Articles | Volume 11, issue 5
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2175-2017
© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2175-2017
© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Research article
| 
12 Sep 2017
Research article |
| 12 Sep 2017
Constraints on post-depositional isotope modifications in East Antarctic firn from analysing temporal changes of isotope profiles
Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and
Marine Research, Telegrafenberg A43, 14473 Potsdam, Germany
Institute of Physics and Astronomy, University of Potsdam,
Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24/25, 14476 Potsdam, Germany
Sepp Kipfstuhl
Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and
Marine Research, Am Alten Hafen 26, 27568 Bremerhaven, Germany
Johannes Freitag
Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and
Marine Research, Am Alten Hafen 26, 27568 Bremerhaven, Germany
Hanno Meyer
Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and
Marine Research, Telegrafenberg A43, 14473 Potsdam, Germany
Thomas Laepple
Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and
Marine Research, Telegrafenberg A43, 14473 Potsdam, Germany
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Stable water isotopes from firn cores provide valuable information on past climates, yet their utility is hampered by stratigraphic noise, i.e. the irregular deposition and wind-driven redistribution of snow. We found stratigraphic noise on the Antarctic Plateau to be related to the local accumulation rate, snow surface roughness and slope inclination, which can guide future decisions on sampling locations and thus increase the resolution of climate reconstructions from low-accumulation areas.
Sune Olander Rasmussen, Dorthe Dahl-Jensen, Hubertus Fischer, Katrin Fuhrer, Steffen Bo Hansen, Margareta Hansson, Christine S. Hvidberg, Ulf Jonsell, Sepp Kipfstuhl, Urs Ruth, Jakob Schwander, Marie-Louise Siggaard-Andersen, Giulia Sinnl, Jørgen Peder Steffensen, Anders M. Svensson, and Bo M. Vinther
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 3351–3364, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3351-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3351-2023, 2023
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Timescales are essential for interpreting palaeoclimate data. The data series presented here were used for annual-layer identification when constructing the timescales named the Greenland Ice-Core Chronology 2005 (GICC05) and the revised version GICC21. Hopefully, these high-resolution data sets will be useful also for other purposes.
Romilly Harris Stuart, Anne-Katrine Faber, Sonja Wahl, Maria Hörhold, Sepp Kipfstuhl, Kristian Vasskog, Melanie Behrens, Alexandra M. Zuhr, and Hans Christian Steen-Larsen
The Cryosphere, 17, 1185–1204, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1185-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1185-2023, 2023
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This empirical study uses continuous daily measurements from the Greenland Ice Sheet to document changes in surface snow properties. Consistent changes in snow isotopic composition are observed in the absence of deposition due to surface processes, indicating the isotopic signal of deposited precipitation is not always preserved. Our observations have potential implications for the interpretation of water isotopes in ice cores – historically assumed to reflect isotopic composition at deposition.
Antoine Grisart, Mathieu Casado, Vasileios Gkinis, Bo Vinther, Philippe Naveau, Mathieu Vrac, Thomas Laepple, Bénédicte Minster, Frederic Prié, Barbara Stenni, Elise Fourré, Hans Christian Steen-Larsen, Jean Jouzel, Martin Werner, Katy Pol, Valérie Masson-Delmotte, Maria Hoerhold, Trevor Popp, and Amaelle Landais
Clim. Past, 18, 2289–2301, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-2289-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-2289-2022, 2022
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This paper presents a compilation of high-resolution (11 cm) water isotopic records, including published and new measurements, for the last 800 000 years from the EPICA Dome C ice core, Antarctica. Using this new combined water isotopes (δ18O and δD) dataset, we study the variability and possible influence of diffusion at the multi-decadal to multi-centennial scale. We observe a stronger variability at the onset of the interglacial interval corresponding to a warm period.
Loeka L. Jongejans, Kai Mangelsdorf, Cornelia Karger, Thomas Opel, Sebastian Wetterich, Jérémy Courtin, Hanno Meyer, Alexander I. Kizyakov, Guido Grosse, Andrei G. Shepelev, Igor I. Syromyatnikov, Alexander N. Fedorov, and Jens Strauss
The Cryosphere, 16, 3601–3617, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3601-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3601-2022, 2022
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Large parts of Arctic Siberia are underlain by permafrost. Climate warming leads to permafrost thaw. At the Batagay megaslump, permafrost sediments up to ~ 650 kyr old are exposed. We took sediment samples and analysed the organic matter (e.g. plant remains). We found distinct differences in the biomarker distributions between the glacial and interglacial deposits with generally stronger microbial activity during interglacial periods. Further permafrost thaw enhances greenhouse gas emissions.
Julien Westhoff, Giulia Sinnl, Anders Svensson, Johannes Freitag, Helle Astrid Kjær, Paul Vallelonga, Bo Vinther, Sepp Kipfstuhl, Dorthe Dahl-Jensen, and Ilka Weikusat
Clim. Past, 18, 1011–1034, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-1011-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-1011-2022, 2022
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We present a melt event record from an ice core from central Greenland, which covers the past 10 000 years. Our record displays warm summer events, which can be used to enhance our understanding of the past climate. We compare our data to anomalies in tree ring width, which also represents summer temperatures, and find a good correlation. Furthermore, we investigate an outstandingly warm event in the year 986 AD or 991 AD, which has not been analyzed before.
Michael Fritz, Sebastian Wetterich, Joel McAlister, and Hanno Meyer
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 57–63, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-57-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-57-2022, 2022
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From 2015 to 2018 we collected rain and snow samples in Inuvik, Canada. We measured the stable water isotope composition of oxygen (δ18O) and hydrogen (δ2H) with a mass spectrometer. This data will be of interest for other scientists who work in the Arctic. They will be able to compare our modern data with their own isotope data in old ice, for example in glaciers, and in permafrost. This will help to correctly interpret the climate signals of the environmental history of the Earth.
Alexandra M. Zuhr, Thomas Münch, Hans Christian Steen-Larsen, Maria Hörhold, and Thomas Laepple
The Cryosphere, 15, 4873–4900, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4873-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4873-2021, 2021
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Firn and ice cores are used to infer past temperatures. However, the imprint of the climatic signal in stable water isotopes is influenced by depositional modifications. We present and use a photogrammetry structure-from-motion approach and find variability in the amount, the timing, and the location of snowfall. Depositional modifications of the surface are observed, leading to mixing of snow from different snowfall events and spatial locations and thus creating noise in the proxy record.
Laura Crick, Andrea Burke, William Hutchison, Mika Kohno, Kathryn A. Moore, Joel Savarino, Emily A. Doyle, Sue Mahony, Sepp Kipfstuhl, James W. B. Rae, Robert C. J. Steele, R. Stephen J. Sparks, and Eric W. Wolff
Clim. Past, 17, 2119–2137, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-2119-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-2119-2021, 2021
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The ~ 74 ka eruption of Toba was one of the largest eruptions of the last 100 ka. We have measured the sulfur isotopic composition for 11 Toba eruption candidates in two Antarctic ice cores. Sulfur isotopes allow us to distinguish between large eruptions that have erupted material into the stratosphere and smaller ones that reach lower altitudes. Using this we have identified the events most likely to be Toba and place the eruption on the transition into a cold period in the Northern Hemisphere.
Stefanie Arndt, Christian Haas, Hanno Meyer, Ilka Peeken, and Thomas Krumpen
The Cryosphere, 15, 4165–4178, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4165-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4165-2021, 2021
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We present here snow and ice core data from the northwestern Weddell Sea in late austral summer 2019, which allow insights into possible reasons for the recent low summer sea ice extent in the Weddell Sea. We suggest that the fraction of superimposed ice and snow ice can be used here as a sensitive indicator. However, snow and ice properties were not exceptional, suggesting that the summer surface energy balance and related seasonal transition of snow properties have changed little in the past.
Helle Astrid Kjær, Lisa Lolk Hauge, Marius Simonsen, Zurine Yoldi, Iben Koldtoft, Maria Hörhold, Johannes Freitag, Sepp Kipfstuhl, Anders Svensson, and Paul Vallelonga
The Cryosphere, 15, 3719–3730, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3719-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3719-2021, 2021
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Ice core analyses are often done in home laboratories after costly transport of samples from the field. This limits the amount of sample that can be analysed.
Here, we present the first truly field-portable continuous flow analysis (CFA) system for the analysis of impurities in snow, firn and ice cores while still in the field: the lightweight in situ analysis (LISA) box.
LISA is demonstrated in Greenland to reconstruct accumulation, conductivity and peroxide in snow cores.
Thomas Münch, Martin Werner, and Thomas Laepple
Clim. Past, 17, 1587–1605, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-1587-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-1587-2021, 2021
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We analyse Holocene climate model simulation data to find the locations of Antarctic ice cores which are best suited to reconstruct local- to regional-scale temperatures. We find that the spatial decorrelation scales of the temperature variations and of the noise from precipitation intermittency set an effective sampling length scale. Following this, a single core should be located at the
target site for the temperature reconstruction, and a second one optimally lies more than 500 km away.
Raphaël Hébert, Kira Rehfeld, and Thomas Laepple
Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 28, 311–328, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-28-311-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-28-311-2021, 2021
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Paleoclimate proxy data are essential for broadening our understanding of climate variability. There remain, however, challenges for traditional methods of variability analysis to be applied to such data, which are usually irregular. We perform a comparative analysis of different methods of scaling analysis, which provide variability estimates as a function of timescales, applied to irregular paleoclimate proxy data.
Andrew M. Dolman, Torben Kunz, Jeroen Groeneveld, and Thomas Laepple
Clim. Past, 17, 825–841, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-825-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-825-2021, 2021
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Uncertainties in climate proxy records are temporally autocorrelated. By deriving expressions for the power spectra of errors in proxy records, we can estimate appropriate uncertainties for any timescale, for example, for temporally smoothed records or for time slices. Here we outline and demonstrate this approach for climate proxies recovered from marine sediment cores.
