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1
Boutron, Claude F. "Historical reconstruction of the earth's past atmospheric environment from Greenland and Antarctic snow and ice cores." Environmental Reviews 3, no. 1 (January 1, 1995): 1–28. http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/a95-001.
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During the past decades, the investigation of various elements, species, and isotopes in the frozen atmospheric archives stored in the Greenland and Antarctic ice caps for several hundred thousand years has provided a wealth of fascinating information on past and recent changes in the atmospheric environment of our planet. After a brief description of the Antarctic and Greenland ice caps, we give an overview of the procedures that are used in the field for collecting snow and ice from the surface down to great depths. We discuss the techniques used to date and analyse the samples. The main results obtained to date are then presented, with special emphasis on the very recent. The analysis of the snow and ice layers deposited during the past few centuries, especially since the Industrial Revolution, has allowed us to assess clearly the impact human activity has had on the atmosphere, for important constituents such as heavy metals, sulfur and nitrogen compounds, greenhouse gases, carbon and organic compounds, and artificial radionuclides. The analysis of ancient ice up to several hundred thousand years old has provided unique insight on the past natural changes that affected our atmosphere during glacial–interglacial transitions, especially the temperature, greenhouse gases, soil- and sea-derived aerosols, and heavy metals.Key words: Greenland, Antarctica, ice, global pollution, climate change, heavy metals.
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Chamberlain, E. J., A. J. Christ, and R. W. Fulweiler. "Influence of Late Holocene climate on Lake Eggers hydrology, McMurdo Sound." Antarctic Science 33, no. 2 (February 11, 2021): 217–29. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0954102021000018.
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AbstractIce-covered lakes in Antarctica preserve records of regional hydroclimate and harbour extreme ecosystems that may serve as terrestrial analogues for exobiotic environments. Here, we examine the impacts of hydroclimate and landscape on the formation history of Lake Eggers, a small ice-sealed lake, located in the coastal polar desert of McMurdo Sound, Antarctica (78°S). Using ground penetrating radar surveys and three lake ice cores we characterize the ice morphology and chemistry. Lake ice geochemistry indicates that Lake Eggers is fed primarily from local snowmelt that accreted onto the lake surface during runoff events. Radiocarbon ages of ice-encased algae suggest basal ice formed at least 735 ± 20 calibrated years before present (1215 C.E.). Persisting through the Late Holocene, Lake Eggers alternated between periods of ice accumulation and sublimation driven by regional climate variability in the western Ross Sea. For example, particulate organic matter displayed varying δ15N ratios with depth, corresponding to sea ice fluctuations in the western Ross Sea during the Late Holocene. These results suggest a strong climatic control on the hydrologic regime shifts shaping ice formation at Lake Eggers.
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Fitzsimons, Sean J. "Ice-marginal Depositional Processes In A Polar Maritime Environment, Vestfold Hills, Antarctica." Journal of Glaciology 36, no. 124 (1990): 279–86. http://dx.doi.org/10.3189/002214390793701255.
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AbstractThis study investigates the processes of ice-marginal sedimentation in Vestfold Hills, Antarctica. Most debris is released from the ice when basal and englacial debris bands become warped and reach the surface of the glacier and where the debris bands are exposed by ablation of the ice surface. Once released, the debris is redistributed in the ice-marginal area by depositional processes that are controlled by the availability of water. During the short summer, melt water from snow and ice saturates the newly released debris and causes sediment flows and other mass-movement deposits. Melt-out and sublimation tills form after the layer of debris on the moraines is consolidated and melting rates decrease. When the thickness of deposits on the surface of ice-cored moraines reaches or exceeds the depth of summer thawing, the ice core no longer melts and the moraines become semi-permanent features. The sediments and land forms of the ice-marginal area closely resemble those formed by sub-polar glaciers with a complex thermal regime and are unlike those that form at the margins of dry-based polar glaciers. Although glacier thermal regime is understood to be a major control on debris dispersal and processes of glacial sedimentation, the evidence from Vestfold Hills suggests that the primary control is the climate of the glacier terminus area.
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Jouzel, J., J. R. Petit, and D. Raynaud. "Palaeoclimatic information from ice cores: the Vostok records." Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences 81, no. 4 (1990): 349–55. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0263593300020848.
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ABSTRACTIce deposits from Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets have stored over long periods of time information about the climate and environment of our planet. Attention will be focused on the 2083 m Vostok Antarctic ice core which represents a unusually long record (160 000 ka) due to the low accumulation rate (∼2 g cm−2a−1) and the rather uniform conditions of ice flow. This ice core provides a unique opportunity to obtain several palaeo-data such as temperature, accumulation (precipitation), aerosol loading, CO2 and trace gases over a full glacial-interglacial climatic cycle.The Vostok temperature, deduced from the interpretation of the deuterium content, and the CO2 records show a large 100 ka signal with a change of the order of 10°C and 70 ppmv respectively. The two records are closely correlated and both display shorter periodicities characteristic of the earth orbital parameters. CH4 concentrations also show variations from about 0·35 to about 0·65 ppmv linked with the glacial-interglacial warming. These features suggest a fundamental link between the climatic system and the carbon cycle and stress the role of radiatively active gases in climatic changes.The accumulation (precipitation) record appears to be governed by temperature with values during the coldest stages reduced by a factor of 2 with respect to the present rate. Ice deposited during these coldest stage is also characterised by high concentration of marine and terrestrial aerosols; these peaks probably reflect strengthened sources and meridional transport during full glacial conditions, linked to higher wind speed, more extensive arid areas on surrounding continent and a greater exposure of continental shelves.
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Nyamgerel, Yalalt, Sang-Bum Hong, Yeongcheol Han, Songyi Kim, Jeonghoon Lee, and Soon Do Hur. "Snow-Pit Record from a Coastal Antarctic Site and Its Preservation of Meteorological Features." Earth Interactions 25, no. 1 (January 2021): 108–18. http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/ei-d-20-0018.1.
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Abstract Polar snow pits or ice cores preserve valuable information derived from the atmosphere on past climate and environment changes. A 1.57-m snow-pit record from the coastal site (Styx Glacier) in eastern Antarctica covering the period from January 2011 to January 2015 was discussed and compared with meteorological variables. The dominant contribution of the deposition of sea-salt aerosols due to the proximity of the site to the ocean and processes of sea ice formation was revealed in the ionic concentrations. Consistent seasonal peaks in δ 18 O, δ D, MSA, , and indicate the strong enhancement of their source during warm periods, whereas the sea-salt ions (Na + , K + , Mg 2+ , Ca 2+ , Cl − , and ) exhibit a distinct distribution. Monthly mean δ 18 O positively correlates with the air temperature record from an automatic weather station (AWS) located in the main wind direction. Despite the shortness of the record, we suspect that the slight depletion of the isotopic composition and lowering of the snow accumulation could be related to the cooler air temperature with the decrease of open sea area. Consistency with previous studies and the positive correlation of sea-salt ions in the snow pit indicate the relatively good preservation of snow layers with noticeable climate and environmental signals [e.g., changes in sea ice extent (SIE) or sea surface temperature]. We report a new snow-pit record, which would be comparative and supportive to understand similar signals preserved in deeper ice cores in this location.
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Nishio, Fumihiko, Teruo Furukawa, Gen Hashida, Makoto Igarashi, Takao Kameda, Mika Kohno, Hideaki Motoyama, et al. "Annual-layer determinations and 167 year records of past climate of H72 ice core in east Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica." Annals of Glaciology 35 (2002): 471–79. http://dx.doi.org/10.3189/172756402781817086.
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AbstractTo determine annual layers for reconstructing the past environment at annual resolution from ice cores, we employed snow-stake data back to 1972, tritium content, solid electrical conductivity measurements (ECM) and stratigraphic properties for the 73m ice core at the H72 site, east Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica. the average annual surface mass balance at H72 is 307 mma–1w.e. during the last 27 years from continuous accumulation data, 317 mma–1 w.e. according to the densification model and 311 mma–1 w.e. according to the average surface mass balance for 167 years based on annual-layer counting. the ECM age is closely coincident with tritium age, and corresponds with the snow-stake record back to AD 1972 from the surface to 15 m depth. the H72 ice core is dated as AD 1831by ECMat 73.16 mdepth.The time series of yearly surface mass balance at H72 shows an almost constant 311 mm a–1 w.e. for the last 167 years. the oxygen-isotope records indicate a significant trend to lower values, with negative gradient of 1.7% (100 years)–1.
