The Australian ice core programme: history, context, and bibliometric analysis

ABSTRACT

East Antarctic ice cores are key to Australia’s Antarctic science objectives. Australia is internationally recognised for its climate contributions relating to impurities, greenhouse gases, and water stable isotope studies. These factors make the Australian ice core programme an effective case study to demonstrate the usefulness of bibliometric studies in understanding the broader impacts of scientific research. This work presents a bibliometric analysis of Australian-authored and/or funded ice core publications from within the Australian Antarctic Territory over the programme’s 50 years (1972–2022). This work also discusses the history and chronology of Australia’s ice core programme to contextualise the results of the bibliometric analysis. These are illustrated by examining the key drilling locations, such as Law Dome, and the resultant research which establishes Australia as a global leader in producing high-resolution ice core records from coastal East Antarctic sites. This article demonstrates the applicability of bibliometric studies to identify themes of research that are intended to inform international and domestic policies for the betterment of society.

KEYWORDS:

• Ice cores
• Australia
• East Antarctica
• bibliometric analysis
• science impact

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Dr Tessa Vance at the Australian Antarctic Programme Partnership and Dr Anthony Kiem at the University of Newcastle for commenting on this article. We thank the two anonymous reviewers for their kind and thoughtful feedback on this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/2154896X.2024.2342112.

Notes

¹ Utuqaq, directed by I. Radivojević, 2021.

² Augustin et al., “Eight Glacial Cycles from an Antarctic Ice Core.”

³ McCormick, “Climates of History.”

⁴ Isberg, “Frozen Archives on the Go,” 267–8.

⁵ Jouzel, “A Brief History of Ice Core Science.”

⁶ Hulbe, Wang, and Ommanney, “Women in Glaciology.”

⁷ Australian Research Council, “Research Impact Principles and Framework.” Australian Government (2022). https://www.arc.gov.au/about-arc/strategies/research-impact-principles-and-framework (accessed March 19, 2023).

⁸ Australian Government, “Update 2022,” 7–15.

⁹ Rubino et al., “Revised Records of Atmospheric Trace Gases.”

¹⁰ Pedro et al., “High-resolution records of beryllium-10”.

¹¹ Vance et al., “Interdecadal Pacific Variability and Eastern Australian Megadroughts over the Last Millennium.”

¹² Pyper, “Traversing Antarctica,” 6.

¹³ Fischer et al., “Where to Find 1.5 Million Yr Old Ice for the IPICS “Oldest-Ice” Ice Core”.

¹⁴ Ibid.

¹⁵ Reilly, “Tractor traverse to support deep field research,” 5.

¹⁶ Baker, “Microstructural Characterization of Snow, Firn and Ice.”

¹⁷ Budd, “The Antarctic Ice Sheet,” 335–6.

¹⁸ Talalay, “Perspectives for Development of Ice-Core Drilling Technology.”

¹⁹ Legrand and Mayewski, “Glaciochemistry of Polar Ice Cores.”

²⁰ Ibid.

²¹ Bartels-Rausch, “Ten Things We Need to Know about Ice and Snow.”

²² Libbrecht, “The Formation of Snow Crystals.”

²³ Dansgaard, “Stable Isotopes in Precipitation.”

²⁴ Legrand and Mayewski, “Glaciochemistry.”

²⁵ Bartels-Rausch, “Ten Things We Need.”

²⁶ Arnaud et al., “Modelling of the Densification of Polar Firn.”

²⁷ ACE CRC, “Position Analysis,” 8.

²⁸ See Vance et al., “An Annually Resolved Chronology for the Mount Brown South Ice Cores, East Antarctica.”

²⁹ Smith et al., “A New Capability for ANTARES.”

³⁰ Rubino et al., “Revised Records of Atmospheric Trace Gases.”

³¹ Jong et al., “2000 Years of Annual Ice Core Data from Law Dome, East Antarctica.”

³² Australian Antarctic Programme Partnership. “AAPP Progress Report January-June 2022”. Australian Antarctic Programme Partnership (2022). https://aappartnership.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/AAPP-Progress-Report-Jan-Jun2022_submitted_Teams.pdf (accessed 2 March 2023).

³³ Waltman, “A Review of the Literature on Citation Impact Indicators.”

³⁴ Donthu et al., “How to Conduct a Bibliometric Analysis.”

³⁵ See Lee et al., “Many Papers but Limited Policy Impact.”

³⁶ Morgan, “Oxygen Isotope Evidence for Bottom Freezing on the Amery Ice Shelf.”

³⁷ Harzig, “Publish or Perish.”

³⁸ Australian Antarctic Division, “Search Projects,” (2023): https://antapps.aad.gov.au/public/projects/ (accessed 23 March 2023).

³⁹ See Budd, “The Antarctic Ice Sheet.”

⁴⁰ Clarke, “A Short History of Scientific Investigations on Glaciers.”

⁴¹ Isberg, “Frozen Archives,” 268.

⁴² Ibid.

⁴³ Ibid.