Ines Spangenberg, Pier Paul Overduin, Ellen Damm, Ingeborg Bussmann, Hanno Meyer, Susanne Liebner, Michael Angelopoulos, Boris K. Biskaborn, Mikhail N. Grigoriev, and Guido Grosse
The Cryosphere, 15, 1607–1625, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1607-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1607-2021, 2021
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Thermokarst lakes are common on ice-rich permafrost. Many studies have shown that they are sources of methane to the atmosphere. Although they are usually covered by ice, little is known about what happens to methane in winter. We studied how much methane is contained in the ice of a thermokarst lake, a thermokarst lagoon and offshore. Methane concentrations differed strongly, depending on water body type. Microbes can also oxidize methane in ice and lower the concentrations during winter.
Helle Astrid Kjær, Patrick Zens, Ross Edwards, Martin Olesen, Ruth Mottram, Gabriel Lewis, Christian Terkelsen Holme, Samuel Black, Kasper Holst Lund, Mikkel Schmidt, Dorthe Dahl-Jensen, Bo Vinther, Anders Svensson, Nanna Karlsson, Jason E. Box, Sepp Kipfstuhl, and Paul Vallelonga
The Cryosphere Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2020-337, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2020-337, 2021
Manuscript not accepted for further review
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We have reconstructed accumulation in 6 firn cores and 8 snow cores in Northern Greenland and compared with a regional Climate model over Greenland. We find the model underestimate precipitation especially in north-eastern part of the ice cap- an important finding if aiming to reconstruct surface mass balance.
Temperatures at 10 meters depth at 6 sites in Greenland were also determined and show a significant warming since the 1990's of 0.9 to 2.5 °C.
Sebastian Wetterich, Alexander Kizyakov, Michael Fritz, Juliane Wolter, Gesine Mollenhauer, Hanno Meyer, Matthias Fuchs, Aleksei Aksenov, Heidrun Matthes, Lutz Schirrmeister, and Thomas Opel
The Cryosphere, 14, 4525–4551, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-4525-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-4525-2020, 2020
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In the present study, we analysed geochemical and sedimentological properties of relict permafrost and ground ice exposed at the Sobo-Sise Yedoma cliff in the eastern Lena delta in NE Siberia. We obtained insight into permafrost aggradation and degradation over the last approximately 52 000 years and the climatic and morphodynamic controls on regional-scale permafrost dynamics of the central Laptev Sea coastal region.
Seyedhamidreza Mojtabavi, Frank Wilhelms, Eliza Cook, Siwan M. Davies, Giulia Sinnl, Mathias Skov Jensen, Dorthe Dahl-Jensen, Anders Svensson, Bo M. Vinther, Sepp Kipfstuhl, Gwydion Jones, Nanna B. Karlsson, Sergio Henrique Faria, Vasileios Gkinis, Helle Astrid Kjær, Tobias Erhardt, Sarah M. P. Berben, Kerim H. Nisancioglu, Iben Koldtoft, and Sune Olander Rasmussen
Clim. Past, 16, 2359–2380, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-16-2359-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-16-2359-2020, 2020
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We present a first chronology for the East Greenland Ice-core Project (EGRIP) over the Holocene and last glacial termination. After field measurements and processing of the ice-core data, the GICC05 timescale is transferred from the NGRIP core to the EGRIP core by means of matching volcanic events and common patterns (381 match points) in the ECM and DEP records. The new timescale is named GICC05-EGRIP-1 and extends back to around 15 kyr b2k.
Alexander H. Weinhart, Johannes Freitag, Maria Hörhold, Sepp Kipfstuhl, and Olaf Eisen
The Cryosphere, 14, 3663–3685, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3663-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3663-2020, 2020
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From 1 m snow profiles along a traverse on the East Antarctic Plateau, we calculated a representative surface snow density of 355 kg m−3 for this region with an error less than 1.5 %.
This density is 10 % higher and density fluctuations seem to happen on smaller scales than climate model outputs suggest. Our study can help improve the parameterization of surface snow density in climate models to reduce the error in future sea level predictions.
Jean-Louis Bonne, Hanno Meyer, Melanie Behrens, Julia Boike, Sepp Kipfstuhl, Benjamin Rabe, Toni Schmidt, Lutz Schönicke, Hans Christian Steen-Larsen, and Martin Werner
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 10493–10511, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-10493-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-10493-2020, 2020
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This study introduces 2 years of continuous near-surface in situ observations of the stable isotopic composition of water vapour in parallel with precipitation in north-eastern Siberia. We evaluate the atmospheric transport of moisture towards the region of our observations with simulations constrained by meteorological reanalyses and use this information to interpret the temporal variations of the vapour isotopic composition from seasonal to synoptic timescales.
Mathieu Casado, Thomas Münch, and Thomas Laepple
Clim. Past, 16, 1581–1598, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-16-1581-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-16-1581-2020, 2020
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The isotopic composition in ice cores from Antarctica is usually interpreted as a temperature proxy. Using a forward model, we show how different the signal in ice cores and the actual climatic signal are. Precipitation intermittency and diffusion do indeed affect the archived signal, leading to the reshuffling of the signal which limits the ability to reconstruct high-resolution climatic variations with ice cores.
Anders Svensson, Dorthe Dahl-Jensen, Jørgen Peder Steffensen, Thomas Blunier, Sune O. Rasmussen, Bo M. Vinther, Paul Vallelonga, Emilie Capron, Vasileios Gkinis, Eliza Cook, Helle Astrid Kjær, Raimund Muscheler, Sepp Kipfstuhl, Frank Wilhelms, Thomas F. Stocker, Hubertus Fischer, Florian Adolphi, Tobias Erhardt, Michael Sigl, Amaelle Landais, Frédéric Parrenin, Christo Buizert, Joseph R. McConnell, Mirko Severi, Robert Mulvaney, and Matthias Bigler
Clim. Past, 16, 1565–1580, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-16-1565-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-16-1565-2020, 2020
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We identify signatures of large bipolar volcanic eruptions in Greenland and Antarctic ice cores during the last glacial period, which allows for a precise temporal alignment of the ice cores. Thereby the exact timing of unexplained, abrupt climatic changes occurring during the last glacial period can be determined in a global context. The study thus provides a step towards a full understanding of elements of the climate system that may also play an important role in the future.
Torben Kunz, Andrew M. Dolman, and Thomas Laepple
Clim. Past, 16, 1469–1492, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-16-1469-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-16-1469-2020, 2020
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This paper introduces a method to estimate the uncertainty of climate reconstructions from single sediment proxy records. The method can compute uncertainties as a function of averaging timescale, thereby accounting for the fact that some components of the uncertainty are autocorrelated in time. This is achieved by treating the problem in the spectral domain. Fully analytic expressions are derived. A companion paper (Part 2) complements this with application-oriented examples of the method.
Kirstin Hoffmann, Francisco Fernandoy, Hanno Meyer, Elizabeth R. Thomas, Marcelo Aliaga, Dieter Tetzner, Johannes Freitag, Thomas Opel, Jorge Arigony-Neto, Christian Florian Göbel, Ricardo Jaña, Delia Rodríguez Oroz, Rebecca Tuckwell, Emily Ludlow, Joseph R. McConnell, and Christoph Schneider
The Cryosphere, 14, 881–904, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-881-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-881-2020, 2020
Kévin Fourteau, Patricia Martinerie, Xavier Faïn, Christoph F. Schaller, Rebecca J. Tuckwell, Henning Löwe, Laurent Arnaud, Olivier Magand, Elizabeth R. Thomas, Johannes Freitag, Robert Mulvaney, Martin Schneebeli, and Vladimir Ya. Lipenkov
The Cryosphere, 13, 3383–3403, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-3383-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-3383-2019, 2019
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Understanding gas trapping in polar ice is essential to study the relationship between greenhouse gases and past climates. New data of bubble closure, used in a simple gas-trapping model, show inconsistency with the final air content in ice. This suggests gas trapping is not fully understood. We also use a combination of high-resolution measurements to investigate the effect of polar snow stratification on gas trapping and find that all strata have similar pores, but that some close in advance.
Nikita Demidov, Sebastian Wetterich, Sergey Verkulich, Aleksey Ekaykin, Hanno Meyer, Mikhail Anisimov, Lutz Schirrmeister, Vasily Demidov, and Andrew J. Hodson
The Cryosphere, 13, 3155–3169, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-3155-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-3155-2019, 2019
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As Norwegian geologist Liestøl (1996) recognised,
in connection with formation of pingos there are a great many unsolved questions. Drillings and temperature measurements through the pingo mound and also through the surrounding permafrost are needed before the problems can be better understood. To shed light on pingo formation here we present the results of first drilling of pingo on Spitsbergen together with results of detailed hydrochemical and stable-isotope studies of massive-ice samples.
Boris K. Biskaborn, Larisa Nazarova, Lyudmila A. Pestryakova, Liudmila Syrykh, Kim Funck, Hanno Meyer, Bernhard Chapligin, Stuart Vyse, Ruslan Gorodnichev, Evgenii Zakharov, Rong Wang, Georg Schwamborn, Hannah L. Bailey, and Bernhard Diekmann
Biogeosciences, 16, 4023–4049, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-4023-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-4023-2019, 2019
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To better understand time-series data in lake sediment cores in times of rapidly changing climate, we study within-lake spatial variabilities of environmental indicator data in 38 sediment surface samples along spatial habitat gradients in the boreal deep Lake Bolshoe Toko (Russia). Our methods comprise physicochemical as well as diatom and chironomid analyses. Species diversities vary according to benthic niches, while abiotic proxies depend on river input, water depth, and catchment lithology.
Thomas Opel, Julian B. Murton, Sebastian Wetterich, Hanno Meyer, Kseniia Ashastina, Frank Günther, Hendrik Grotheer, Gesine Mollenhauer, Petr P. Danilov, Vasily Boeskorov, Grigoriy N. Savvinov, and Lutz Schirrmeister
Clim. Past, 15, 1443–1461, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-1443-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-1443-2019, 2019
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To reconstruct past winter climate, we studied ice wedges at two sites in the Yana Highlands, interior Yakutia (Russia), the most continental region of the Northern Hemisphere. Our ice wedges of the upper ice complex unit of the Batagay megaslump and a river terrace show much more depleted stable-isotope compositions than other study sites in coastal and central Yakutia, reflecting lower winter temperatures and a higher continentality of the study region during Marine Isotope Stages 3 and 1.