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Hodgson, D. A., P. E. Noon, W. Vyverman, C. L. Bryant, D. B. Gore, P. Appleby, M. Gilmour, et al. "Were the Larsemann Hills ice-free through the Last Glacial Maximum?" Antarctic Science 13, no. 4 (December 2001): 440–54. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0954102001000608.
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Lake sediments in the Larsemann Hills contain a great diversity of biological and physical markers from which past environments can be inferred. In order to determine the timing of environmental changes it is essential to have accurate dating of sediments. We used radiometric (210Pb and 137Cs), radiocarbon (AMS 14C) and uranium series (238U) methods to date cores from eleven lakes. These were sampled on coastal to inland transects across the two main peninsulas, Broknes and Stornes, together with a single sample from the Bolingen Islands. Radiometric dating of recent sediments yielded 210Pb levels below acceptable detection limits. However, a relatively well-defined peak in 137Cs gave a date marker which corresponds to the fallout maximum from the atmospheric testing of atomic weapons in 1964/65. Radiocarbon (AMS 14C) measurements showed stratigraphical consistency in the age-depth sequences and undisturbed laminae in some cores provides evidence that the sediments have remained undisturbed by glacial action. In addition, freshwater surface sediments were found to be in near-equilibrium with modern 14CO2 and not influenced by radiocarbon contamination processes. This dating program, together with geomorphological records of ice flow directions and glacial sediments, indicates that parts of Broknes were ice-free throughout the Last Glacial Maximum and that some lakes have existed continuously since at least 44 ka bp. Attempts to date sediments older than 44 ka bp using 128U dating were inconclusive. However, supporting evidence for Broknes being ice-free is provided by an Optically Stimulated Luminescence date from a glaciofluvial deposit. In contrast, Stornes only became ice-free in the mid to late Holocene. This contrasting glacial history results from the Dålk Glacier which diverts ice around Broknes. Lakes on Broknes and some offshore islands therefore contain the oldest known lacustrine sediment records from eastern Antarctica, with the area providing an ice-free oasis and refuge for plants and animals throughout the Last Glacial Maximum. These sediments are therefore well placed to unravel a unique limnological sequence of environmental and climate changes in East Antarctica from the late Pleistocene to the present. This information may help better constrain models of current climate changes and ensure the adequate protection of these lakes and their catchments from the impacts of recent human occupation.
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Ding, M., C. Xiao, R. Zhang, D. Qin, B. Jin, B. Sun, L. Bian, et al. "The snowdrift effect on snow deposition: insights from a comparison of a snow pit profile and meteorological observations." Cryosphere Discussions 7, no. 2 (April 3, 2013): 1415–39. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/tcd-7-1415-2013.
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Abstract. A high-frequency and precise ultrasonic sounder was used to record precipitated/deposited snow and drift events over a 3 yr period (17 January 2005 to 4 January 2008) at the Eagle automatic weather station (AWS) site. Through a comparison of the meteorological data with snow pit chemical/isotopic dating results, the snowdrift process effect during snow accumulation was assessed. We believe that ice/firn cores are the most important proxies of climate and the environment because of their high resolution and their preservation of historical greenhouse gas levels, although their limitations and measurement uncertainties must be taken into account, due to the event-driven snow dominates the snow deposition. This study found a difference between two dating results of up to 12 months for a ~ 95 cm snow pit, where the annual snow accumulation rate is 30.3 cm. A weakness is also indicated when simulating the surface mass balance in Antarctica.
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Dzieduszyńska, Danuta. "Archiwum zmian środowiska naturalnego okresu przełomu plejstocen-holocen w basenie uniejowskim." Biuletyn Uniejowski 2 (December 30, 2013): 39–52. http://dx.doi.org/10.18778/2299-8403.02.03.
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Archives of changes in the natural environments are gathered in various kinds of sediments,depending on the time in the history of the Earth. The Quaternary environmental variations are recorded from the ocean cores and the Greenland or Antarctic ice cores. High temporal resolution for shorter periods may be derived from annually laminated lacustrine sediments. A versatile archive for palaeogeographical reconstruction of the time of the Pleistocene–Holocene transition in the fluvial has been found at Koźmin Las site in the Uniwejów Basin of the middle Warta river valley. Well-preserved remains of pine subfossil forest as trunks and in situ stumps and accompanying organic deposits, of the late Alleröd and Younger Dryas age, have been subjected to multiproxy palaeoecological analysis and geological investigations. The sediments stored signals of a few short terrestrial events intrrupted by periodic floods. It has been concluded that the forest was destroyed by deteriorating hydrological conditions or a sudden catastrophic event, like a strong wind, in response to a global climatic change of the Pleistocene–Holocene transition. The Late Weichselian natural events recorded at the site point to a possible reaction of the fluvial system in a changing climate and environment. The knowledge about the past is essential to the creation of current ecosystem management strategies.
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WOLFF, ERIC W. "Understanding the past-climate history from Antarctica." Antarctic Science 17, no. 4 (November 18, 2005): 487–95. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0954102005002919.
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Antarctic ice cores have become a unique and powerful resource for studies of climate change. They contain information on past climate, on forcing factors such as greenhouse gas concentrations, and on numerous other environmental parameters. For recent centuries, sites with high snow accumulation are chosen. They have, for example, provided the only direct evidence that carbon dioxide concentrations have increased by over 30% over the last two centuries. They have provided key datasets for other greenhouse gases, and for other forcings such as solar and volcanic. Over longer timescales, the Vostok ice core has shown how greenhouse gas concentrations and climate have closely tracked one another over the last 400 000 years. Other cores have shown detailed spatial and temporal detail of climate transitions, including the Antarctic response during rapid climate events such as Dansgaard-Oeschger events. The new core from Dome C has extended the range of ice cores back beyond 800 000 years, and even older ice could be obtained in future projects.
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Ueltzhöffer, Kai J., Verena Bendel, Johannes Freitag, Sepp Kipfstuhl, Dietmar Wagenbach, Sérgio H. Faria, and Christoph S. Garbe. "Distribution of air bubbles in the EDML and EDC (Antarctica) ice cores, using a new method of automatic image analysis." Journal of Glaciology 56, no. 196 (2010): 339–48. http://dx.doi.org/10.3189/002214310791968511.
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AbstractAir bubbles in ice cores play an essential role in climate research, not only because they contain samples of the palaeoatmosphere, but also because their shape, size and distribution provide information about the past firn structure and the embedding of climate records into deep ice cores. In this context, we present profiles of average bubble size and bubble number for the entire EDML (Antarctica) core and the top 600 m of the EDC (Antarctica) core, and distributions of bubble sizes from selected depths. The data are generated with an image-processing framework which automatically extracts position, orientation, size and shape of an elliptical approximation of each bubble from thick-section micrographs, without user interaction. The presented software framework allows for registration of overlapping photomicrographs to yield accurate locations of bubble-like features. A comparison is made between the bubble parameterizations in the EDML and EDC cores and data published on the Vostok (Antarctica) ice core. The porosity at the firn/ice transition is inferred to lie between 8.62% and 10.48% for the EDC core and between 10.56% and 12.61 % for the EDML core.
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Mulvaney, Robert, Hans Oerter, David A. Peel, Wolfgang Graf, Carol Arrowsmith, Elizabeth C. Pasteur, Bruce Knight, Geneviève C. Littot, and William D. Miners. "1000 year ice-core records from Berkner Island, Antarctica." Annals of Glaciology 35 (2002): 45–51. http://dx.doi.org/10.3189/172756402781817176.
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AbstractTwo medium-depth ice cores were retrieved from Berkner Island by a joint project between the Alfred-Wegener-Institut and the British Antarctic Survey in the 1994/95 field season. A 151m deep core from the northern dome (Reinwarthhöhe) of Berkner Island spans 700 years, while a 181 m deep core from the southern dome (Thyssenhöhe) spans approximately 1200 years. Both cores display clear seasonal cycles in electrical conductivity measurements, allowing dating by annual-layer counting and the calculation of accumulation profiles. Stable-isotope measurements (both δ18O and δD), together with the accumulation data, allow us to estimate changes in climate for most of the past millennium: the data show multi-decadal variability around a generally stable long-termmean. In addition, a full suite of major chemistry measurements is available to define the history of aerosol deposition at these sites: again, there is little evidence that the chemistry of the sites has changed over the past six centuries. Finally, we suggest that the southern dome, with an ice thickness of 950 m, is an ideal site from which to gain a climate history of the late stages of the last glacial and the deglaciation for comparison with the records from the deep Antarctic ice cores, and with other intermediate-depth cores such as Taylor Dome and Siple Dome.
