tool

Tool Name	Lab: Vostok Ice Core
Discipline	Chemistry, Earth Sciences
Topic(s) in Discipline	Isotopes, Isotopic Ratios, Isotopic Composition in paleoclimate reconstructions, Atomic Number, Atomic Mass
Climate Topic	Climate and the Cryosphere, Climate Variability Record
Type of Tool	Laboratory Activity
Grade Level	Undergraduate
Location	Antarctica
	Vostok Station
Language	English
Translation
Developed by	Stephanie Pfirman, Barnard College
Hosted at	Columbia University: The Climate System course taught by Peter Schlosser, Stephanie Pfirman, Mingfang Ting, Jason Smerdon
Link	Link
Access	Online, Offline
Computer Skills	Intermediate