Maria Reschke, Kira Rehfeld, and Thomas Laepple
Clim. Past, 15, 521–537, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-521-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-521-2019, 2019
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We empirically estimate signal-to-noise ratios of temperature proxy records used in global compilations of the middle to late Holocene by comparing the spatial correlation structure of proxy records and climate model simulations accounting for noise and time uncertainty. We find that low signal contents of the proxy records or, alternatively, more localised climate variations recorded by proxies than suggested by current model simulations suggest caution when interpreting multi-proxy datasets.
Tetsuro Taranczewski, Johannes Freitag, Olaf Eisen, Bo Vinther, Sonja Wahl, and Sepp Kipfstuhl
The Cryosphere Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2018-280, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2018-280, 2019
Preprint withdrawn
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We used melt layers detected in ice cores from the Renland ice cap in East Greenland to find evidence of past climate trends in this region. Our record provides such information for the past 10,000 years. We developed an attempt to increase the reliability of such a record by correcting deformation-induced biases. It proves that such simple to obtain melt records can be used to gather information about paleoclimate especially for regions where climate records are sparse.
Thomas Münch and Thomas Laepple
Clim. Past, 14, 2053–2070, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-2053-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-2053-2018, 2018
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Proxy data on climate variations contain noise from many sources and, for reliable estimates, we need to determine those temporal scales at which the climate signal in the proxy record dominates the noise. We developed a method to derive timescale-dependent estimates of temperature proxy signal-to-noise ratios, which we apply and discuss in the context of Antarctic ice-core records but which in general are applicable to a large set of palaeoclimate records.
Andrew M. Dolman and Thomas Laepple
Clim. Past, 14, 1851–1868, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-1851-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-1851-2018, 2018
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Climate proxies from marine sediments provide an important record of past temperatures, but contain noise from many sources. These include mixing by burrowing organisms, seasonal and habitat biases, measurement error, and small sample size effects. We have created a forward model that simulates the creation of proxy records and provides it as a user-friendly R package. It allows multiple sources of uncertainty to be considered together when interpreting proxy climate records.
Mathieu Casado, Amaelle Landais, Ghislain Picard, Thomas Münch, Thomas Laepple, Barbara Stenni, Giuliano Dreossi, Alexey Ekaykin, Laurent Arnaud, Christophe Genthon, Alexandra Touzeau, Valerie Masson-Delmotte, and Jean Jouzel
The Cryosphere, 12, 1745–1766, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1745-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1745-2018, 2018
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Ice core isotopic records rely on the knowledge of the processes involved in the archival processes of the snow. In the East Antarctic Plateau, post-deposition processes strongly affect the signal found in the surface and buried snow compared to the initial climatic signal. We evaluate the different contributions to the surface snow isotopic composition between the precipitation and the exchanges with the atmosphere and the variability of the isotopic signal found in profiles from snow pits.
Francisco Fernandoy, Dieter Tetzner, Hanno Meyer, Guisella Gacitúa, Kirstin Hoffmann, Ulrike Falk, Fabrice Lambert, and Shelley MacDonell
The Cryosphere, 12, 1069–1090, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1069-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1069-2018, 2018
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Through the geochemical analysis of the surface snow of a glacier at the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, we aimed to investigate how atmosphere and ocean conditions of the surrounding region are varying under the present climate scenario. We found that meteorological conditions strongly depend on the extension of sea ice. Our results show a slight cooling of the surface air during the last decade at this site. However, the general warming tendency for the region is still on-going.
Nancy A. N. Bertler, Howard Conway, Dorthe Dahl-Jensen, Daniel B. Emanuelsson, Mai Winstrup, Paul T. Vallelonga, James E. Lee, Ed J. Brook, Jeffrey P. Severinghaus, Taylor J. Fudge, Elizabeth D. Keller, W. Troy Baisden, Richard C. A. Hindmarsh, Peter D. Neff, Thomas Blunier, Ross Edwards, Paul A. Mayewski, Sepp Kipfstuhl, Christo Buizert, Silvia Canessa, Ruzica Dadic, Helle A. Kjær, Andrei Kurbatov, Dongqi Zhang, Edwin D. Waddington, Giovanni Baccolo, Thomas Beers, Hannah J. Brightley, Lionel Carter, David Clemens-Sewall, Viorela G. Ciobanu, Barbara Delmonte, Lukas Eling, Aja Ellis, Shruthi Ganesh, Nicholas R. Golledge, Skylar Haines, Michael Handley, Robert L. Hawley, Chad M. Hogan, Katelyn M. Johnson, Elena Korotkikh, Daniel P. Lowry, Darcy Mandeno, Robert M. McKay, James A. Menking, Timothy R. Naish, Caroline Noerling, Agathe Ollive, Anaïs Orsi, Bernadette C. Proemse, Alexander R. Pyne, Rebecca L. Pyne, James Renwick, Reed P. Scherer, Stefanie Semper, Marius Simonsen, Sharon B. Sneed, Eric J. Steig, Andrea Tuohy, Abhijith Ulayottil Venugopal, Fernando Valero-Delgado, Janani Venkatesh, Feitang Wang, Shimeng Wang, Dominic A. Winski, V. Holly L. Winton, Arran Whiteford, Cunde Xiao, Jiao Yang, and Xin Zhang
Clim. Past, 14, 193–214, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-193-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-193-2018, 2018
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Temperature and snow accumulation records from the annually dated Roosevelt Island Climate Evolution (RICE) ice core show that for the past 2 700 years, the eastern Ross Sea warmed, while the western Ross Sea showed no trend and West Antarctica cooled. From the 17th century onwards, this dipole relationship changed. Now all three regions show concurrent warming, with snow accumulation declining in West Antarctica and the eastern Ross Sea.
Nguyen Le Duy, Ingo Heidbüchel, Hanno Meyer, Bruno Merz, and Heiko Apel
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 1239–1262, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-1239-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-1239-2018, 2018
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This study analyzes the influence of local and regional meteorological factors on the isotopic composition of precipitation. The impact of the different factors on the isotopic condition was quantified by multiple linear regression of all factor combinations combined with relative importance analysis. The proposed approach might open a pathway for the improved reconstruction of paleoclimates based on isotopic records.
Thomas Laepple, Thomas Münch, Mathieu Casado, Maria Hoerhold, Amaelle Landais, and Sepp Kipfstuhl
The Cryosphere, 12, 169–187, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-169-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-169-2018, 2018
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We explain why snow pits across different sites in East Antarctica show visually similar isotopic variations. We argue that the similarity and the apparent cycles of around 20 cm in the δD and δ18O variations are the result of a seasonal cycle in isotopes, noise, for example from precipitation intermittency, and diffusion. The near constancy of the diffusion length across many ice-coring sites explains why the structure and cycle length is largely independent of the accumulation conditions.
Tim Carlsen, Gerit Birnbaum, André Ehrlich, Johannes Freitag, Georg Heygster, Larysa Istomina, Sepp Kipfstuhl, Anaïs Orsi, Michael Schäfer, and Manfred Wendisch
The Cryosphere, 11, 2727–2741, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2727-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2727-2017, 2017
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The optical size of snow grains (ropt) affects the reflectivity of snow surfaces and thus the local surface energy budget in particular in polar regions. The temporal evolution of ropt retrieved from ground-based, airborne, and spaceborne remote sensing could reproduce optical in situ measurements for a 2-month period in central Antarctica (2013/14). The presented validation study provided a unique testbed for retrievals of ropt under Antarctic conditions where in situ data are scarce.
Christoph Florian Schaller, Johannes Freitag, and Olaf Eisen
Clim. Past, 13, 1685–1693, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-13-1685-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-13-1685-2017, 2017
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In order to interpret the paleoclimatic record stored in the air enclosed in polar ice cores, it is crucial to understand the fundamental lock-in process. In our study, we present the first extensive data set of direct firn microstructure measurements and use it to show that the critical porosity of gas enclosure is independent of the climatic site conditions (such as temperature and accumulation rate). This leads to significant changes in dating and interpretation of ice-core gas records.
Ilka Weikusat, Ernst-Jan N. Kuiper, Gill M. Pennock, Sepp Kipfstuhl, and Martyn R. Drury
Solid Earth, 8, 883–898, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-8-883-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-8-883-2017, 2017
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Understanding the flow of large ice masses on Earth is a major challenge in our changing climate. Deformation mechanisms are governed by the strong anisotropy of ice. As anisotropy is currently moving into the focus of ice sheet flow studies, we provide a detailed analysis of microstructure data from natural ice core samples which directly relate to anisotropic plasticity. Our findings reveal surprising dislocation activity which seems to contradict the concept of macroscopic ice anisotropy.
Thomas Opel, Sebastian Wetterich, Hanno Meyer, Alexander Y. Dereviagin, Margret C. Fuchs, and Lutz Schirrmeister
Clim. Past, 13, 587–611, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-13-587-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-13-587-2017, 2017
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We studied late Quaternary permafrost at the Oyogos Yar coast (Dmitry Laptev Strait) to reconstruct palaeoclimate and palaeonvironmental conditions in the Northeast Siberian Arctic. Our ice-wedge stable isotope record, combined with data from Bol'shoy Lyakhovsky Island, indicates coldest winter temperatures during MIS5 and MIS2, warmest conditions during the Holocene, i.e. today, and non-stable winter climate during MIS3. New IRSL ages reveal high climate variability during MIS5.
Jan Eichler, Ina Kleitz, Maddalena Bayer-Giraldi, Daniela Jansen, Sepp Kipfstuhl, Wataru Shigeyama, Christian Weikusat, and Ilka Weikusat
The Cryosphere, 11, 1075–1090, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-1075-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-1075-2017, 2017
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This study contributes to investigations of the effect of impurities on ice microstructure and flow properties. For the first time we mapped over 5000 micro-inclusions in four samples from the EDML and NEEM polar ice cores. The particle distributions show no correlation with grain boundaries and thus we conclude that particle pinning plays only a secondary role for the microstructure evolution. Alternative mechanisms are discussed.