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Blunier, T., R. Spahni, J. M. Barnola, J. Chappellaz, L. Loulergue, and J. Schwander. "Synchronization of ice core records via atmospheric gases." Climate of the Past 3, no. 2 (June 18, 2007): 325–30. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/cp-3-325-2007.
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Abstract. To interpret new high resolution climate records it becomes more and more important to know about the succession of climate events. Such knowledge is hard to get especially when dealing with different types of climate archives. Even for ice cores a direct synchronization between ice cores from Greenland and Antarctica has not been possible so far due to the lack of time markers occurring in both hemispheres. Fortunately, variations in the time series of global gas records can be used as indirect time markers. Here we discuss in detail the steps that are necessary to synchronize ice cores via global gas records exemplified on the synchronization of the EPICA ice core from Dronning Maud Land to a Greenland record from North GRIP.
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Blunier, T., R. Spahni, J. M. Barnola, J. Chappellaz, L. Loulergue, and J. Schwander. "Synchronization of ice core records via atmospheric gases." Climate of the Past Discussions 3, no. 1 (February 15, 2007): 365–81. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/cpd-3-365-2007.
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Abstract. To interpret new high resolution climate records it becomes more and more important to know about the succession of climate events. Such knowledge is hard to get especially when dealing with different types of climate archives. Even for ice cores a direct synchronization between ice cores from Greenland and Antarctica has not been possible so far due to the lack of time markers occurring in both hemispheres. Fortunately, variations in the time series of global gas records can be used as indirect time markers. Here we discuss in detail the steps that are necessary to synchronize ice cores via global gas records exemplified on the synchronization of the EPICA ice core from Dronning Maud Land to a Greenland record from North GRIP.
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Gong, Fan, Li, Li, Zhang, Gromig, Smith, et al. "Coring of Antarctic Subglacial Sediments." Journal of Marine Science and Engineering 7, no. 6 (June 22, 2019): 194. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jmse7060194.
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Coring sediments in subglacial aquatic environments offers unique opportunities for research on paleo-environments and paleo-climates because it can provide data from periods even earlier than ice cores, as well as the overlying ice histories, interactions between ice and the water system, life forms in extreme habitats, sedimentology, and stratigraphy. However, retrieving sediment cores from a subglacial environment faces more difficulties than sediment coring in oceans and lakes, resulting in low yields from the most current subglacial sediment coring methods. The coring tools should pass through a hot water-drilled access borehole, then the water column, to reach the sediment layers. The access boreholes are size-limited by the hot water drilling tools and techniques. These holes are drilled through ice up to 3000–4000 m thick, with diameters ranging from 10–60 cm, and with a refreezing closure rate of up to 6 mm/h after being drilled. Several purpose-built streamline corers have been developed to pass through access boreholes and collect the sediment core. The main coring objectives are as follows: (i) To obtain undisturbed water–sediment cores, either singly or as multi-cores and (ii) to obtain long cores with minimal stratigraphic deformation. Subglacial sediment coring methods use similar tools to those used in lake and ocean coring. These methods include the following: Gravity coring, push coring, piston coring, hammer or percussion coring, vibrocoring, and composite methods. Several core length records have been attained by different coring methods, including a 290 cm percussion core from the sub-ice-shelf seafloor, a 400 cm piston core from the sub-ice-stream, and a 170 cm gravity core from a subglacial lake. There are also several undisturbed water–sediment cores that have been obtained by gravity corers or hammer corers. Most current coring tools are deployed by winch and cable facilities on the ice surface. There are three main limitations for obtaining long sediment cores which determines coring tool development, as follows: Hot-water borehole radial size restriction, the sedimentary structure, and the coring techniques. In this paper, we provide a general view on current developments in coring tools, including the working principles, corer characteristics, operational methods, coring site locations, field conditions, coring results, and possible technical improvements. Future prospects in corer design and development are also discussed.
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Jouzel, J., G. Raisbeck, J. P. Benoist, F. Yiou, C. Lorius, D. Raynaud, J. R. Petit, N. I. Barkov, Y. S. Korotkevitch, and V. M. Kotlyakov. "A Comparison of Deep Antarctic Ice Cores and Their Implications for Climate Between 65,000 and 15,000 Years Ago." Quaternary Research 31, no. 2 (March 1989): 135–50. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0033-5894(89)90003-3.
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AbstractThree ice cores drilled in the central part of the Antarctic continent extend back to the last glacial period: one from West Antarctica (Byrd) and two from East Antarctica (Vostok and Dome C). This period is also partly covered by a few cores from the coastal areas. In these cores, climatic information is mostly derived from the isotopic profiles (δD or δ18O) from which surface temperature and, more indirectly, precipitation rate can be estimated. The main objective has been to compare thoroughly the three deep ice cores for the main part of the last glacial period (from ca. 65,000–15,000 yr B.P.). The time scales have been examined in detail and a new 40,000 yr chronology for the Dome C core adopted. Special emphasis is placed on the link between the concentration of 10Be and past accumulation changes and on the use of peaks in the concentration of this cosmogenic isotope as stratigraphic markers. Elevation changes of the ice sheet, derived from gas content and isotopic data, bear directly on interpretations of past temperature and precipitation rate changes.
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Jungblut, Anne D., and Ian Hawes. "Using Captain Scott's Discovery specimens to unlock the past: has Antarctic cyanobacterial diversity changed over the last 100 years?" Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 284, no. 1857 (June 21, 2017): 20170833. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2017.0833.
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Evidence of climate-driven environmental change is increasing in Antarctica, and with it comes concern that this will propagate to impacts on biological communities. Recognition and prediction of change needs to incorporate the extent and timescales over which communities vary under extant conditions. However, few observations of Antarctic microbial communities, which dominate inland habitats, allow this. We therefore carried out the first molecular comparison of Cyanobacteria in historic herbarium microbial mats from freshwater ecosystems on Ross Island and the McMurdo Ice Shelf, collected by Captain R.F. Scott's ‘Discovery’ Expedition (1902–1903), with modern samples from those areas. Using 16S rRNA gene surveys, we found that modern and historic cyanobacteria assemblages showed some variation in community structure but were dominated by the same genotypes. Modern communities had a higher richness, including genotypes not found in historic samples, but they had the highest similarity to other cyanobacteria sequences from Antarctica. The results imply slow cyanobacterial 16S rRNA gene genotype turnover and considerable community stability within Antarctic microbial mats. We suggest that this relates to Antarctic freshwater 'organisms requiring a capacity to withstand diverse stresses, and that this could also provide a degree of resistance and resilience to future climatic-driven environmental change in Antarctica.
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Neumann, Thomas A., Edwin D. Waddington, Eric J. Steig, and Pieter M. Grootes. "Non-climate influences on stable isotopes at Taylor Mouth, Antarctica." Journal of Glaciology 51, no. 173 (2005): 248–58. http://dx.doi.org/10.3189/172756505781829331.
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AbstractThe late-Holocene trends in δ18O differ significantly in two ice cores (30 km apart) from the area of Taylor Dome, Antarctica. It is unlikely that the trend in the core from Taylor Mouth (the flank site) is due to a standard δ18O–surface temperature relationship. Assuming that the Taylor Dome (nearsummit) core records local climate variations common to both cores, we assess two leading possible causes for the observed differences: (1) Relative to Taylor Dome, Taylor Mouth may collect snow from more sources with distinct isotopic compositions. (2) Vapor motion during prolonged near-surface exposure may cause post-depositional isotope enrichment at Taylor Mouth, where the accumulation rate is low. Our model of firn pore-space vapor and sublimating ice grains suggests that post-depositional processes can modify δ18O values by several ‰. Isotopic samples from areas with significantly different accumulation rates near Taylor Mouth could differentiate between possibilities (1) and (2).
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Magand, Olivier, Massimo Frezzotti, Michel Pourchet, Barbara Stenni, Laura Genoni, and Michel Fily. "Climate variability along latitudinal and longitudinal transects in East Antarctica." Annals of Glaciology 39 (2004): 351–58. http://dx.doi.org/10.3189/172756404781813961.
