Climatic signals from 76 shallow firn cores in Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica

Altnau, S.; Schlosser, Elisabeth; Isaksson, Elisabeth; Divine, D.

doi:10.5194/tcd-8-5961-2014

Cited by 15 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 75 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Still, on the East Antarctic Plateau, a clear seasonal cycle is depicted in the isotopic composition of the precipitation (Fujita and Abe, 2006;Landais et al, 2012;Stenni et al, 2016) and of the surface snow (Touzeau et al, 2016). So far, whether this seasonal cycle is archived or not in buried snow, and thus, whether stacking an array of snow pits enables us to increase the signal to 20 noise ratio and depict a climatic record at the seasonal scale from water isotopic signal is an important open question (Ekaykin et al, 2014;Altnau et al, 2015;Münch et al, 2016Münch et al, , 2017.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Archival processes of the water stable isotope signal in East Antarctic ice cores

Casado¹,

Landais²,

Picard³

et al. 2017

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. The oldest ice core records are obtained from the East Antarctic plateau. Water isotopes records are key to reconstructing past climatic conditions over the ice sheet and at the evaporation source. The accuracy of climate reconstructions depends on knowledge of all the processes affecting water vapour, precipitation and snow isotopic compositions. Fractionation processes are well understood and can be integrated in Rayleigh distillation and isotope enabled climate models. However, a quantitative understanding of processes potentially altering the snow isotopic composition after the deposition is still missing. 5In low accumulation sites, such as those found in Antarctica, these poorly constrained processes are likely to play a significant role and limit the interpretation of isotopic composition.Here, we combine observations of isotopic composition in the vapour, the precipitation, the surface snow and the buried snow from Dome C, a deep ice core site on the East Antarctic Plateau. At the seasonal scale, we suggest a significant impact of 10 metamorphism on surface snow isotopic signal compared to the initial precipitation signal. Particularly, in summer, exchanges of water molecules between vapour and snow are driven by the sublimation/condensation cycles at the diurnal scale. Using highly resolved isotopic composition profiles from pits in five Antarctic sites, we identify common patterns, despite different accumulation rates, which cannot be attributed to the seasonal variability of precipitation. Altogether, the difference in the signals observed in the precipitation, surface snow and buried snow isotopic composition constitute evidences of post-deposition 15 processes affecting ice core records in low accumulation areas. 1The Cryosphere Discuss., https://doi

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Archival processes of the water stable isotope signal in East Antarctic ice cores

Casado¹,

Landais²,

Picard³

et al. 2017

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Present available observation dataset, however, is of insufficient length to address that these warming trends are anthropogenically forced, because natural interannual to multi-decadal variability may obscure these warming trends (Jones et al 2016). While no significant warming trends have been recorded in East Antarctica (EA) in recent decades (Altnau et al 2014), surface snowmelt is observed every summer over ice shelves, even in the East Antarctic coast (Toriensi et al 2003;Picard and Fily 2006;Trusel et al 2013). Even a slight increase in the summer air temperature on the East Antarctic coast therefore is expected to enhance surface melt and its role in ice loss.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identification of Air Masses Responsible for Warm Events on the East Antarctic Coast

Kurita

Hirasawa

Koga

et al. 2016

SOLA

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Warm events, periods when rising surface air temperatures can trigger surface melt, have been recorded during the austral summer at Syowa station on the East Antarctic coast. This study identifies air masses responsible for summer warm events at Syowa. Air masses arriving at Syowa are classified into marine and glacial sources based on their isotopic characteristics. Warm events are not associated with moist marine air intrusion, but with the downward flow of dry glacial air along the west side slope of the mountains in Enderby Land (EL). We use simulations from the Antarctic Mesoscale Prediction System (AMPS) to explore the atmospheric process responsible for the warmest event at Syowa. The model output illustrates several foehn-associated features such as low-level blocking, precipitation on the mountain's windward side, and mountain wave activity, with warm air ascending on the upstream slope and descending to Syowa. The foehn warming is caused by an easterly cross-mountain flow associated with a low-pressure system to the north of the EL coast. Future changes in synoptic cyclonic activity off the EL coast may have a significant impact on the frequency and intensity of foehn events at Syowa and the associated coastal warm events.(Citation: Kurita, N., N. Hirasawa, S. Koga, J. Matsushita, H. C. Steen-Larsen, V. Masson-Delmotte, and Y. Fujiyoshi, 2016: Identification of air mass responsible for warm events on the East

show abstract

“…Recent studies (Altnau et al, 2015;Vega et al, 2016; report negative SMB trends in coastal areas contrary to positive trends for the plateau. For our study period (17 years for the TA record, 16 years 5 for the ECHAM5-wiso simulation), a slightly increasing but not significant trend (Agosta et al, 2012), the TA firn core, the ERA or ECHAM5-wiso data.…”

Section: Smbmentioning

confidence: 96%

Challenges associated with the climatic interpretation of water stable isotope records from a highly resolved firn core from Adélie Land, coastal Antarctica

Goursaud¹,

Masson‐Delmotte²,

Favier³

et al. 2018

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract.A new 21.3 m firn core was drilled in 2015 at a coastal Antarctic high accumulation site in Adélie Land (66.78 °S; 139.56 °E, 602 m a.s.l.). The core was dated by annual layers counting based on non-sea-salt sulfate and methanesulfonate summer peaks, refined by a comparison between the reconstructed surface mass balance (hereafter, SMB) and the closest available stake data. The mean reconstructed SMB of 75.2 5 ± 15.0 cm w.e. y -1 is consistent with local stake data, and remarkably high for coastal East Antarctica.The resulting inter-annual and sub-annual variations in isotopic records (δ The Cryosphere Discuss., https://doi

show abstract

Climatic signals from 76 shallow firn cores in Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica

Cited by 15 publications

References 75 publications

Archival processes of the water stable isotope signal in East Antarctic ice cores

Archival processes of the water stable isotope signal in East Antarctic ice cores

Identification of Air Masses Responsible for Warm Events on the East Antarctic Coast

Challenges associated with the climatic interpretation of water stable isotope records from a highly resolved firn core from Adélie Land, coastal Antarctica

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About