Kira Rehfeld, Mathias Trachsel, Richard J. Telford, and Thomas Laepple
Clim. Past, 12, 2255–2270, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-2255-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-2255-2016, 2016
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Indirect evidence on past climate comes from the former composition of ecological communities such as plants, preserved as pollen grains in sediments of lakes. Transfer functions convert relative counts of species to a climatologically meaningful scale (e.g. annual mean temperature in degrees C). We show that the fundamental assumptions in the algorithms impact the reconstruction results in he idealized model world, in particular if the reconstructed variables were not ecologically relevant.
Mathieu Casado, Amaelle Landais, Ghislain Picard, Thomas Münch, Thomas Laepple, Barbara Stenni, Giuliano Dreossi, Alexey Ekaykin, Laurent Arnaud, Christophe Genthon, Alexandra Touzeau, Valérie Masson-Delmotte, and Jean Jouzel
The Cryosphere Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2016-263, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2016-263, 2016
Revised manuscript not accepted
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Ice core isotopic records rely on the knowledge of the processes involved in the archival of the snow. In the East Antarctic Plateau, post-deposition processes strongly affect the signal found in the surface and buried snow compared to the initial climatic signal. We evaluate the different contributions to the surface snow isotopic composition between the precipitation and the exchanges with the atmosphere and the variability of the isotopic signal found in profiles from snow pits.
Christoph Florian Schaller, Johannes Freitag, Sepp Kipfstuhl, Thomas Laepple, Hans Christian Steen-Larsen, and Olaf Eisen
The Cryosphere, 10, 1991–2002, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-1991-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-1991-2016, 2016
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Along a traverse through North Greenland in May 2015 we collected snow cores up to 2 m in depth and analyzed their properties (e.g., density). A new technique for this sampling and an adapted algorithm for comparing data sets from different positions and aligning stratigraphic features are presented. We find good agreement of the density layering in the snowpack over hundreds of kilometers. This allows the construction of a representative density profile that is statistically validated.
François Ritter, Hans Christian Steen-Larsen, Martin Werner, Valérie Masson-Delmotte, Anais Orsi, Melanie Behrens, Gerit Birnbaum, Johannes Freitag, Camille Risi, and Sepp Kipfstuhl
The Cryosphere, 10, 1647–1663, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-1647-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-1647-2016, 2016
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We present successful continuous measurements of water vapor isotopes performed in Antarctica in January 2013. The interest is to understand the impact of the water vapor isotopic composition on the near-surface snow isotopes. Our study reveals a diurnal cycle in the snow isotopic composition in phase with the vapor. This finding suggests fractionation during the sublimation of the ice, which has an important consequence on the interpretation of water isotope variations in ice cores.
Thomas Münch, Sepp Kipfstuhl, Johannes Freitag, Hanno Meyer, and Thomas Laepple
Clim. Past, 12, 1565–1581, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-1565-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-1565-2016, 2016
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Ice-core oxygen isotope ratios are a key climate archive to infer past temperatures, an interpretation however complicated by non-climatic noise. Based on 50 m firn trenches, we present for the first time a two-dimensional view (vertical × horizontal) of how oxygen isotopes are stored in Antarctic firn. A statistical noise model allows inferences for the validity of ice coring efforts to reconstruct past temperatures, highlighting the need of replicate cores for Holocene climate reconstructions.
Rachael H. Rhodes, Xavier Faïn, Edward J. Brook, Joseph R. McConnell, Olivia J. Maselli, Michael Sigl, Jon Edwards, Christo Buizert, Thomas Blunier, Jérôme Chappellaz, and Johannes Freitag
Clim. Past, 12, 1061–1077, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-1061-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-1061-2016, 2016
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Local artifacts in ice core methane data are superimposed on consistent records of past atmospheric variability. These artifacts are not related to past atmospheric history and care should be taken to avoid interpreting them as such. By investigating five polar ice cores from sites with different conditions, we relate isolated methane spikes to melt layers and decimetre-scale variations as "trapping signal" associated with a difference in timing of air bubble closure in adjacent firn layers.
D. Jansen, M.-G. Llorens, J. Westhoff, F. Steinbach, S. Kipfstuhl, P. D. Bons, A. Griera, and I. Weikusat
The Cryosphere, 10, 359–370, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-359-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-359-2016, 2016
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In this study we present examples of typical small-scale folds observed in the NEEM ice core, North Greenland, and discuss their characteristics. Numerical modelling of viscoplastic deformation and dynamic recrystallisation was used to improve the understanding of the formation of the observed structures under simple shear boundary conditions. We conclude that the folds originate from bands of grains with a tilted lattice relative to the strong lattice preferred orientation below 1500 m depth.
S. Weißbach, A. Wegner, T. Opel, H. Oerter, B. M. Vinther, and S. Kipfstuhl
Clim. Past, 12, 171–188, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-171-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-171-2016, 2016
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Based on a set of 12 intermediate deep ice cores, covering an area of about 200 000 km2, we studied the spatial and temporal d18O patterns of northern Greenland over the past millennium and found a strong east-west gradient related to the main ice divide. A stacked record with significantly reduced noise revealed distinct climate variations with a pronounced Little Ice Age and distinct warm events such as the Medieval Climate Anomaly, around AD 1420 and in the 20th century.
A. Svensson, S. Fujita, M. Bigler, M. Braun, R. Dallmayr, V. Gkinis, K. Goto-Azuma, M. Hirabayashi, K. Kawamura, S. Kipfstuhl, H. A. Kjær, T. Popp, M. Simonsen, J. P. Steffensen, P. Vallelonga, and B. M. Vinther
Clim. Past, 11, 1127–1137, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-11-1127-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-11-1127-2015, 2015
G. van der Wel, H. Fischer, H. Oerter, H. Meyer, and H. A. J. Meijer
The Cryosphere, 9, 1601–1616, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-1601-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-1601-2015, 2015
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The diffusion of the stable water isotope signal during firnification of snow is a temperature-dependent process. Therefore, past local temperatures can be derived from the differential diffusion length. In this paper we develop a new method for determining this quantity and compare it with the existing method. Both methods are applied to a large number of synthetic data sets to assess the precision and accuracy of the reconstruction and to a section of the Antarctic EDML ice core record.
J. Christmann, R. Müller, K. G. Webber, D. Isaia, F. H. Schader, S. Kipfstuhl, J. Freitag, and A. Humbert
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 7, 87–92, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-7-87-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-7-87-2015, 2015
M. Fritz, T. Opel, G. Tanski, U. Herzschuh, H. Meyer, A. Eulenburg, and H. Lantuit
The Cryosphere, 9, 737–752, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-737-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-737-2015, 2015
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Ground ice in permafrost has not, until now, been considered to be a source of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and other elements that are important for ecosystems and carbon cycling.
Ice wedges in the Arctic Yedoma region hold 45.2 Tg DOC (Tg = 10^12g), 33.6 Tg DIC and a freshwater reservoir of 4200 km³.
Leaching of terrestrial organic matter is the most relevant process of DOC sequestration into ground ice.
T. Pados, R. F. Spielhagen, D. Bauch, H. Meyer, and M. Segl
Biogeosciences, 12, 1733–1752, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-1733-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-1733-2015, 2015
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Fossil planktic foraminifera and their geochemical composition are commonly used proxies in palaeoceanography. Our study with living specimens revealed that in the Fram Strait both Neogloboquadrina pachyderma and Turborotalita quinqueloba from the water column have lower δ18O and δ13C values than inorganically precipitated calcite/fossil tests from the sediment surface. These offsets indicate biological influence during calcification and a change of water column properties in the recent past.