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AbstractIn the framework of the International Trans-Antarctic Scientific Expedition (ITASE) programme, France and Italy carried out a traverse along one west–east and two north–south transects in East Antarctica from November 2001 to January 2002. Eighteen shallow snow–firn cores were drilled, and surface snow samples were collected every 5km along the traverse. Firn temperatures were measured in boreholes down to 30 m. The cores were analyzed for β radioactivity to obtain snow accumulation-rate data. The surface snow samples were analyzed for δ18O to correlate isotopic values with borehole temperatures. Multiple regression analysis shows a global near-dry-adiabatic lapse rate and a latitudinal lapse rate of 1.05˚C(˚ lat. S)–1, in the Dome C drainage area. Analysis of firn temperatures reveals a super-adiabatic lapse rate along the ice divide between Talos Dome and the Southern Ocean coast, and in some sectors along the ice divide between the Astrolabe Basin and D59. Snow accumulation rates and firn temperatures show warmer temperatures and higher accumulation values close to the ice divides extending from Talos Dome and Dome C to the Southern Ocean. The spatial pattern of data is linked with a katabatic-wind-source basin and moisture-source region.
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Jouzel, J. "A brief history of ice core science over the last 50 yr." Climate of the Past 9, no. 6 (November 6, 2013): 2525–47. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-2525-2013.
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Abstract. For about 50 yr, ice cores have provided a wealth of information about past climatic and environmental changes. Ice cores from Greenland, Antarctica and other glacier-covered regions now encompass a variety of time scales. However, the longer time scales (e.g. at least back to the Last Glacial period) are covered by deep ice cores, the number of which is still very limited: seven from Greenland, with only one providing an undisturbed record of a part of the last interglacial period, and a dozen from Antarctica, with the longest record covering the last 800 000 yr. This article aims to summarize this successful adventure initiated by a few pioneers and their teams and to review key scientific results by focusing on climate (in particular water isotopes) and climate-related (e.g. greenhouse gases) reconstructions. Future research is well taken into account by the four projects defined by IPICS. However, it remains a challenge to get an intact record of the Last Interglacial in Greenland and to extend the Antarctic record through the mid-Pleistocene transition, if possible back to 1.5 Ma.
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Jouzel, J. "A brief history of ice core science over the last 50 yr." Climate of the Past Discussions 9, no. 4 (July 3, 2013): 3711–67. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/cpd-9-3711-2013.
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Abstract. For about 50 yr, ice cores have provided a wealth of information about past climatic and environmental changes. Ice cores from Greenland, Antarctica and other glaciers, now emcompass a variety of timescales. However, the longer time scales (e.g. at least back to the Last Glacial period) are covered by deep ice cores the number of which is still very limited, seven from Greenland, with only one providing an undisturbed record of a part of the Last Interglacial Period, and a dozen from Antarctica with the longest record covering the last 800 000 yr. This article aims to summarize this successful adventure initiated by a few pioneers and their teams and to review key scientific results in focusing on climate (in particular water isotopes) and climate related (e.g. greenhouse gases) reconstructions. Future research is well taken into account by the four projects defined by IPICS. However it remains a challenge to get an intact record of the Last Interglacial in Greenland and to extend the Antarctic record through the mid-Pleistocene transition, if possible back to 1.5 Myr.
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MACKENSEN, ANDREAS. "Changing Southern Ocean palaeocirculation and effects on global climate." Antarctic Science 16, no. 4 (November 30, 2004): 369–86. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0954102004002202.
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Southern Ocean palaeocirculation is clearly related to the formation of a continental ice sheet on Antarctica and the opening of gateways between Antarctica and the Australian and South American continents. Palaeoenvironmental proxy records from Southern Ocean sediment cores suggest ice growth on Antarctica beginning by at least 40 million years (Ma) ago, and the opening of Tasmania–Antarctic and Drake Passages to deep-water flow around 34 and 31 ± 2 Ma, respectively. So, the Eocene/Oligocene transition appears to mark the initiation of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and thus the onset of thermal isolation of Antarctica with a first major ice volume growth on East Antarctic. There is no evidence for a significant cooling of the deep ocean associated with this rapid (< 350 000 years) continental ice build-up. After a long phase with frequent ice sheets growing and decaying, in the middle Miocene at about 14 Ma, a re-establishment of an ice sheet on East Antarctica and the Pacific margin of West Antarctica was associated with an increased southern bottom water formation, and a slight cooling of the deep ocean, but with no permanent drop in atmospheric pCO2. During the late Pleistocene on orbital time scales a temporal correlation between changes in atmospheric pCO2 and proxy records of deep ocean temperatures, continental ice volume, sea ice extension, and deep-water nutrient contents is documented. I discuss hypotheses that call for a dominant control of glacial to interglacial atmospheric pCO2 variations by Southern Ocean circulation dynamics. Millennial to centennial climate variability is a global feature, but there is contrasting evidence from various palaeoclimate archives that indicate both interhemispheric synchrony and asynchrony. The role of the Southern Ocean, however, in triggering or modulating climate variability on these time scales only recently received some attention and is not yet adequately investigated.
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McKay, R. M., P. J. Barrett, R. S. Levy, T. R. Naish, N. R. Golledge, and A. Pyne. "Antarctic Cenozoic climate history from sedimentary records: ANDRILL and beyond." Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences 374, no. 2059 (January 28, 2016): 20140301. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2014.0301.
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Mounting evidence from models and geological data implies that the Antarctic Ice Sheet may behave in an unstable manner and retreat rapidly in response to a warming climate, which is a key factor motivating efforts to improve estimates of Antarctic ice volume contributions to future sea-level rise. Here, we review Antarctic cooling history since peak temperatures of the Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum (approx. 50 Ma) to provide a framework for future initiatives to recover sediment cores from subglacial lakes and sedimentary basins in Antarctica's continental interior. While the existing inventory of cores has yielded important insights into the biotic and climatic evolution of Antarctica, strata have numerous and often lengthy time breaks, providing a framework of ‘snapshots’ through time. Further cores, and more work on existing cores, are needed to reconcile Antarctic records with the more continuous ‘far-field’ records documenting the evolution of global ice volume and deep-sea temperature. To achieve this, we argue for an integrated portfolio of drilling and coring missions that encompasses existing methodologies using ship- and sea-ice-/ice-shelf-based drilling platforms as well as recently developed seafloor-based drilling and subglacial access systems. We conclude by reviewing key technological issues that will need to be overcome.
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Raisbeck, G. M., F. Yiou, J. Jouzel, and T. F. Stocker. "Direct north-south synchronization of abrupt climate change record in ice cores using Beryllium 10." Climate of the Past 3, no. 3 (September 7, 2007): 541–47. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/cp-3-541-2007.
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Abstract. A new, decadally resolved record of the 10Be peak at 41 kyr from the EPICA Dome C ice core (Antarctica) is used to match it with the same peak in the GRIP ice core (Greenland). This permits a direct synchronisation of the climatic variations around this time period, independent of uncertainties related to the ice age-gas age difference in ice cores. Dansgaard-Oeschger event 10 is in the period of best synchronisation and is found to be coeval with an Antarctic temperature maximum. Simulations using a thermal bipolar seesaw model agree reasonably well with the observed relative climate chronology in these two cores. They also reproduce three Antarctic warming events observed between A1 and A2.
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Raisbeck, G. M., F. Yiou, J. Jouzel, and T. F. Stocker. "Direct North-South synchronization of abrupt climate change record in ice cores using beryllium 10." Climate of the Past Discussions 3, no. 3 (May 11, 2007): 755–69. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/cpd-3-755-2007.
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Abstract. A new, decadally resolved record of the 10Be peak at 41 kyr from the EPICA Dome C ice core (Antarctica) is used to match it with the same peak in the GRIP ice core (Greenland). This permits a direct synchronisation of the climatic variations around 41 kyr BP, independent of uncertainties related to the ice age-gas age difference in ice cores. Dansgaard-Oeschger event 10 is in the period of best synchronisation and is found to be coeval with an Antarctic temperature maximum. Simulations using a thermal bipolar seesaw model agree reasonably well with the observed relative climate chronology in these two cores. They also reproduce three Antarctic warming events between A1 and A2.
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Schneider, David P., Eric J. Steig, and Tas Van Ommen. "High-resolution ice-core stable-isotopic records from Antarctica: towards interannual climate reconstruction." Annals of Glaciology 41 (2005): 63–70. http://dx.doi.org/10.3189/172756405781813357.
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AbstractIce-core records are a key resource for reconstructing Antarctic climate. However, a number of physical processes preclude the simple interpretation of ice-core properties such as oxygen isotopic ratios in terms of climate variables like temperature or sea-level pressure. We show that well-dated, sub-annually resolved stable-isotopic records from the United States International Trans-Antarctic Scientific Expedition (US-ITASE) traverses and other sources have a high correlation with local seasonal temperature variation. However, this temporal relationship cannot be simply extended to quantitative interannual resolution reconstructions of site temperature. We suggest that a consistent and important target for ice-core calibrations is a composite of annual mean temperature records from Antarctic weather stations, which covaries strongly with the dominant mode (from principal component analysis) of temperature variability in the Antarctic. Significant correlations with this temperature index are found with individual ice-core records, with a composite of the ice cores, and through a multiple linear regression model with the ice cores as predictors. These results imply that isotopic signals, like the instrumental temperature mode itself, have a strong response to large-scale atmospheric circulation variability, which in the Antarctic region is dominated by the Southern Annular Mode.