⁴⁴ Ibid.

⁴⁵ Ibid.

⁴⁶ Budd, “The Antarctic Ice Sheet,” 311–35.

⁴⁷ Australian Government, “Department of Science Annual Report 1976–77.”

⁴⁸ Ibid.

⁴⁹ Australian Government, “Department of Science Annual Report 1985–86.”

⁵⁰ See Budd and Jacka, “A Review of Ice Rheology for Ice Sheet Modelling.”

⁵¹ Budd, “The Antarctic Ice Sheet,” 325–8.

⁵² Morgan, “Oxygen Isotope Evidence.”

⁵³ Budd, “The Antarctic Ice Sheet,” 325–8.

⁵⁴ Craven et al., “Initial Borehole Results from the Amery Ice Shelf Hot-Water Drilling Project.”

⁵⁵ Ibid.

⁵⁶ Budd, “The Antarctic Ice Sheet,” 320–1.

⁵⁷ Australian Government, “Department of the Arts, Sport, the Environment, Tourism and Territories.”

⁵⁸ Allison, “Surface Climate of the Interior of the Lambert Glacier Basin, Antarctica.”

⁵⁹ Zhao and Allison, “Some Aspects of Chinese-Australian Cooperation in Antarctic Research over the Past Forty Years.”

⁶⁰ Ibid.

⁶¹ See Jiawen, Dahe, and Allison, “Variations of Snow Accumulation and Temperature over Past Decades in the Lambert Glacier Basin.”

⁶² Smith, van Ommen, and Morgan, “Distribution of Oxygen Isotope Ratios and Snow Accumulation Rates in Wilhelm II Land.”

⁶³ Ibid.

⁶⁴ Vance et al., “Optimal Site Selection for a High-Resolution Ice Core Record in East Antarctica.”

⁶⁵ Smith, van Ommen, and Morgan, “Distribution of Oxygen Isotope Ratios’; Foster et al., ‘Covariation of Sea Ice and Methanesulphonic Acid in Wilhelm II Land.”

⁶⁶ Vance et al., “Optimal Site Selection.”

⁶⁷ Crockart et al., “El Niño Southern Oscillation Signal in a New East Antarctic Ice Core, Mount Brown South.”

⁶⁸ Ibid.

⁶⁹ Roberts et al., “Borehole Temperatures Reveal a Changed Energy Budget at Mill Island.”

⁷⁰ Inoue, “A Glaciochemical Study of the 120 m Ice Core from Mill Island.”

⁷¹ Ibid.

⁷² Budd, “The Antarctic Ice Sheet,” 328–9.

⁷³ Ibid.

⁷⁴ van Ommen, Goodwin, and Smith, “Climate Variability in Eastern Wilkes Land.”

⁷⁵ Ibid.

⁷⁶ Wong, “Investigation the Dominant Source of Sea Salt to Antarctica.”

⁷⁷ Jong et al., “2000 Years.”

⁷⁸ Budd, “The Antarctic Ice Sheet,” 322–42.

⁷⁹ Etheridge, “Scientific Plan for Deep Ice Drilling on Law Dome.”

⁸⁰ Ibid.

⁸¹ Etheridge et al., “Natural and Anthropogenic Changes in Atmospheric CO₂ over the Last 1000 Years from Air in Antarctic Ice and Firn.”

⁸² Budd, “The Antarctic Ice Sheet,” 348–52.

⁸³ ACE CRC, “Position Analysis,” 12.

⁸⁴ Budd, “The Antarctic Ice Sheet,” 348–52.

⁸⁵ Etheridge et al., “Natural and Anthropogenic Changes.”

⁸⁶ MacFarling Meure et al., “Law Dome CO₂, CH₄ and N₂O Ice Core Records Extended to 2000 Years BP.”

⁸⁷ van Ommen and Morgan, “Snowfall Increase in Coastal East Antarctica Linked with Southwest Western Australian Drought.”

⁸⁸ Jong et al., “2000 Years.”

⁸⁹ Ibid.

⁹⁰ Ibid.

⁹¹ Rubino et al., “Revised Records of Atmospheric Trace Gases.”

⁹² Jong et al., “2000 Years.”

⁹³ Ibid.

⁹⁴ Moy, “Glacial Isotopic Composition from Dome Summit South, 2016–2017 Season.”

⁹⁵ ACE CRC, “Position Analysis,” 7, 23.

⁹⁶ Emile-Geay et al., “A Global Multiproxy Database for Temperature Reconstructions of the Common Era.” 24.

⁹⁷ Curran, “Australian Antarctic Science Projects 1172, 1224, 3025, 4075.”

⁹⁸ Pyper, “Hard Core Science,” 3.

⁹⁹ Morgan, “Solving an Ice Age Mystery with a Million Year Old Ice Core,” 8.

¹⁰⁰ Morgan, “Solving an Ice Age Mystery’; Pyper, ‘Getting to the Core of Climate,” 1.

¹⁰¹ Pyper, “Getting to the Core,” 2.