C. Elsässer, D. Wagenbach, I. Levin, A. Stanzick, M. Christl, A. Wallner, S. Kipfstuhl, I. K. Seierstad, H. Wershofen, and J. Dibb
Clim. Past, 11, 115–133, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-11-115-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-11-115-2015, 2015
P. Vallelonga, K. Christianson, R. B. Alley, S. Anandakrishnan, J. E. M. Christian, D. Dahl-Jensen, V. Gkinis, C. Holme, R. W. Jacobel, N. B. Karlsson, B. A. Keisling, S. Kipfstuhl, H. A. Kjær, M. E. L. Kristensen, A. Muto, L. E. Peters, T. Popp, K. L. Riverman, A. M. Svensson, C. Tibuleac, B. M. Vinther, Y. Weng, and M. Winstrup
The Cryosphere, 8, 1275–1287, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-1275-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-1275-2014, 2014
G. Schwamborn, H. Meyer, L. Schirrmeister, and G. Fedorov
Clim. Past, 10, 1109–1123, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-1109-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-1109-2014, 2014
H. C. Steen-Larsen, V. Masson-Delmotte, M. Hirabayashi, R. Winkler, K. Satow, F. Prié, N. Bayou, E. Brun, K. M. Cuffey, D. Dahl-Jensen, M. Dumont, M. Guillevic, S. Kipfstuhl, A. Landais, T. Popp, C. Risi, K. Steffen, B. Stenni, and A. E. Sveinbjörnsdottír
Clim. Past, 10, 377–392, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-377-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-377-2014, 2014
S. O. Rasmussen, P. M. Abbott, T. Blunier, A. J. Bourne, E. Brook, S. L. Buchardt, C. Buizert, J. Chappellaz, H. B. Clausen, E. Cook, D. Dahl-Jensen, S. M. Davies, M. Guillevic, S. Kipfstuhl, T. Laepple, I. K. Seierstad, J. P. Severinghaus, J. P. Steffensen, C. Stowasser, A. Svensson, P. Vallelonga, B. M. Vinther, F. Wilhelms, and M. Winstrup
Clim. Past, 9, 2713–2730, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-2713-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-2713-2013, 2013
T. Opel, D. Fritzsche, and H. Meyer
Clim. Past, 9, 2379–2389, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-2379-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-2379-2013, 2013
A. Svensson, M. Bigler, T. Blunier, H. B. Clausen, D. Dahl-Jensen, H. Fischer, S. Fujita, K. Goto-Azuma, S. J. Johnsen, K. Kawamura, S. Kipfstuhl, M. Kohno, F. Parrenin, T. Popp, S. O. Rasmussen, J. Schwander, I. Seierstad, M. Severi, J. P. Steffensen, R. Udisti, R. Uemura, P. Vallelonga, B. M. Vinther, A. Wegner, F. Wilhelms, and M. Winstrup
Clim. Past, 9, 749–766, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-749-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-749-2013, 2013
Related subject area
Ice Cores
A 350,000-year-old blue ice identified at the surface of the Elephant Moraine region, East Antarctica
What does the impurity variability at the microscale represent in ice cores? Insights from a conceptual approach
Reconstruction of mass balance and firn stratigraphy during the 1996–2011 warm period at high-altitude on Mt. Ortles, Eastern Alps: a comparison of modelled and ice core results
Brief Communication: The Danish Replicate Drilling System – Results from the First Field Test
Laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry measurements for high-resolution chemical ice core analyses with a first application to an ice core from Skytrain Ice Rise (Antarctica)
The grain-scale signature of isotopic diffusion in ice
Combining traditional and novel techniques to increase our understanding of the lock-in depth of atmospheric gases in polar ice cores – results from the EastGRIP region
Scientific history, sampling approach, and physical characterization of the Camp Century subglacial material, a rare archive from beneath the Greenland Ice Sheet
Novel approach to estimate the water isotope diffusion length in deep ice cores with an application to Marine Isotope Stage 19 in the Dome C ice core
The potential of in situ cosmogenic 14CO in ice cores as a proxy for galactic cosmic ray flux variations
Characterization of in situ cosmogenic 14CO production, retention and loss in firn and shallow ice at Summit, Greenland
Research into mechanical modeling based on characteristics of the fracture mechanics of ice cutting for scientific drilling in polar regions
Temporal markers in a temperate ice core: insights from 3H and 137Cs profiles from the Adamello Glacier
Review article: Melt-affected ice cores for polar research in a warming world
Impact of subsurface crevassing on the depth–age relationship of high-Alpine ice cores extracted at Col du Dôme between 1994 and 2012
Fifty years of firn evolution on Grigoriev ice cap, Tien Shan, Kyrgyzstan
Climate change is rapidly deteriorating the climatic signal in Svalbard glaciers
Development of deformational regimes and microstructures in the deep sections and overall layered structures of the Dome Fuji ice core, Antarctica
Identifying atmospheric processes favouring the formation of bubble-free layers in the Law Dome ice core, East Antarctica
Millennial and orbital-scale variability in a 54 000-year record of total air content from the South Pole ice core
Investigating the spatial representativeness of East Antarctic ice cores: a comparison of ice core and radar-derived surface mass balance over coastal ice rises and Dome Fuji
Early Holocene ice on the Begguya plateau (Mt. Hunter, Alaska) revealed by ice core 14C age constraints
Greenland and Canadian Arctic ice temperature profiles database
Isotopic diffusion in ice enhanced by vein-water flow
A one-dimensional temperature and age modeling study for selecting the drill site of the oldest ice core near Dome Fuji, Antarctica
Chemical and visual characterisation of EGRIP glacial ice and cloudy bands within
Using ice core measurements from Taylor Glacier, Antarctica, to calibrate in situ cosmogenic 14C production rates by muons
Detection of ice core particles via deep neural networks
Development of crystal orientation fabric in the Dome Fuji ice core in East Antarctica: implications for the deformation regime in ice sheets
Gas isotope thermometry in the South Pole and Dome Fuji ice cores provides evidence for seasonal rectification of ice core gas records
Chronostratigraphy of the Larsen blue-ice area in northern Victoria Land, East Antarctica, and its implications for paleoclimate
A quantitative method of resolving annual precipitation for the past millennia from Tibetan ice cores
Regional variability of diatoms in ice cores from the Antarctic Peninsula and Ellsworth Land, Antarctica
Microstructure, micro-inclusions, and mineralogy along the EGRIP (East Greenland Ice Core Project) ice core – Part 2: Implications for palaeo-mineralogy
Microstructure, micro-inclusions, and mineralogy along the EGRIP ice core – Part 1: Localisation of inclusions and deformation patterns
Fractionation of O2∕N2 and Ar∕N2 in the Antarctic ice sheet during bubble formation and bubble–clathrate hydrate transition from precise gas measurements of the Dome Fuji ice core
Deep ice as a geochemical reactor: insights from iron speciation and mineralogy of dust in the Talos Dome ice core (East Antarctica)
Two-dimensional impurity imaging in deep Antarctic ice cores: snapshots of three climatic periods and implications for high-resolution signal interpretation
Acoustic velocity measurements for detecting the crystal orientation fabrics of a temperate ice core
Brief communication: New evidence further constraining Tibetan ice core chronologies to the Holocene
Brief communication: New radar constraints support presence of ice older than 1.5 Myr at Little Dome C
Pervasive diffusion of climate signals recorded in ice-vein ionic impurities
Radiocarbon dating of alpine ice cores with the dissolved organic carbon (DOC) fraction
Giant dust particles at Nevado Illimani: a proxy of summertime deep convection over the Bolivian Altiplano
Physical properties of shallow ice cores from Antarctic and sub-Antarctic islands
Stable water isotopes and accumulation rates in the Union Glacier region, Ellsworth Mountains, West Antarctica, over the last 35 years
Multi-tracer study of gas trapping in an East Antarctic ice core
Very old firn air linked to strong density layering at Styx Glacier, coastal Victoria Land, East Antarctica
Apparent discrepancy of Tibetan ice core δ18O records may be attributed to misinterpretation of chronology
Challenges associated with the climatic interpretation of water stable isotope records from a highly resolved firn core from Adélie Land, coastal Antarctica
Giyoon Lee, Jinho Ahn, Hyeontae Ju, Ikumi Oyabu, Florian Ritterbusch, Songyi Kim, Jangil Moon, Joohan Lee, Yeongcheol Han, Soon Do Hur, Kenji Kawamura, Zheng-Tian Lu, Wei Jiang, and Guo-Min Yang
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1436, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1436, 2025
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This study investigated ancient ice in the Elephant Moraine, East Antarctica. Using geophysical surveys and chemical analyses, we found surface ice around 350,000 years old and ice thickness ranging from 200 to 800 meters. These findings suggest the Elephant Moraine region may preserve ice over one million years old at depths of several hundred meters. Recovering such ice is a key goal in paleoclimate research to better understand the climate history of Earth.
Piers Larkman, Rachael H. Rhodes, Nicolas Stoll, Carlo Barbante, and Pascal Bohleber
The Cryosphere, 19, 1373–1390, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-1373-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-1373-2025, 2025
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Impurities in ice cores can be preferentially located at the boundaries between crystals of ice, impacting the interpretation of high-resolution data collected from ice core samples. Through use of a modelling framework, we demonstrate that one-dimensional signals can be significantly affected by this association, meaning high-resolution measurements must be carefully designed. Accounting for this effect is important for interpreting ice core data, especially for deep ice samples.
Luca Carturan, Alexander C. Ihle, Federico Cazorzi, Tiziana Lazzarina Zendrini, Fabrizio De Blasi, Giancarlo Dalla Fontana, Giuliano Dreossi, Daniela Festi, Bryan Mark, Klaus Dieter Oeggl, Roberto Seppi, Barbara Stenni, and Paolo Gabrielli
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-729, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-729, 2025
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Paleoclimatic glacial archives in low-latitude mountains are increasingly affected by melt, causing heavy percolation and removing snow and firn accumulated across months, seasons or even years. Here we present a proxy system model that explicitly accounts for melt in ice and firn cores. Compared to traditional annual layer counting, the model significantly improved the interpretation and annual dating of the Mt. Ortles firn core, in the Italian Alps, that includes the very warm summer 2003.
Julien Westhoff, Grant Vernon Boeckmann, Nicholas Mossor Rathmann, and Steffen Bo Hansen
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3081, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3081, 2024
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We report on the successful test of a new replicate drilling system for ice cores. This system allows us to deviate the ice core drill from the parent, the original, borehole, and drill into the side of the wall. Thus, we can produce a second ice core from any desired depth, increasing the amount of sample available for scientific purposes. In the manuscript, we present the results from the first field tests and the challenges we encountered.
Helene Hoffmann, Jason Day, Rachael H. Rhodes, Mackenzie Grieman, Jack Humby, Isobel Rowell, Christoph Nehrbass-Ahles, Robert Mulvaney, Sally Gibson, and Eric Wolff
The Cryosphere, 18, 4993–5013, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-4993-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-4993-2024, 2024
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Ice cores are archives of past atmospheric conditions. In deep and old ice, the layers containing this information get thinned to the millimetre scale or below. We installed a setup for high-resolution (182 μm) chemical impurity measurements in ice cores using the laser ablation technique at the University of Cambridge. In a first application to the Skytrain ice core from Antarctica, we discuss the potential to detect fine-layered structures in ice up to an age of 26 000 years.
Felix S. L. Ng
The Cryosphere, 18, 4645–4669, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-4645-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-4645-2024, 2024
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Liquid veins and grain boundaries in ice can accelerate the decay of climate signals in δ18O and δD by short-circuiting the slow isotopic diffusion in crystal grains. This theory for "excess diffusion" has not been confirmed experimentally. We show that, if the mechanism occurs, then distinct isotopic patterns must form near grain junctions, offering a testable prediction of the theory. We calculate the patterns and describe an experimental scheme for testing ice-core samples for the mechanism.
Julien Westhoff, Johannes Freitag, Anaïs Orsi, Patricia Martinerie, Ilka Weikusat, Michael Dyonisius, Xavier Faïn, Kevin Fourteau, and Thomas Blunier
The Cryosphere, 18, 4379–4397, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-4379-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-4379-2024, 2024
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We study the EastGRIP area, Greenland, in detail with traditional and novel techniques. Due to the compaction of the ice, at a certain depth, atmospheric gases can no longer exchange, and the atmosphere is trapped in air bubbles in the ice. We find this depth by pumping air from a borehole, modeling, and using a new technique based on the optical appearance of the ice. Our results suggest that the close-off depth lies at around 58–61 m depth and more precisely at 58.3 m depth.