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Cuffey, Kurt M., Gary D. Clow, Eric J. Steig, Christo Buizert, T. J. Fudge, Michelle Koutnik, Edwin D. Waddington, Richard B. Alley, and Jeffrey P. Severinghaus. "Deglacial temperature history of West Antarctica." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 113, no. 50 (November 28, 2016): 14249–54. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1609132113.
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The most recent glacial to interglacial transition constitutes a remarkable natural experiment for learning how Earth’s climate responds to various forcings, including a rise in atmospheric CO2. This transition has left a direct thermal remnant in the polar ice sheets, where the exceptional purity and continual accumulation of ice permit analyses not possible in other settings. For Antarctica, the deglacial warming has previously been constrained only by the water isotopic composition in ice cores, without an absolute thermometric assessment of the isotopes’ sensitivity to temperature. To overcome this limitation, we measured temperatures in a deep borehole and analyzed them together with ice-core data to reconstruct the surface temperature history of West Antarctica. The deglacial warming was 11.3±1.8∘C, approximately two to three times the global average, in agreement with theoretical expectations for Antarctic amplification of planetary temperature changes. Consistent with evidence from glacier retreat in Southern Hemisphere mountain ranges, the Antarctic warming was mostly completed by 15 kyBP, several millennia earlier than in the Northern Hemisphere. These results constrain the role of variable oceanic heat transport between hemispheres during deglaciation and quantitatively bound the direct influence of global climate forcings on Antarctic temperature. Although climate models perform well on average in this context, some recent syntheses of deglacial climate history have underestimated Antarctic warming and the models with lowest sensitivity can be discounted.
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Buizert, Christo, T. J. Fudge, William H. G. Roberts, Eric J. Steig, Sam Sherriff-Tadano, Catherine Ritz, Eric Lefebvre, et al. "Antarctic surface temperature and elevation during the Last Glacial Maximum." Science 372, no. 6546 (June 3, 2021): 1097–101. http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.abd2897.
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Water-stable isotopes in polar ice cores are a widely used temperature proxy in paleoclimate reconstruction, yet calibration remains challenging in East Antarctica. Here, we reconstruct the magnitude and spatial pattern of Last Glacial Maximum surface cooling in Antarctica using borehole thermometry and firn properties in seven ice cores. West Antarctic sites cooled ~10°C relative to the preindustrial period. East Antarctic sites show a range from ~4° to ~7°C cooling, which is consistent with the results of global climate models when the effects of topographic changes indicated with ice core air-content data are included, but less than those indicated with the use of water-stable isotopes calibrated against modern spatial gradients. An altered Antarctic temperature inversion during the glacial reconciles our estimates with water-isotope observations.
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Lenaerts, Jan T. M., Joel Brown, Michiel R. Van Den Broeke, Kenichi Matsuoka, Reinhard Drews, Denis Callens, Morgane Philippe, et al. "High variability of climate and surface mass balance induced by Antarctic ice rises." Journal of Glaciology 60, no. 224 (2014): 1101–10. http://dx.doi.org/10.3189/2014jog14j040.
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AbstractIce rises play key roles in buttressing the neighbouring ice shelves and potentially provide palaeoclimate proxies from ice cores drilled near their divides. Little is known, however, about their influence on local climate and surface mass balance (SMB). Here we combine 12 years (2001–12) of regional atmospheric climate model (RACMO2) output at high horizontal resolution (5.5 km) with recent observations from weather stations, ground-penetrating radar and firn cores in coastal Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica, to describe climate and SMB variations around ice rises. We demonstrate strong spatial variability of climate and SMB in the vicinity of ice rises, in contrast to flat ice shelves, where they are relatively homogeneous. Despite their higher elevation, ice rises are characterized by higher winter temperatures compared with the flat ice shelf. Ice rises strongly influence SMB patterns, mainly through orographic uplift of moist air on the upwind slopes. Besides precipitation, drifting snow contributes significantly to the ice-rise SMB. The findings reported here may aid in selecting a representative location for ice coring on ice rises, and allow better constraint of local ice-rise as well as regional ice-shelf mass balance.
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Lenaerts, Jan T. M., Stefan R. M. Ligtenberg, Brooke Medley, Willem Jan Van de Berg, Hannes Konrad, Julien P. Nicolas, J. Melchior Van Wessem, et al. "Climate and surface mass balance of coastal West Antarctica resolved by regional climate modelling." Annals of Glaciology 59, no. 76pt1 (November 27, 2017): 29–41. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/aog.2017.42.
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ABSTRACTWest Antarctic climate and surface mass balance (SMB) records are sparse. To fill this gap, regional atmospheric climate modelling is useful, providing that such models are employed at sufficiently high horizontal resolution and coupled with a snow model. Here we present the results of a high-resolution (5.5 km) regional atmospheric climate model (RACMO2) simulation of coastal West Antarctica for the period 1979–2015. We evaluate the results with available in situ weather observations, remote-sensing estimates of surface melt, and SMB estimates derived from radar and firn cores. Moreover, results are compared with those from a lower-resolution version, to assess the added value of the resolution. The high-resolution model resolves small-scale climate variability invoked by topography, such as the relatively warm conditions over ice-shelf grounding zones, and local wind speed accelerations. Surface melt and SMB are well reproduced by RACMO2. This dataset will prove useful for picking ice core locations, converting elevation changes to mass changes, for driving ocean, ice-sheet and coupled models, and for attributing changes in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and shelves to changes in atmospheric forcing.
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Sudarchikova, N., U. Mikolajewicz, C. Timmreck, D. O'Donnell, G. Schurgers, D. Sein, and K. Zhang. "Dust deposition in Antarctica in glacial and interglacial climate conditions: a modelling study." Climate of the Past Discussions 10, no. 5 (September 10, 2014): 3715–53. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/cpd-10-3715-2014.
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Abstract. The mineral dust cycle responds to climate variations and plays an important role in the climate system by affecting the radiative balance of the atmosphere and modifying biogeochemistry. Polar ice cores provide a unique information about deposition of aeolian dust particles transported over long distance. These cores are a paleoclimate proxy archive of climate variability thousands of years ago. The current study is a first attempt to simulate past interglacial dust cycles with a global aerosol-climate model ECHAM5-HAM. The results are used to explain the dust deposition changes in Antarctica in terms of quantitative contribution of different processes, such as emission, atmospheric transport and precipitation, which will help to interpret paleodata from Antarctic ice cores. The investigated periods include four interglacial time-slices such as the pre-industrial control (CTRL), mid-Holocene (6000 yr BP), last glacial inception (115 000 yr BP) and Eemian (126 000 yr BP). One glacial time interval, which is Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) (21 000 yr BP) was simulated as well as to be a reference test for the model. Results suggest an increase of mineral dust deposition globally, and in Antarctica, in the past interglacial periods relative to the pre-industrial CTRL simulation. Approximately two thirds of the increase in the mid-Holocene and Eemian is attributed to enhanced Southern Hemisphere dust emissions. Slightly strengthened transport efficiency causes the remaining one third of the increase in dust deposition. The moderate change of dust deposition in Antarctica in the last glacial inception period is caused by the slightly stronger poleward atmospheric transport efficiency compared to the pre-industrial. Maximum dust deposition in Antarctica was simulated for the glacial period. LGM dust deposition in Antarctica is substantially increased due to 2.6 times higher Southern Hemisphere dust emissions, two times stronger atmospheric transport towards Antarctica, and 30% weaker precipitation over the Southern Ocean. The model is able to reproduce the order of magnitude of dust deposition globally and in Antarctica for the pre-industrial and LGM climates.
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Casado, Mathieu, Thomas Münch, and Thomas Laepple. "Climatic information archived in ice cores: impact of intermittency and diffusion on the recorded isotopic signal in Antarctica." Climate of the Past 16, no. 4 (August 25, 2020): 1581–98. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/cp-16-1581-2020.
