Project 6 (TWP2-WP5): Water isotope database: present and past archives

Project lead: Valérie Masson-Delmotte

Post-doctoral researcher: Timothé Bolliet

Project Start/End: May 2013 – April 2014 extended 5+6 months end March 2015

The LABEX-IPSL post-doc aimed to establish the state of the art of existing data sources for oxygen and carbon stable isotopes (d18O and d 13C) for different types of archives (lacustrine and marine sediment cores, speleothems, ice cores and tree rings cellulose) for the last two glacial/interglacial cycles. Afterwards, a database of the available datasets was built, with a particular focus on the PMIP key periods (last 200 years, Mid-Holocene, Last Glacial Maximum and the Eemian).

The tasks consisted in compiling all the available d18O and d13C records stored in the NOAA and PANGAEA websites, as well as in the internal database of the LSCE and by communication with authors. Raw data from published datasets were isolated, homogeneously formatted (fixed data disposition and samples age unit) and stored on individual files, while age model information were extracted and stored separately. After that, the evaluation of the quality of the available age models was performed on dated datasets, and age control quality flags were integrated in a single metafile also providing essential information on all compiled datasets (~1500 dated records and 1700 not dated for d18O, and 800 d13C dated records).

An open-access online platform has been built, providing dynamic and interactive browsing, visualization and downloading facilities for compiled data, and a manuscript in being written for future publication. It is possible to access to a preliminary version of this open-access online platform on the following web site :  http://webportals.ipsl.jussieu.fr/ScientificApps/dev/forge_patrick/proxi...

Project results (January 2017 update)