Paul R. Bierman, Andrew J. Christ, Catherine M. Collins, Halley M. Mastro, Juliana Souza, Pierre-Henri Blard, Stefanie Brachfeld, Zoe R. Courville, Tammy M. Rittenour, Elizabeth K. Thomas, Jean-Louis Tison, and François Fripiat
The Cryosphere, 18, 4029–4052, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-4029-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-4029-2024, 2024
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In 1966, the U.S. Army drilled through the Greenland Ice Sheet at Camp Century, Greenland; they recovered 3.44 m of frozen material. Here, we decipher the material’s history. Water, flowing during a warm interglacial when the ice sheet melted from northwest Greenland, deposited the upper material which contains fossil plant and insect parts. The lower material, separated by more than a meter of ice with some sediment, is till, deposited by the ice sheet during a prior cold period.
Fyntan Shaw, Andrew M. Dolman, Torben Kunz, Vasileios Gkinis, and Thomas Laepple
The Cryosphere, 18, 3685–3698, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-3685-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-3685-2024, 2024
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Fast variability of water isotopes in ice cores is attenuated by diffusion but can be restored if the diffusion length is accurately estimated. Current estimation methods are inadequate for deep ice, mischaracterising millennial-scale climate variability. We address this using variability estimates from shallower ice. The estimated diffusion length of 31 cm for the bottom of the Dome C ice core is 20 cm less than the old method, enabling signal recovery on timescales previously considered lost.
Vasilii V. Petrenko, Segev BenZvi, Michael Dyonisius, Benjamin Hmiel, Andrew M. Smith, and Christo Buizert
The Cryosphere, 18, 3439–3451, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-3439-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-3439-2024, 2024
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This manuscript presents the concept for a new proxy for past variations in the galactic cosmic ray flux (GCR). Past variations in GCR flux are important to understand for interpretation of records of isotopes produced by cosmic rays; these records are used for reconstructing solar variations and past land ice extent. The proxy involves using measurements of 14CO in ice cores, which should provide an uncomplicated and precise estimate of past GCR flux variations for the past few thousand years.
Benjamin Hmiel, Vasilii V. Petrenko, Christo Buizert, Andrew M. Smith, Michael N. Dyonisius, Philip Place, Bin Yang, Quan Hua, Ross Beaudette, Jeffrey P. Severinghaus, Christina Harth, Ray F. Weiss, Lindsey Davidge, Melisa Diaz, Matthew Pacicco, James A. Menking, Michael Kalk, Xavier Faïn, Alden Adolph, Isaac Vimont, and Lee T. Murray
The Cryosphere, 18, 3363–3382, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-3363-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-3363-2024, 2024
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The main aim of this research is to improve understanding of carbon-14 that is produced by cosmic rays in ice sheets. Measurements of carbon-14 in ice cores can provide a range of useful information (age of ice, past atmospheric chemistry, past cosmic ray intensity). Our results show that almost all (>99 %) of carbon-14 that is produced in the upper layer of ice sheets is rapidly lost to the atmosphere. Our results also provide better estimates of carbon-14 production rates in deeper ice.
Xinyu Lv, Zhihao Cui, Ting Wang, Yumin Wen, An Liu, and Rusheng Wang
The Cryosphere, 18, 3351–3362, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-3351-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-3351-2024, 2024
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In this study, the formation process of ice chips was observed and the fracture mechanics characteristics of the ice during the cutting process were analyzed. Additionally, a mechanical model for the cutting force was established based on the observation and analysis results. Finally, influencing factors and laws of the cutting force were verified by cutting force test results generated under various experimental conditions.
Elena Di Stefano, Giovanni Baccolo, Massimiliano Clemenza, Barbara Delmonte, Deborah Fiorini, Roberto Garzonio, Margit Schwikowski, and Valter Maggi
The Cryosphere, 18, 2865–2874, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2865-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2865-2024, 2024
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Rising temperatures are impacting the reliability of glaciers as environmental archives. This study reports how meltwater percolation affects the distribution of tritium and cesium, which are commonly used as temporal markers in dating ice cores, in a temperate glacier. Our findings challenge the established application of radionuclides for dating mountain ice cores and indicate tritium as the best choice.
Dorothea Elisabeth Moser, Elizabeth R. Thomas, Christoph Nehrbass-Ahles, Anja Eichler, and Eric Wolff
The Cryosphere, 18, 2691–2718, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2691-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2691-2024, 2024
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Increasing temperatures worldwide lead to more melting of glaciers and ice caps, even in the polar regions. This is why ice-core scientists need to prepare to analyse records affected by melting and refreezing. In this paper, we present a summary of how near-surface melt forms, what structural imprints it leaves in snow, how various signatures used for ice-core climate reconstruction are altered, and how we can still extract valuable insights from melt-affected ice cores.
Susanne Preunkert, Pascal Bohleber, Michel Legrand, Adrien Gilbert, Tobias Erhardt, Roland Purtschert, Lars Zipf, Astrid Waldner, Joseph R. McConnell, and Hubertus Fischer
The Cryosphere, 18, 2177–2194, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2177-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2177-2024, 2024
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Ice cores from high-elevation Alpine glaciers are an important tool to reconstruct the past atmosphere. However, since crevasses are common at these glacier sites, rigorous investigations of glaciological conditions upstream of drill sites are needed before interpreting such ice cores. On the basis of three ice cores extracted at Col du Dôme (4250 m a.s.l; French Alps), an overall picture of a dynamic crevasse formation is drawn, which disturbs the depth–age relation of two of the three cores.
Horst Machguth, Anja Eichler, Margit Schwikowski, Sabina Brütsch, Enrico Mattea, Stanislav Kutuzov, Martin Heule, Ryskul Usubaliev, Sultan Belekov, Vladimir N. Mikhalenko, Martin Hoelzle, and Marlene Kronenberg
The Cryosphere, 18, 1633–1646, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1633-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1633-2024, 2024
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In 2018 we drilled an 18 m ice core on the summit of Grigoriev ice cap, located in the Tien Shan mountains of Kyrgyzstan. The core analysis reveals strong melting since the early 2000s. Regardless of this, we find that the structure and temperature of the ice have changed little since the 1980s. The probable cause of this apparent stability is (i) an increase in snowfall and (ii) the fact that meltwater nowadays leaves the glacier and thereby removes so-called latent heat.
Andrea Spolaor, Federico Scoto, Catherine Larose, Elena Barbaro, Francois Burgay, Mats P. Bjorkman, David Cappelletti, Federico Dallo, Fabrizio de Blasi, Dmitry Divine, Giuliano Dreossi, Jacopo Gabrieli, Elisabeth Isaksson, Jack Kohler, Tonu Martma, Louise S. Schmidt, Thomas V. Schuler, Barbara Stenni, Clara Turetta, Bartłomiej Luks, Mathieu Casado, and Jean-Charles Gallet
The Cryosphere, 18, 307–320, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-307-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-307-2024, 2024
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We evaluate the impact of the increased snowmelt on the preservation of the oxygen isotope (δ18O) signal in firn records recovered from the top of the Holtedahlfonna ice field located in the Svalbard archipelago. Thanks to a multidisciplinary approach we demonstrate a progressive deterioration of the isotope signal in the firn core. We link the degradation of the δ18O signal to the increased occurrence and intensity of melt events associated with the rapid warming occurring in the archipelago.
Tomotaka Saruya, Atsushi Miyamoto, Shuji Fujita, Kumiko Goto-Azuma, Motohiro Hirabayashi, Akira Hori, Makoto Igarashi, Yoshinori Iizuka, Takao Kameda, Hiroshi Ohno, Wataru Shigeyama, and Shun Tsutaki
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-3146, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-3146, 2024
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Crystal orientation fabrics (COF) and microstructures in the deep sections of the Dome Fuji ice core were investigated using innovative methods with unprecedentedly high statistical significance and dense depth coverage. Together with our previous studies, we have obtained a whole layer profile of the COF and physical properties of the Dome Fuji ice core. COF profile and its fluctuation were found to be highly dependent on impurities concentrations and recrystallization processes.
Lingwei Zhang, Tessa R. Vance, Alexander D. Fraser, Lenneke M. Jong, Sarah S. Thompson, Alison S. Criscitiello, and Nerilie J. Abram
The Cryosphere, 17, 5155–5173, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-5155-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-5155-2023, 2023
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Physical features in ice cores provide unique records of past variability. We identified 1–2 mm ice layers without bubbles in surface ice cores from Law Dome, East Antarctica, occurring on average five times per year. The origin of these bubble-free layers is unknown. In this study, we investigate whether they have the potential to record past atmospheric processes and circulation. We find that the bubble-free layers are linked to accumulation hiatus events and meridional moisture transport.
Jenna A. Epifanio, Edward J. Brook, Christo Buizert, Erin C. Pettit, Jon S. Edwards, John M. Fegyveresi, Todd A. Sowers, Jeffrey P. Severinghaus, and Emma C. Kahle
The Cryosphere, 17, 4837–4851, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-4837-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-4837-2023, 2023
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The total air content (TAC) of polar ice cores has long been considered a potential proxy for past ice sheet elevation. This study presents a high-resolution record of TAC from the South Pole ice core. The record reveals orbital- and millennial-scale variability that cannot be explained by elevation changes. The orbital- and millennial-scale changes are likely a product of firn grain metamorphism near the surface of the ice sheet, due to summer insolation changes or local accumulation changes.
Marie G. P. Cavitte, Hugues Goosse, Kenichi Matsuoka, Sarah Wauthy, Vikram Goel, Rahul Dey, Bhanu Pratap, Brice Van Liefferinge, Thamban Meloth, and Jean-Louis Tison
The Cryosphere, 17, 4779–4795, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-4779-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-4779-2023, 2023
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The net accumulation of snow over Antarctica is key for assessing current and future sea-level rise. Ice cores record a noisy snowfall signal to verify model simulations. We find that ice core net snowfall is biased to lower values for ice rises and the Dome Fuji site (Antarctica), while the relative uncertainty in measuring snowfall increases rapidly with distance away from the ice core sites at the ice rises but not at Dome Fuji. Spatial variation in snowfall must therefore be considered.