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Abstract. The isotopic signal (δ18O and δD) imprinted in ice cores from Antarctica is not solely generated by the temperature sensitivity of the isotopic composition of precipitation, but it also contains the signature of the intermittency of the precipitation patterns, as well as of post-deposition processes occurring at the surface and in the firn. This leads to a proxy signal recorded by the ice cores that may not be representative of the local climate variations. Due to precipitation intermittency, the ice cores only record brief snapshots of the climatic conditions, resulting in aliasing of the climatic signal and thus a large amount of noise which reduces the minimum temporal resolution at which a meaningful signal can be retrieved. The analyses are further complicated by isotopic diffusion, which acts as a low-pass filter that dampens any high-frequency changes. Here, we use reanalysis data (ERA-Interim) combined with satellite products of accumulation to evaluate the spatial distribution of the numerical estimates of the transfer function that describes the formation of the isotopic signal across Antarctica. As a result, the minimum timescales at which the signal-to-noise ratio exceeds unity range from less than 1 year at the coast to about 1000 years further inland. Based on solely physical processes, we are thus able to define a lower bound for the timescales at which climate variability can be reconstructed from the isotopic composition in ice cores.
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Sudarchikova, N., U. Mikolajewicz, C. Timmreck, D. O'Donnell, G. Schurgers, D. Sein, and K. Zhang. "Modelling of mineral dust for interglacial and glacial climate conditions with a focus on Antarctica." Climate of the Past 11, no. 5 (May 19, 2015): 765–79. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/cp-11-765-2015.
Full textAbstract:
Abstract. The mineral dust cycle responds to climate variations and plays an important role in the climate system by affecting the radiative balance of the atmosphere and modifying biogeochemistry. Polar ice cores provide unique information about deposition of aeolian dust particles transported over long distances. These cores are a palaeoclimate proxy archive of climate variability thousands of years ago. The current study is a first attempt to simulate past interglacial dust cycles with a global aerosol–climate model ECHAM5-HAM. The results are used to explain the dust deposition changes in Antarctica in terms of quantitative contribution of different processes, such as emission, atmospheric transport and precipitation, which will help to interpret palaeodata from Antarctic ice cores. The investigated periods include four interglacial time slices: the pre-industrial control (CTRL), mid-Holocene (6000 yr BP; hereafter referred to as "6 kyr"), last glacial inception (115 000 yr BP; hereafter "115 kyr") and Eemian (126 000 yr BP; hereafter "126 kyr"). One glacial time interval, the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) (21 000 yr BP; hereafter "21 kyr"), was simulated as well to be a reference test for the model. Results suggest an increase in mineral dust deposition globally, and in Antarctica, in the past interglacial periods relative to the pre-industrial CTRL simulation. Approximately two-thirds of the increase in the mid-Holocene and Eemian is attributed to enhanced Southern Hemisphere dust emissions. Slightly strengthened transport efficiency causes the remaining one-third of the increase in dust deposition. The moderate change in dust deposition in Antarctica in the last glacial inception period is caused by the slightly stronger poleward atmospheric transport efficiency compared to the pre-industrial. Maximum dust deposition in Antarctica was simulated for the glacial period. LGM dust deposition in Antarctica is substantially increased due to 2.6 times higher Southern Hemisphere dust emissions, 2 times stronger atmospheric transport towards Antarctica, and 30% weaker precipitation over the Southern Ocean. The model is able to reproduce the order of magnitude of dust deposition globally and in Antarctica for the pre-industrial and LGM climates.
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van den Broeke, Michiel, Willem Jan van de Berg, and Erik van Meijgaard. "Firn depth correction along the Antarctic grounding line." Antarctic Science 20, no. 5 (June 25, 2008): 513–17. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s095410200800148x.
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AbstractTo reduce the uncertainty in the calculation of Antarctic solid ice fluxes, the firn depth correction (Δh) in Antarctica is inferred from a steady-state firn densification model forced by a regional atmospheric climate model. The modelled density agrees well with observations from firn cores, apart from a site at the origin of fast flowing West Antarctic ice stream (Upstream B), where densification is anomalously rapid. The spatial distribution of Δh over Antarctica shows large variations, especially in the grounding line zone where large climate gradients exist. In places where the grounding line crosses ablation areas, Δh is zero. Along the remainder of the grounding line, Δh values range from typically 13 m in dry coastal areas (e.g. Dronning Maud Land) to 19 m in wet coastal areas (e.g. West Antarctica).
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Münch, Thomas, Sepp Kipfstuhl, Johannes Freitag, Hanno Meyer, and Thomas Laepple. "Regional climate signal vs. local noise: a two-dimensional view of water isotopes in Antarctic firn at Kohnen Station, Dronning Maud Land." Climate of the Past 12, no. 7 (July 22, 2016): 1565–81. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-1565-2016.
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Abstract. In low-accumulation regions, the reliability of δ18O-derived temperature signals from ice cores within the Holocene is unclear, primarily due to the small climate changes relative to the intrinsic noise of the isotopic signal. In order to learn about the representativity of single ice cores and to optimise future ice-core-based climate reconstructions, we studied the stable-water isotope composition of firn at Kohnen Station, Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica. Analysing δ18O in two 50 m long snow trenches allowed us to create an unprecedented, two-dimensional image characterising the isotopic variations from the centimetre to the 100-metre scale. Our results show seasonal layering of the isotopic composition but also high horizontal isotopic variability caused by local stratigraphic noise. Based on the horizontal and vertical structure of the isotopic variations, we derive a statistical noise model which successfully explains the trench data. The model further allows one to determine an upper bound for the reliability of climate reconstructions conducted in our study region at seasonal to annual resolution, depending on the number and the spacing of the cores taken.
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Vega, Carmen P., Elisabeth Schlosser, Dmitry V. Divine, Jack Kohler, Tõnu Martma, Anja Eichler, Margit Schwikowski, and Elisabeth Isaksson. "Surface mass balance and water stable isotopes derived from firn cores on three ice rises, Fimbul Ice Shelf, Antarctica." Cryosphere 10, no. 6 (November 17, 2016): 2763–77. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-2763-2016.
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Abstract. Three shallow firn cores were retrieved in the austral summers of 2011/12 and 2013/14 on the ice rises Kupol Ciolkovskogo (KC), Kupol Moskovskij (KM), and Blåskimen Island (BI), all part of Fimbul Ice Shelf (FIS) in western Dronning Maud Land (DML), Antarctica. The cores were dated back to 1958 (KC), 1995 (KM), and 1996 (BI) by annual layer counting using high-resolution oxygen isotope (δ18O) data, and by identifying volcanic horizons using non-sea-salt sulfate (nssSO42−) data. The water stable isotope records show that the atmospheric signature of the annual snow accumulation cycle is well preserved in the firn column, especially at KM and BI. We are able to determine the annual surface mass balance (SMB), as well as the mean SMB values between identified volcanic horizons. Average SMB at the KM and BI sites (0.68 and 0.70 mw. e. yr−1) was higher than at the KC site (0.24 mw. e. yr−1), and there was greater temporal variability as well. Trends in the SMB and δ18O records from the KC core over the period of 1958–2012 agree well with other previously investigated cores in the area, thus the KC site could be considered the most representative of the climate of the region. Cores from KM and BI appear to be more affected by local meteorological conditions and surface topography. Our results suggest that the ice rises are suitable sites for the retrieval of longer firn and ice cores, but that BI has the best preserved seasonal cycles of the three records and is thus the most optimal site for high-resolution studies of temporal variability of the climate signal. Deuterium excess data suggest a possible effect of seasonal moisture transport changes on the annual isotopic signal. In agreement with previous studies, large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns most likely provide the dominant influence on water stable isotope ratios preserved at the core sites.
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Bertler, Nancy A. N., Howard Conway, Dorthe Dahl-Jensen, Daniel B. Emanuelsson, Mai Winstrup, Paul T. Vallelonga, James E. Lee, et al. "The Ross Sea Dipole – temperature, snow accumulation and sea ice variability in the Ross Sea region, Antarctica, over the past 2700 years." Climate of the Past 14, no. 2 (February 21, 2018): 193–214. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-193-2018.
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Abstract. High-resolution, well-dated climate archives provide an opportunity to investigate the dynamic interactions of climate patterns relevant for future projections. Here, we present data from a new, annually dated ice core record from the eastern Ross Sea, named the Roosevelt Island Climate Evolution (RICE) ice core. Comparison of this record with climate reanalysis data for the 1979–2012 interval shows that RICE reliably captures temperature and snow precipitation variability in the region. Trends over the past 2700 years in RICE are shown to be distinct from those in West Antarctica and the western Ross Sea captured by other ice cores. For most of this interval, the eastern Ross Sea was warming (or showing isotopic enrichment for other reasons), with increased snow accumulation and perhaps decreased sea ice concentration. However, West Antarctica cooled and the western Ross Sea showed no significant isotope temperature trend. This pattern here is referred to as the Ross Sea Dipole. Notably, during the Little Ice Age, West Antarctica and the western Ross Sea experienced colder than average temperatures, while the eastern Ross Sea underwent a period of warming or increased isotopic enrichment. From the 17th century onwards, this dipole relationship changed. All three regions show current warming, with snow accumulation declining in West Antarctica and the eastern Ross Sea but increasing in the western Ross Sea. We interpret this pattern as reflecting an increase in sea ice in the eastern Ross Sea with perhaps the establishment of a modern Roosevelt Island polynya as a local moisture source for RICE.
