Abstract: Modeling the densification of polar firn is essential to estimate variations of close-off characteristics (density, close-off depth, delta age) in relation with past climate parameters (temperature and accumulation rates). Furthermore, the air composition in the firn is modified by gravitational and thermal fractionation, and stable isotope measurements of permanent gases like nitrogen or argon can provide information on the amplitude of these fractionations. In this work, we propose a new model coupling firn densification and heat diffusion. In addition to the determination of the firn thickness and gas-ice age differences, the model allows a reconstruction of the time evolution of the temperature for different sites in Antarctica (Vostok) and Greenland (GISP2) and therefore the evolution of gravitational and thermal isotopic fractionations in firn. Under present-day conditions, the modeled profiles are in good agreement with the available temperature measurements in firn. For sites with low accumulation rates such as Vostok, the results show the existence of temperature gradients in the firn column even when no rapid climatic changes occur. The comparison of the modeled ?15N results to measurements allows to better constrain the ?18O-temperature relationship, used to infer the surface temperature history, and for GISP2, the model validates the long-term borehole-based temperature.

Abstract: Our paper documents the build-up of a highly deformed basal ice layer in the basal part of the Vostok ice core. This is done mainly on the basis of an isotopic composition investigation of the ice. Complex deformation in the lower 228 m of the ice sheet has resulted in folding and intermixing of ice at a submetric scale and, for the upper part of this basal sequence, in interbedding of ice layers from distinct origins at a larger scale. This complex deformation occurred at a temperature largely below the pressure-melting point. The basal ice layer has built upwards and size-selective incorporation of bed material into the ice has taken place. The documentation of this complex basal deformation has implications for the maximum age of ice that will be useful in paleoclimate studies and for ice sheet dynamics.