Ling Fang, Theo M. Jenk, Dominic Winski, Karl Kreutz, Hanna L. Brooks, Emma Erwin, Erich Osterberg, Seth Campbell, Cameron Wake, and Margit Schwikowski
The Cryosphere, 17, 4007–4020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-4007-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-4007-2023, 2023
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Understanding the behavior of ocean–atmosphere teleconnections in the North Pacific during warm intervals can aid in predicting future warming scenarios. However, majority ice core records from Alaska–Yukon region only provide data for the last few centuries. This study introduces a continuous chronology for Denali ice core from Begguya, Alaska, using multiple dating methods. The early-Holocene-origin Denali ice core will facilitate future investigations of hydroclimate in the North Pacific.
Anja Løkkegaard, Kenneth D. Mankoff, Christian Zdanowicz, Gary D. Clow, Martin P. Lüthi, Samuel H. Doyle, Henrik H. Thomsen, David Fisher, Joel Harper, Andy Aschwanden, Bo M. Vinther, Dorthe Dahl-Jensen, Harry Zekollari, Toby Meierbachtol, Ian McDowell, Neil Humphrey, Anne Solgaard, Nanna B. Karlsson, Shfaqat A. Khan, Benjamin Hills, Robert Law, Bryn Hubbard, Poul Christoffersen, Mylène Jacquemart, Julien Seguinot, Robert S. Fausto, and William T. Colgan
The Cryosphere, 17, 3829–3845, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3829-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3829-2023, 2023
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This study presents a database compiling 95 ice temperature profiles from the Greenland ice sheet and peripheral ice caps. Ice viscosity and hence ice flow are highly sensitive to ice temperature. To highlight the value of the database in evaluating ice flow simulations, profiles from the Greenland ice sheet are compared to a modeled temperature field. Reoccurring discrepancies between modeled and observed temperatures provide insight on the difficulties faced when simulating ice temperatures.
Felix S. L. Ng
The Cryosphere, 17, 3063–3082, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3063-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3063-2023, 2023
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The stable isotopes of oxygen and hydrogen in ice cores are routinely analysed for the climate signals which they carry. It has long been known that the system of water veins in ice facilitates isotopic diffusion. Here, mathematical modelling shows that water flow in the veins strongly accelerates the diffusion and the decay of climate signals. The process hampers methods using the variations in signal decay with depth to reconstruct past climatic temperature.
Takashi Obase, Ayako Abe-Ouchi, Fuyuki Saito, Shun Tsutaki, Shuji Fujita, Kenji Kawamura, and Hideaki Motoyama
The Cryosphere, 17, 2543–2562, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2543-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2543-2023, 2023
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We use a one-dimensional ice-flow model to examine the most suitable core location near Dome Fuji (DF), Antarctica. This model computes the temporal evolution of age and temperature from past to present. We investigate the influence of different parameters of climate and ice sheet on the ice's basal age and compare the results with ground radar surveys. We find that the local ice thickness primarily controls the age because it is critical to the basal melting, which can eliminate the old ice.
Nicolas Stoll, Julien Westhoff, Pascal Bohleber, Anders Svensson, Dorthe Dahl-Jensen, Carlo Barbante, and Ilka Weikusat
The Cryosphere, 17, 2021–2043, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2021-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2021-2023, 2023
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Impurities in polar ice play a role regarding its climate signal and internal deformation. We bridge different scales using different methods to investigate ice from the Last Glacial Period derived from the EGRIP ice core in Greenland. We characterise different types of cloudy bands, i.e. frequently occurring milky layers in the ice, and analyse their chemistry with Raman spectroscopy and 2D imaging. We derive new insights into impurity localisation and deposition conditions.
Michael N. Dyonisius, Vasilii V. Petrenko, Andrew M. Smith, Benjamin Hmiel, Peter D. Neff, Bin Yang, Quan Hua, Jochen Schmitt, Sarah A. Shackleton, Christo Buizert, Philip F. Place, James A. Menking, Ross Beaudette, Christina Harth, Michael Kalk, Heidi A. Roop, Bernhard Bereiter, Casey Armanetti, Isaac Vimont, Sylvia Englund Michel, Edward J. Brook, Jeffrey P. Severinghaus, Ray F. Weiss, and Joseph R. McConnell
The Cryosphere, 17, 843–863, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-843-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-843-2023, 2023
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Cosmic rays that enter the atmosphere produce secondary particles which react with surface minerals to produce radioactive nuclides. These nuclides are often used to constrain Earth's surface processes. However, the production rates from muons are not well constrained. We measured 14C in ice with a well-known exposure history to constrain the production rates from muons. 14C production in ice is analogous to quartz, but we obtain different production rates compared to commonly used estimates.
Niccolò Maffezzoli, Eliza Cook, Willem G. M. van der Bilt, Eivind N. Støren, Daniela Festi, Florian Muthreich, Alistair W. R. Seddon, François Burgay, Giovanni Baccolo, Amalie R. F. Mygind, Troels Petersen, Andrea Spolaor, Sebastiano Vascon, Marcello Pelillo, Patrizia Ferretti, Rafael S. dos Reis, Jefferson C. Simões, Yuval Ronen, Barbara Delmonte, Marco Viccaro, Jørgen Peder Steffensen, Dorthe Dahl-Jensen, Kerim H. Nisancioglu, and Carlo Barbante
The Cryosphere, 17, 539–565, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-539-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-539-2023, 2023
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Multiple lines of research in ice core science are limited by manually intensive and time-consuming optical microscopy investigations for the detection of insoluble particles, from pollen grains to volcanic shards. To help overcome these limitations and support researchers, we present a novel methodology for the identification and autonomous classification of ice core insoluble particles based on flow image microscopy and neural networks.
Tomotaka Saruya, Shuji Fujita, Yoshinori Iizuka, Atsushi Miyamoto, Hiroshi Ohno, Akira Hori, Wataru Shigeyama, Motohiro Hirabayashi, and Kumiko Goto-Azuma
The Cryosphere, 16, 2985–3003, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2985-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2985-2022, 2022
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Crystal orientation fabrics (COF) of the Dome Fuji ice core were investigated with an innovative method with unprecedentedly high statistical significance and dense depth coverage. The COF profile and its fluctuation were found to be highly dependent on concentrations of chloride ion and dust. The data suggest deformation of ice at the deepest zone is highly influenced by COF fluctuations that progressively develop from the near-surface firn toward the deepest zone within ice sheets.
Jacob D. Morgan, Christo Buizert, Tyler J. Fudge, Kenji Kawamura, Jeffrey P. Severinghaus, and Cathy M. Trudinger
The Cryosphere, 16, 2947–2966, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2947-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2947-2022, 2022
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The composition of air bubbles in Antarctic ice cores records information about past changes in properties of the snowpack. We find that, near the South Pole, thinner snowpack in the past is often due to steeper surface topography, in which faster winds erode the snow and deposit it in flatter areas. The slope and wind seem to also cause a seasonal bias in the composition of air bubbles in the ice core. These findings will improve interpretation of other ice cores from places with steep slopes.
Giyoon Lee, Jinho Ahn, Hyeontae Ju, Florian Ritterbusch, Ikumi Oyabu, Christo Buizert, Songyi Kim, Jangil Moon, Sambit Ghosh, Kenji Kawamura, Zheng-Tian Lu, Sangbum Hong, Chang Hee Han, Soon Do Hur, Wei Jiang, and Guo-Min Yang
The Cryosphere, 16, 2301–2324, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2301-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2301-2022, 2022
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Blue-ice areas (BIAs) have several advantages for reconstructing past climate. However, the complicated ice flow in the area hinders constraining the age. We applied state-of-the-art techniques and found that the ages cover the last deglaciation period. Our study demonstrates that the BIA in northern Victoria Land may help reconstruct the past climate during the termination of the last glacial period.
Wangbin Zhang, Shugui Hou, Shuang-Ye Wu, Hongxi Pang, Sharon B. Sneed, Elena V. Korotkikh, Paul A. Mayewski, Theo M. Jenk, and Margit Schwikowski
The Cryosphere, 16, 1997–2008, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-1997-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-1997-2022, 2022
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This study proposes a quantitative method to reconstruct annual precipitation records at the millennial timescale from the Tibetan ice cores through combining annual layer identification based on LA-ICP-MS measurement with an ice flow model. The reliability of this method is assessed by comparing our results with other reconstructed and modeled precipitation series for the Tibetan Plateau. The assessment shows that the method has a promising performance.
Dieter R. Tetzner, Claire S. Allen, and Elizabeth R. Thomas
The Cryosphere, 16, 779–798, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-779-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-779-2022, 2022
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The presence of diatoms in Antarctic ice cores has been scarcely documented and poorly understood. Here we present a detailed analysis of the spatial and temporal distribution of the diatom record preserved in a set of Antarctic ice cores. Our results reveal that the timing and amount of diatoms deposited present a strong geographical division. This study highlights the potential of the diatom record preserved in Antarctic ice cores to provide useful information about past environmental changes.
Nicolas Stoll, Maria Hörhold, Tobias Erhardt, Jan Eichler, Camilla Jensen, and Ilka Weikusat
The Cryosphere, 16, 667–688, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-667-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-667-2022, 2022
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We mapped and analysed solid inclusion in the upper 1340 m of the EGRIP ice core with Raman spectroscopy and microstructure mapping, based on bulk dust content derived via continuous flow analysis. We observe a large variety in mineralogy throughout the core and samples. The main minerals are sulfates, especially gypsum, and terrestrial dust minerals, such as quartz, mica, and feldspar. A change in mineralogy occurs around 900 m depth indicating a climate-related imprint.
Nicolas Stoll, Jan Eichler, Maria Hörhold, Tobias Erhardt, Camilla Jensen, and Ilka Weikusat
The Cryosphere, 15, 5717–5737, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-5717-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-5717-2021, 2021
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We did a systematic analysis of the location of inclusions in the EGRIP ice core, the first ice core from an ice stream. We combine this with crystal orientation and grain size data, enabling the first overview about the microstructure of this unique ice core. Micro-inclusions show a strong spatial variability and patterns (clusters or horizontal layers); roughly one-third is located at grain boundaries. More holistic approaches are needed to understand deformation processes in the ice better.