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Nishimura, Akira, Toru Nakasone, Chikara Hiramatsu, and Manabu Tanahashi. "Late Quaternary paleoenvironment of the Ross Sea continental shelf, Antarctica." Annals of Glaciology 27 (1998): 275–80. http://dx.doi.org/10.3189/1998aog27-1-275-280.
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Based on sedimenlological and micropaleontological work on three sediment cores collected at about 167° Ε in the western Ross Sea, Antarctica, and accelerator mass spectrometer l4C ages of organic carbon, we have reconstructed environmental changes in the area during the late Quaternary. Since 38 ka BP at latest, this area was a marine environment with low productivity. A grounded ice sheet advanced and loaded the sediments before about 30-25 ka BP. After 25 ka BP, the southernmost site (76°46'S) was covered by floating ice (shelf ice), preventing deposition of coarse terrigenous materials and maintaining a supply of diatom tests and organic carbon until 20 ka BP. The northernmost site (74°33'S) was in a marine environment with a moderate productivity influenced by shelf ice/ice sheet after about 20 ka BP. Since about 10 ka BP, a sedimentary environment similar to the present-day one has prevailed over this area.
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Yamada, R., G. Tao, J. Zheng, R. Kojima, Y. Fujikawa, T. Sasaki, and A. Kudo. "Ice Cores: Record of Past Environment (Climate) and Future Predication." Journal of Environmental Conservation Engineering 28, no. 12 (1999): 931–39. http://dx.doi.org/10.5956/jriet.28.931.
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Petit, J. R., N. I. Barkov, J. P. Benoist, J. Jouzel, Y. S. Korotkevich, V. M. Kotlyakov, and C. Lorius. "Holocene Climatic Records From Antarctic Ice." Annals of Glaciology 14 (1990): 354. http://dx.doi.org/10.3189/s0260305500009289.
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The climate of the Holocene is, for continental regions from middle and low latitudes, relatively well documented from pollen studies and other sources. To obtain a global picture, these data must be supplemented by climatic series from polar regions. Such information may be extracted from δD or δ18O ice-core profiles but the interpretation of these isotopic records suffers some limitations, (1) because, expected temperature changes being small, they can be obscured by noise effects in the isotope-temperature relationship, and (2) because they can be influenced, especially in coastal regions, by changes in origin of the ice.With this in mind, we focus our presentation on Dome C and Vostok cores drilled on the East Antarctica Plateau and essentially undisturbed by ice-flow conditions. The detailed comparison between these continuous isotopic records makes it possible to know which part of the isotopic signal is climatically significant. Spectral properties of these two records are also examined over the Holocene period. In addition, we present isotopic results obtained on a 950 m ice core drilled at Komsomolskaia (also on the East Antarctica Plateau) by the Soviet Antarctic Expedition. This core fully covers the Holocene and, although discontinuous, the new data help us to document the East Antarctica isotopic record.From these data, an average climatic record is constructed which shows that the East Antarctica climate was fairly stable during the Holocene, marginally warmest around 10 kyear B.P. and coldest in periods around 1.5 and 6 kyear B P. These features are discussed in relation with other Antarctic data (Byrd, Law Dome, Ross Ice Shelf) and with climate records from both southern and northern hemispheres
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Petit, J. R., N. I. Barkov, J. P. Benoist, J. Jouzel, Y. S. Korotkevich, V. M. Kotlyakov, and C. Lorius. "Holocene Climatic Records From Antarctic Ice." Annals of Glaciology 14 (1990): 354. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0260305500009289.
Full textAbstract:
The climate of the Holocene is, for continental regions from middle and low latitudes, relatively well documented from pollen studies and other sources. To obtain a global picture, these data must be supplemented by climatic series from polar regions. Such information may be extracted from δD or δ18O ice-core profiles but the interpretation of these isotopic records suffers some limitations, (1) because, expected temperature changes being small, they can be obscured by noise effects in the isotope-temperature relationship, and (2) because they can be influenced, especially in coastal regions, by changes in origin of the ice. With this in mind, we focus our presentation on Dome C and Vostok cores drilled on the East Antarctica Plateau and essentially undisturbed by ice-flow conditions. The detailed comparison between these continuous isotopic records makes it possible to know which part of the isotopic signal is climatically significant. Spectral properties of these two records are also examined over the Holocene period. In addition, we present isotopic results obtained on a 950 m ice core drilled at Komsomolskaia (also on the East Antarctica Plateau) by the Soviet Antarctic Expedition. This core fully covers the Holocene and, although discontinuous, the new data help us to document the East Antarctica isotopic record. From these data, an average climatic record is constructed which shows that the East Antarctica climate was fairly stable during the Holocene, marginally warmest around 10 kyear B.P. and coldest in periods around 1.5 and 6 kyear B P. These features are discussed in relation with other Antarctic data (Byrd, Law Dome, Ross Ice Shelf) and with climate records from both southern and northern hemispheres
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Peel, David A., and Robert Mulvaney. "Air Temperature and Snow Accumulation in the Antarctic Peninsula During the Past 50 Years (Abstract)." Annals of Glaciology 11 (1988): 207. http://dx.doi.org/10.3189/s0260305500006674.
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Trends in climate affecting the West Antarctic ice sheet may be detected first in the Antarctic Peninsula region. Although the area contains the most comprehensive weather records for any part of Antarctica, reliable snow-accumulation data are lacking.Mainly as a result of the large snow-accumulation rate in the region (typically in the range 4.0–10.0 kg m−2 a−1), stratigraphie evidence of climate derived from ice cores can be resolved in much greater detail than is possible over most of the continent. Ice cores have been drilled at two sites, representing the extremes of climate type encountered in the region. A 133 m core has been obtained from Dolleman Island (70°35.2′S, 60°55.5′W) to represent the continental-type climate of the Weddell coast region, and an 87 m core has been obtained from the Palmer Land plateau (74°01′S, 70°38′W) to represent the more maritime regime of the west coast and central areas. Replicated cores were obtained at both sites in order to assess the contribution of local noise factors to the climatic signal preserved in the cores. Climatic trends during the period 1938–86 have been assessed on the basis of stable-isotope analysis of the top 47 m of the Palmer Land core and of the top 32 m of the Dolleman Island core.A statistical analysis of derived profiles of mean annual δ18O and accumulation rate indicates that the local noise factors at these sites are sufficiently small that data averaged over periods as short as 5 years should reveal climatic shifts at the level of 0.2% and 5% respectively. These changes are much smaller than trends that have actually occurred during the past 50 years.The most notable trend over the past 30 years is an increase of more than 30% in the snow-accumulation rate that has occurred in parallel with an overall temperature increase of 0.06°C/a during the same period. Increases of similar magnitude can be inferred from studies in East Antarctica, and may be related to a significant increase in precipitation rate that has been documented recently at mid-to high-latitude stations in the Northern Hemisphere. The finding may have relevance to studies of the possible consequences of a CO2-induced climate change. More extensive accumulation time series are now required from Antarctica, if satisfactory models of the long-term balance of the ice sheet are to be derived.
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Leysinger Vieli, Gwendolyn J. M. C., Martin J. Siegert, and Antony J. Payne. "Reconstructing ice-sheet accumulation rates at ridge B, East Antarctica." Annals of Glaciology 39 (2004): 326–30. http://dx.doi.org/10.3189/172756404781814519.
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AbstractUnderstanding how ice sheets responded to past climate change is fundamental to forecasting how they will respond in the future. Numerical models calculating the evolution of ice sheets depend upon accumulation data, which are principally available from ice cores. Here, we calculate past rates of ice accumulation using internal layering. The englacial structure of the East Antarctic ice divide at ridge B is extracted from airborne ice-penetrating radar. The isochronous surfaces are dated at their intersection with the Vostok ice-core site, where the depth–age relationship is known. The dated isochrons are used as input to a one-dimensional ice-flow model to investigate the spatial accumulation distribution. The calculations show that ice-accumulation rates generally increase from Vostok lake towards ridge B. The western flank of the ice divide experiences markedly more accumulation than in the east. Further, ice accumulation increases northwards along the ice divide. The results also show the variability of accumulation in time and space around the ridge B ice divide over the last 124 000 years.
