The ice microstructure (grain boundaries) is a key feature used to study ice evolution and to investigate past climatic changes. We studied a deep ice core, in Dome Concordia, Antarctica, which records past mechanical deformations. We measured a "texture tensor" which characterizes the pattern geometry and reveals local heterogeneities of deformation along the core. These results question key assumptions of the current models used for dating.
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0309081,
title = {Deformation of grain boundaries in polar ice},
author = {Gael Durand and Francois Graner and Jerome Weiss},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0309081},
year = {2009}
}