Ikumi Oyabu, Kenji Kawamura, Tsutomu Uchida, Shuji Fujita, Kyotaro Kitamura, Motohiro Hirabayashi, Shuji Aoki, Shinji Morimoto, Takakiyo Nakazawa, Jeffrey P. Severinghaus, and Jacob D. Morgan
The Cryosphere, 15, 5529–5555, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-5529-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-5529-2021, 2021
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We present O2/N2 and Ar/N2 records from the Dome Fuji ice core through the bubbly ice, bubble–clathrate transition, and clathrate ice zones without gas-loss fractionation. The insolation signal is preserved through the clathrate formation. The relationship between Ar/Ν2 and Ο2/Ν2 suggests that the fractionation for the bubble–clathrate transition is mass independent, while the bubble close-off process involves a combination of mass-independent and mass-dependent fractionation for O2 and Ar.
Giovanni Baccolo, Barbara Delmonte, Elena Di Stefano, Giannantonio Cibin, Ilaria Crotti, Massimo Frezzotti, Dariush Hampai, Yoshinori Iizuka, Augusto Marcelli, and Valter Maggi
The Cryosphere, 15, 4807–4822, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4807-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4807-2021, 2021
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As scientists are pushing efforts to recover deep ice cores to extend paleoclimatic reconstructions, it is now essential to explore deep ice. The latter was considered a relatively stable environment, but this view is changing. This study shows that the conditions of deep ice promote the interaction between soluble and insoluble impurities, favoring complex geochemical reactions that lead to the englacial dissolution and precipitation of specific minerals present in atmospheric mineral dust.
Pascal Bohleber, Marco Roman, Martin Šala, Barbara Delmonte, Barbara Stenni, and Carlo Barbante
The Cryosphere, 15, 3523–3538, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3523-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3523-2021, 2021
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Laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) offers micro-destructive, micrometer-scale impurity analysis of ice cores. For improved understanding of the LA-ICP-MS signals, novel 2D impurity imaging is applied to selected glacial and interglacial samples of Antarctic deep ice cores. This allows evaluating the 2D impurity distribution in relation to ice crystal features and assessing implications for investigating highly thinned climate proxy signals in deep polar ice.
Sebastian Hellmann, Melchior Grab, Johanna Kerch, Henning Löwe, Andreas Bauder, Ilka Weikusat, and Hansruedi Maurer
The Cryosphere, 15, 3507–3521, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3507-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3507-2021, 2021
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In this study, we analyse whether ultrasonic measurements on ice core samples could be employed to derive information about the particular ice crystal orientation in these samples. We discuss if such ultrasonic scans of ice core samples could provide similarly detailed results as the established methods, which usually destroy the ice samples. Our geophysical approach is minimally invasive and could support the existing methods with additional and (semi-)continuous data points along the ice core.
Shugui Hou, Wangbin Zhang, Ling Fang, Theo M. Jenk, Shuangye Wu, Hongxi Pang, and Margit Schwikowski
The Cryosphere, 15, 2109–2114, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2109-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2109-2021, 2021
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We present ages for two new ice cores reaching bedrock, from the Zangser Kangri (ZK) glacier in the northwestern Tibetan Plateau and the Shulenanshan (SLNS) glacier in the western Qilian Mountains. We estimated bottom ages of 8.90±0.57/0.56 ka and 7.46±1.46/1.79 ka for the ZK and SLNS ice core respectively, constraining the time range accessible by Tibetan ice cores to the Holocene.
David A. Lilien, Daniel Steinhage, Drew Taylor, Frédéric Parrenin, Catherine Ritz, Robert Mulvaney, Carlos Martín, Jie-Bang Yan, Charles O'Neill, Massimo Frezzotti, Heinrich Miller, Prasad Gogineni, Dorthe Dahl-Jensen, and Olaf Eisen
The Cryosphere, 15, 1881–1888, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1881-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1881-2021, 2021
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We collected radar data between EDC, an ice core spanning ~800 000 years, and BELDC, the site chosen for a new
oldest icecore at nearby Little Dome C. These data allow us to identify 50 % older internal horizons than previously traced in the area. We fit a model to the ages of those horizons at BELDC to determine the age of deep ice there. We find that there is likely to be 1.5 Myr old ice ~265 m above the bed, with sufficient resolution to preserve desired climatic information.
Felix S. L. Ng
The Cryosphere, 15, 1787–1810, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1787-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1787-2021, 2021
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Current theory predicts climate signals in the vein chemistry of ice cores to migrate, hampering their dating. I show that the Gibbs–Thomson effect, which has been overlooked, causes fast diffusion that prevents signals from surviving into deep ice. Hence the deep climatic peaks in Antarctic and Greenlandic ice must be due to impurities in the ice matrix (outside veins) and safe from migration. These findings reset our understanding of postdepositional changes of ice-core climate signals.
Ling Fang, Theo M. Jenk, Thomas Singer, Shugui Hou, and Margit Schwikowski
The Cryosphere, 15, 1537–1550, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1537-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1537-2021, 2021
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The interpretation of the ice-core-preserved signal requires a precise chronology. Radiocarbon (14C) dating of the water-insoluble organic carbon (WIOC) fraction has become an important dating tool. However, this method is restricted by the low concentration in the ice. In this work, we report first 14C dating results using the dissolved organic carbon (DOC) fraction. The resulting ages are comparable in both fractions, but by using the DOC fraction the required ice mass can be reduced.
Filipe G. L. Lindau, Jefferson C. Simões, Barbara Delmonte, Patrick Ginot, Giovanni Baccolo, Chiara I. Paleari, Elena Di Stefano, Elena Korotkikh, Douglas S. Introne, Valter Maggi, Eduardo Garzanti, and Sergio Andò
The Cryosphere, 15, 1383–1397, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1383-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1383-2021, 2021
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Information about the past climate variability in tropical South America is stored in the snow layers of the tropical Andean glaciers. Here we show evidence that the presence of very large aeolian mineral dust particles at Nevado Illimani (Bolivia) is strictly controlled by the occurrence of summer storms in the Bolivian Altiplano. Therefore, based on the snow dust content and its composition of stable water isotopes, we propose a new proxy for information on previous summer storms.
Elizabeth Ruth Thomas, Guisella Gacitúa, Joel B. Pedro, Amy Constance Faith King, Bradley Markle, Mariusz Potocki, and Dorothea Elisabeth Moser
The Cryosphere, 15, 1173–1186, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1173-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1173-2021, 2021
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Here we present the first-ever radar and ice core data from the sub-Antarctic islands of Bouvet Island, Peter I Island, and Young Island. These islands have the potential to record past climate in one of the most data-sparse regions on earth. Despite their northerly location, surface melting is generally low, and the upper layer of the ice at most sites is undisturbed. We estimate that a 100 m ice core drilled on these islands could capture climate over the past 100–200 years.
Kirstin Hoffmann, Francisco Fernandoy, Hanno Meyer, Elizabeth R. Thomas, Marcelo Aliaga, Dieter Tetzner, Johannes Freitag, Thomas Opel, Jorge Arigony-Neto, Christian Florian Göbel, Ricardo Jaña, Delia Rodríguez Oroz, Rebecca Tuckwell, Emily Ludlow, Joseph R. McConnell, and Christoph Schneider
The Cryosphere, 14, 881–904, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-881-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-881-2020, 2020
Kévin Fourteau, Patricia Martinerie, Xavier Faïn, Christoph F. Schaller, Rebecca J. Tuckwell, Henning Löwe, Laurent Arnaud, Olivier Magand, Elizabeth R. Thomas, Johannes Freitag, Robert Mulvaney, Martin Schneebeli, and Vladimir Ya. Lipenkov
The Cryosphere, 13, 3383–3403, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-3383-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-3383-2019, 2019
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Understanding gas trapping in polar ice is essential to study the relationship between greenhouse gases and past climates. New data of bubble closure, used in a simple gas-trapping model, show inconsistency with the final air content in ice. This suggests gas trapping is not fully understood. We also use a combination of high-resolution measurements to investigate the effect of polar snow stratification on gas trapping and find that all strata have similar pores, but that some close in advance.
Youngjoon Jang, Sang Bum Hong, Christo Buizert, Hun-Gyu Lee, Sang-Young Han, Ji-Woong Yang, Yoshinori Iizuka, Akira Hori, Yeongcheol Han, Seong Joon Jun, Pieter Tans, Taejin Choi, Seong-Joong Kim, Soon Do Hur, and Jinho Ahn
The Cryosphere, 13, 2407–2419, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2407-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2407-2019, 2019
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We can learn how human activity altered atmospheric air from the interstitial air in the porous snow layer (firn) on top of glaciers. However, old firn air (> 55 years) was observed only at sites where surface temperatures and snow accumulation rates are very low, such as the South Pole. In this study, we report an unusually old firn air with CO2 age of 93 years from Styx Glacier, near the Ross Sea coast in Antarctica. We hypothesize that the large snow density variations increase firn air ages.
Shugui Hou, Wangbin Zhang, Hongxi Pang, Shuang-Ye Wu, Theo M. Jenk, Margit Schwikowski, and Yetang Wang
The Cryosphere, 13, 1743–1752, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1743-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1743-2019, 2019
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The apparent discrepancy between the Holocene δ18O records of the Guliya and the Chongce ice cores may be attributed to a possible misinterpretation of the Guliya ice core chronology.
Sentia Goursaud, Valérie Masson-Delmotte, Vincent Favier, Suzanne Preunkert, Michel Legrand, Bénédicte Minster, and Martin Werner
The Cryosphere, 13, 1297–1324, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1297-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1297-2019, 2019
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We report new water stable isotope records from the first highly resolved firn core drilled in Adélie Land and covering 1998–2014. Using an updated database, we show that mean values are in line with the range of coastal values. Statistical analyses show no relationship between our record and local surface air temperature. Atmospheric back trajectories and isotopic simulations suggest that water stable isotopes in Adélie provide a fingerprint of the variability of atmospheric dynamics.
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Short summary
The importance of post-depositional changes for the temperature interpretation of water isotopes is poorly constrained by observations. Here, for the first time, temporal isotope changes in the open-porous firn are directly analysed using a large array of shallow isotope profiles. By this, we can reject the possibility of post-depositional change beyond diffusion and densification as the cause of the discrepancy between isotope and local temperature variations at Kohnen Station, East Antarctica.
The importance of post-depositional changes for the temperature interpretation of water isotopes...