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Morse, David L., Donald D. Blankenship, Edwin D. Waddington, and Thomas A. Neumann. "A site for deep ice coring in West Antarctica: results from aerogeophysical surveys and thermo-kinematic modeling." Annals of Glaciology 35 (2002): 36–44. http://dx.doi.org/10.3189/172756402781816636.
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AbstractThe U.S. Science Plan for Deep Ice Coring in West Antarctica calls for two ice cores to be collected. the first of these cores, from Siple Dome, was completed during the 1997/98 field season. the second core is to be collected from a site near the divide that separates ice flowing to the Ross Sea and to the Amundsen Sea.Using high-resolution, grid-based aerogeophysical surveys of the Ross/Amundsen ice-divide region, we identify seven candidate sites and assess their suitability for deep coring. We apply ice-flow and temperature calculations to predict time-scales and annual-layer resolution, and to assess the potential for basal melting for several selected sites. We conclude that basal melting is likely for sites with very thick ice, as was observed at the Byrd core site. Nevertheless, these sites are most attractive for coring since they promise recovery of a long climate record with comparatively high time resolution during the last glacial period.
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Jones, T. R., J. W. C. White, and T. Popp. "Siple Dome shallow ice cores: a study in coastal dome microclimatology." Climate of the Past 10, no. 3 (June 26, 2014): 1253–67. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-1253-2014.
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Abstract. Ice cores at Siple Dome, West Antarctica, receive the majority of their precipitation from Pacific Ocean moisture sources. Pacific climate patterns, particularly the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the Southern Annular Mode (SAM), affect local temperature, atmospheric circulation, snow accumulation, and water isotope signals at Siple Dome. We examine borehole temperatures, accumulation, and water isotopes from a number of shallow ice cores recovered from a 60 km north–south transect of the dome. The data reveal spatial gradients partly explained by orographic uplift, as well as microclimate effects that are expressed differently on the Pacific and inland flanks. Our analyses suggest that while an ENSO and SAM signal are evident at Siple Dome, differences in microclimate and possible postdepositional movement of snow makes climate reconstruction problematic, a conclusion which should be considered at other West Antarctic coastal dome locations.
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Grootes, P. M., M. Stuiver, T. L. Saling, P. A. Mayewski, M. J. Spencer, R. B. Alley, and D. Jenssen. "A 1400-Year Oxygen Isotope History from the Ross Sea Area, Antarctica." Annals of Glaciology 14 (1990): 94–98. http://dx.doi.org/10.3189/s0260305500008338.
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Four ice cores from the Ross Sea drainage, Antarctica, show patterns of δ18O variations on a time scale of decades to centuries over the last 1400 years without change in the long-term average δ18O. Century scale δ18O fluctuations in the two cores drilled in the Ross Ice Shelf at Station J-9 (82°23′S, 168°38′W, elevation 60 m) are highly correlated (P < 2 × 10−4). The long isotope record (>30 000 a) of the 1978 J-9 core thus represents local conditions over at least 102 m and on time scales of 100 years and longer.Regional correlations between the J-9 δ18O records and those from Ridge BC (82°54′S, 136°40′W, elevation 509 m) and the Dominion Range (85°15′S, 166°10′E, elevation 2700 m) are barely significant (P ≈ 0.05 for J-9 '76 and Dominion Range, 580 to 1400 years ago) or absent. The failure to find clear regional isotope trends related to climate fluctuations may reflect the finding that between 1957 and 1982 the area was in the transition zone between areas with opposite temperature trends, and showed little or no temperature change. The fact that the records nevertheless show significant δ18O fluctuations highlights the need to base regional climate reconstructions on a regional suite of ice-core records.
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Grootes, P. M., M. Stuiver, T. L. Saling, P. A. Mayewski, M. J. Spencer, R. B. Alley, and D. Jenssen. "A 1400-Year Oxygen Isotope History from the Ross Sea Area, Antarctica." Annals of Glaciology 14 (1990): 94–98. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0260305500008338.
Full textAbstract:
Four ice cores from the Ross Sea drainage, Antarctica, show patterns of δ18O variations on a time scale of decades to centuries over the last 1400 years without change in the long-term average δ18O. Century scale δ18O fluctuations in the two cores drilled in the Ross Ice Shelf at Station J-9 (82°23′S, 168°38′W, elevation 60 m) are highly correlated (P < 2 × 10−4). The long isotope record (>30 000 a) of the 1978 J-9 core thus represents local conditions over at least 102 m and on time scales of 100 years and longer. Regional correlations between the J-9 δ18O records and those from Ridge BC (82°54′S, 136°40′W, elevation 509 m) and the Dominion Range (85°15′S, 166°10′E, elevation 2700 m) are barely significant (P ≈ 0.05 for J-9 '76 and Dominion Range, 580 to 1400 years ago) or absent. The failure to find clear regional isotope trends related to climate fluctuations may reflect the finding that between 1957 and 1982 the area was in the transition zone between areas with opposite temperature trends, and showed little or no temperature change. The fact that the records nevertheless show significant δ18O fluctuations highlights the need to base regional climate reconstructions on a regional suite of ice-core records.
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Berkman, Paul Arthur. "Circumpolar Distribution of Holocene Marine Fossils in Antarctic Beaches." Quaternary Research 37, no. 2 (March 1992): 256–60. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0033-5894(92)90086-x.
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AbstractThe composite frequency of radiocarbon ages for Holocene marine fossils from beaches around Antarctica is significantly different than random. Variations in the frequency of fossil ages coincide with the timing of Holocene climate changes inferred from Antarctic ice cores, sub-Antarctic lakes, polar and alpine moraines, and sea level. Extant Antarctic marine species that occur as fossils in beaches may reflect coastal meltwater impacts associated with ice sheet marginal fluctuations that were circumpolar during the Holocene.
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Masson, Valérie, Françoise Vimeux, Jean Jouzel, Vin Morgan, Marc Delmotte, Philippe Ciais, Claus Hammer, et al. "Holocene Climate Variability in Antarctica Based on 11 Ice-Core Isotopic Records." Quaternary Research 54, no. 3 (November 2000): 348–58. http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/qres.2000.2172.
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A comparison is made of the Holocene records obtained from water isotope measurements along 11 ice cores from coastal and central sites in east Antarctica (Vostok, Dome B, Plateau Remote, Komsomolskaia, Dome C, Taylor Dome, Dominion Range, D47, KM105, and Law Dome) and west Antarctica (Byrd), with temporal resolution from 20 to 50 yr. The long-term trends possibly reflect local ice sheet elevation fluctuations superimposed on common climatic fluctuations. All the records confirm the widespread Antarctic early Holocene optimum between 11,500 and 9000 yr; in the Ross Sea sector, a secondary optimum is identified between 7000 and 5000 yr, whereas all eastern Antarctic sites show a late optimum between 6000 and 3000 yr. Superimposed on the long time trend, all the records exhibit 9 aperiodic millennial-scale oscillations. Climatic optima show a reduced pacing between warm events (typically 800 yr), whereas cooler periods are associated with less-frequent warm events (pacing >1200 yr).
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van den Broeke, Michiel R., Jan-Gunnar Winther, Elisabeth Isaksson, Jean Francis Pinglot, Lars Karlöf, Trond Eiken, and Louk Conrads. "Climate variables along a traverse line in Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica." Journal of Glaciology 45, no. 150 (1999): 295–302. http://dx.doi.org/10.3189/s0022143000001799.
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AbstractTemperature, density and accumulation data were obtained from shallow firn cores, drilled during an overland traverse through a previously unknown part of Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica. The traverse area is characterised by high mountains that obstruct the ice flow, resulting in a sudden transition from the polar plateau to the coastal region. The spatial variations of potential temperature, near-surface firn density and accumulation suggest that katabatic winds are active in this region. Proxy wind data derived from firn-density profiles confirm that annual mean wind speed is strongly related to the magnitude of the surface slope. The high elevation of the ice sheet south of the mountains makes for a dry, cold climate, in which mass loss owing to sublimation is small and erosion of snow by the wind has a potentially large impact on the surface mass balance. A simple katabatic-wind model is used to explain the variations of accumulation along the traverse line in terms of divergence/convergence of the local transport of drifting snow. The resulting wind- and snowdrift patterns are closely connected to the topography of the ice sheet: ridges are especially sensitive to erosion, while ice streams and other depressions act as collectors of drifting snow.