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Basal slip of dislocations, the easiest deformation mechanism of ice crystals, does not allow a response to any strain state. The first steps of another mechanism, with a moving subgrain boundary precursor region, which permits accommodating the effect of an applied load, is investigated on an ice single crystal, mainly using synchrotron radiation Bragg diffraction imaging. During this process, the evolution of the local integrated intensity shows that there is both a general multiplication of dislocations within the crystal and a movement of basal dislocations towards the surface. The `subgrain boundary precursor' region evolves towards a classical grain boundary when further deformed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of the distribution of the crystallographic orientations (the fabric) along ice cores supplies information on the past and current ice flows of ice-sheets. Beside the usually observed formation of a vertical single maximum fabric, the EPICA Dome Concordia ice core (EDC) shows an abrupt and unexpected strengthening of its fabric during termination II around 1750 m depth. Such strengthenings were already observed for sites located on an ice-sheet. This suggests that horizontal shear could occur along the EDC core. Moreover, the change in the fabric leads to a modification of the viscosity between neighbouring ice layers. Through the use of an anisotropic ice flow model, we quantify the change in viscosity and investigate its implication on ice flow and dating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rocking curve imaging (RCI) is a quantitative version of monochromatic beam diffraction topography that involves using a two-dimensional detector, each pixel of which records its own 'local' rocking curve. From these local rocking curves one can reconstruct maps of particularly relevant quantities ( e.g. integrated intensity, angular position of the centre of gravity, FWHM). Up to now RCI images have been exploited in the reflection case, giving a quantitative picture of the features present in a several-micrometre-thick subsurface layer. Recently, a three-dimensional Bragg diffraction imaging technique, which combines RCI with 'pinhole' and 'section' diffraction topography in the transmission case, was implemented. It allows three-dimensional images of defects to be obtained and measurement of three-dimensional distortions within a 50 × 50 × 50 µm elementary volume inside the crystal with angular misorientations down to 10 -5 -10 -6  rad. In the present paper, this three-dimensional-RCI (3D-RCI) technique is used to study one of the grains of a three-grained ice polycrystal. The inception of the deformation process is followed by reconstructing virtual slices in the crystal bulk. 3D-RCI capabilities allow the effective distortion in the bulk of the crystal to be investigated, and the predictions of diffraction theories to be checked, well beyond what has been possible up to now.