Articles | Volume 17, issue 11
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-4837-2023
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-4837-2023
Research article
 | 
15 Nov 2023
Research article |  | 15 Nov 2023

Millennial and orbital-scale variability in a 54 000-year record of total air content from the South Pole ice core

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

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Cited articles

Arnaud, L.: Modélisation de la Transformation de la Neige en Glace à la Surface des Calottes Polaires; étude du Transport des gaz dans ces Milieux Poreux, PhD, Universite Joseph Fourier, Grenoble, France, HAL Id: tel-00709566, 1997. 
Arnaud, L., Barnola, J. M., and Duval, P.: Physical modeling of the densification of snow/firn and ice in the upper part of polar ice sheets, in: Physics of Ice Core Records, Hokkaido University Press, 285–305, http://hdl.handle.net/2115/32472 (last access: 15 March 2022), 2000. 
Courville, Z. R., Albert, M. R., Fahnestock, M. A., Cathles IV, L. M., and Shuman, C. A.: Impacts of an accumulation hiatus on the physical properties of firn at a low-accumulation polar site, J. Geophys. Res.-Earth, 112, F02030, https://doi.org/10.1029/2005JF000429, 2007. 
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Short summary
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.
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