¹⁰² Curran, “Ice Coring 2008–2009 (Law Dome W10k, Mill Island PICO, Totten PICOs): ASAC 3025.”

¹⁰³ Curran, “Projects 1172, 1224, 3025, 4075.”

¹⁰⁴ See Servettaz et al., “Snowfall and Water Stable Isotope Variability in East Antarctica Controlled by Warm Synoptic Events.”

¹⁰⁵ See Curran and Moy, “Aurora Basin North, Glacial Isotopic Composition Data.”

¹⁰⁶ Warner and Roberts, “Seeing through the Deep Ice,” 24.

¹⁰⁷ Ibid.

¹⁰⁸ Ibid.

¹⁰⁹ Pyper, “Traversing Antarctica,” 6.

¹¹⁰ Augustin et al., “Eight Glacial Cycles.”

¹¹¹ Alfred-Wegener-Institut, “Beyond EPICA Oldest Ice.”

¹¹² Silom, “Australia on Track to Find the World’s Oldest Antarctic Ice.”

¹¹³ Pyper, “Traversing Antarctica,” 6.

¹¹⁴ Fischer et al., “Where to Find 1.5 Million Yr Old Ice.”

¹¹⁵ Australian Antarctic Programme, “Ice Mission Success into Deep Antarctica.” https://www.antarctica.gov.au/news/2023/million-year-ice-core/ (accessed 16 February 2023); Pyper, “Traversing Antarctica,” 6.

¹¹⁶ SCAR. “A History of SCAR, 2004–2010.” 37–8.

¹¹⁷ Norman, “What Is The “Holy Grail of Climate Science” and How Will Scientists Find It?” ABC News, (2016). https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-12-12/what-is-the-million-year-ice-core/8102552 (accessed 05 March 2023).

¹¹⁸ Quoted in Dodds, “Awkward Antarctic nationalism.”

¹¹⁹ Elzinga, “Geopolitics, Science and Internationalism during and after IGY,” 71–8.

¹²⁰ Savarino, “An Overview of the EAIIST Project.”

¹²¹ Ibid.

¹²² PAGES, “Past Global Changes.”

¹²³ Dansgaard, “Stable Isotopes in Precipitation’; The Abundance of O18 in Atmospheric Water and Water Vapour.”

¹²⁴ Australian Government, “Priority Partner Countries.” Department of Education. https://www.education.gov.au/international-education-engagement/priority-partner-countries (accessed 19 February 2023).

¹²⁵ Zhao and Allison, “Some Aspects of Chinese-Australian Cooperation in Antarctic Research.”

¹²⁶ Jiawen, Dahe, and Allison, “Variations of Snow Accumulation”; Zheng et al., “Extending and Understanding the South West Western Australian Rainfall Record.”

¹²⁷ Zhao and Allison, “Some Aspects of Chinese-Australian Cooperation in Antarctic Research.”

¹²⁸ Ibid.

¹²⁹ Zhao et al., “Where Is the 1-Million-Year-Old Ice at Dome A?”

¹³⁰ Zheng et al., “Extending.”

¹³¹ Nielsen, Lucas, and Leane, “Rethinking Tasmania’s Regionality from an Antarctic Perspective.”

¹³² See Jong et al., “2000 Years”; Morgan, “Oxygen Isotope Evidence.”

¹³³ See Etheridge et al., “Natural and Anthropogenic Changes.”

¹³⁴ See Edwards et al., “Iron in Ice Cores from Law Dome, East Antarctica.”

¹³⁵ See Pedro et al., “High-resolution records.”

¹³⁶ Kiem et al., “Learning from the Past.”

¹³⁷ Croke et al., “A Palaeoclimate Proxy Database for Water Security Planning in Queensland Australia.”

¹³⁸ Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, “SCAR Data Policy (2022).”

¹³⁹ See McConnell et al., “Antarctic-Wide Array of High-Resolution Ice Core Records Reveals Pervasive Lead Pollution Began in 1889 and Persists Today.”

¹⁴⁰ Budd, “The Antarctic Ice Sheet,” 317.

¹⁴¹ Australian Government, “Priority Partner Countries.”

¹⁴² Ibid.

¹⁴³ Fischer et al., “Where to Find 1.5 Million Yr Old Ice.”

¹⁴⁴ McGee, Edmiston, and Haward, “Scenario Analysis and the Classical View of Antarctic Geopolitics,” 98, 172.

¹⁴⁵ Emile-Geay et al., “A Global Multiproxy Database.” 24.

¹⁴⁶ Donthu et al., “How to Conduct a Bibliometric Analysis”; Lee et al., “Many Papers”.

¹⁴⁷ McGee, Edmiston, and Haward, “Scenario Analysis,” 98172.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Australian Governments HDR Scholarship under the University of Tasmania’s Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies and the Australian Government’s Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry’s Future Drought Fund under a Top Up scholarship. Support for accessing software used for the methodology was by the Australian Antarctic Programme Partnership.