Articles | Volume 18, issue 8
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-3741-2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-3741-2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
22 Aug 2024
Research article |
| 22 Aug 2024
| 22 Aug 2024
On the relationship between δO2∕N2 variability and ice sheet surface conditions in Antarctica
Romilly Harris Stuart
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, LSCE-IPSL, CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, Univ. Paris-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
Amaëlle Landais
Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, LSCE-IPSL, CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, Univ. Paris-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
Laurent Arnaud
Institute of Environmental Geosciences, CNRS, INRAE, IRD, Grenoble INP, University of Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France
Christo Buizert
College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA
Emilie Capron
Institute of Environmental Geosciences, CNRS, INRAE, IRD, Grenoble INP, University of Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France
Marie Dumont
Centre d'Etudes de la Neige, Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Université de Toulouse, Météo-France, CNRS, CNRM, Grenoble, France
Quentin Libois
CNRM, Université de Toulouse, Météo-France, CNRS, Toulouse, France
Robert Mulvaney
British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council, Madingley Road, Cambridge, UK
Anaïs Orsi
Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, LSCE-IPSL, CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, Univ. Paris-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
Ghislain Picard
Institute of Environmental Geosciences, CNRS, INRAE, IRD, Grenoble INP, University of Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France
Frédéric Prié
Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, LSCE-IPSL, CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, Univ. Paris-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
Jeffrey Severinghaus
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
Barbara Stenni
Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Venice, Italy
Patricia Martinerie
Institute of Environmental Geosciences, CNRS, INRAE, IRD, Grenoble INP, University of Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France
Related authors
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
Short summary
Short summary
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.
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
Short summary
Short summary
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.
Zili He, Quentin Libois, Najda Villefranque, Hartwig Deneke, Jonas Witthuhn, and Fleur Couvreux
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 11391–11408, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-11391-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-11391-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This study uses observations and simulations to analyze how cumulus clouds affect spacial solar radiation variability on the ground. Results show that the simulations reproduce the observations well and improve understanding of cloud impacts on radiation. The research also indicates that a few strategically placed sensors, capitalizing on measurement timing, can effectively measure these variations, aiding in the development of detailed weather prediction models.
Cecile B. Menard, Sirpa Rasmus, Ioanna Merkouriadi, Gianpaolo Balsamo, Annett Bartsch, Chris Derksen, Florent Domine, Marie Dumont, Dorothee Ehrich, Richard Essery, Bruce C. Forbes, Gerhard Krinner, David Lawrence, Glen Liston, Heidrun Matthes, Nick Rutter, Melody Sandells, Martin Schneebeli, and Sari Stark
The Cryosphere, 18, 4671–4686, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-4671-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-4671-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Computer models, like those used in climate change studies, are written by modellers who have to decide how best to construct the models in order to satisfy the purpose they serve. Using snow modelling as an example, we examine the process behind the decisions to understand what motivates or limits modellers in their decision-making. We find that the context in which research is undertaken is often more crucial than scientific limitations. We argue for more transparency in our research practice.
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
Short summary
Short summary
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.
Melody Sandells, Nick Rutter, Kirsty Wivell, Richard Essery, Stuart Fox, Chawn Harlow, Ghislain Picard, Alexandre Roy, Alain Royer, and Peter Toose
The Cryosphere, 18, 3971–3990, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-3971-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-3971-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Satellite microwave observations are used for weather forecasting. In Arctic regions this is complicated by natural emission from snow. By simulating airborne observations from in situ measurements of snow, this study shows how snow properties affect the signal within the atmosphere. Fresh snowfall between flights changed airborne measurements. Good knowledge of snow layering and structure can be used to account for the effects of snow and could unlock these data to improve forecasts.
Giuliano Dreossi, Mauro Masiol, Barbara Stenni, Daniele Zannoni, Claudio Scarchilli, Virginia Ciardini, Mathieu Casado, Amaëlle Landais, Martin Werner, Alexandre Cauquoin, Giampietro Casasanta, Massimo Del Guasta, Vittoria Posocco, and Carlo Barbante
The Cryosphere, 18, 3911–3931, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-3911-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-3911-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Oxygen and hydrogen stable isotopes have been extensively used to reconstruct past temperatures, with precipitation representing the input signal of the isotopic records in ice cores. We present a 10-year record of stable isotopes in daily precipitation at Concordia Station: this is the longest record for inland Antarctica and represents a benchmark for quantifying post-depositional processes and improving the paleoclimate interpretation of ice cores.
Sara Arioli, Ghislain Picard, Laurent Arnaud, Simon Gascoin, Esteban Alonso-González, Marine Poizat, and Mark Irvine
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 3913–3934, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-3913-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-3913-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
High-accuracy precision maps of the surface temperature of snow were acquired with an uncooled thermal-infrared camera during winter 2021–2022 and spring 2023. The accuracy – i.e., mean absolute error – improved from 1.28 K to 0.67 K between the seasons thanks to an improved camera setup and temperature stabilization. The dataset represents a major advance in the validation of satellite measurements and physical snow models over a complex topography.
Serena Lagorio, Barbara Delmonte, Dieter Tetzner, Elisa Malinverno, Giovanni Baccolo, Barbara Stenni, Massimo Frezzotti, Valter Maggi, and Nancy Bertler
Clim. Past Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-2024-56, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-2024-56, 2024
Preprint under review for CP
Short summary
Short summary
Aeolian diatoms and dust in the RICE ice core (Antarctica) allow reconstructing climate variability in the Eastern Ross Sea over the last 2 ka. Long-term changes are related to environmental parameters as sea ice extent and extension of the Ross Sea Polynya. A climatic reorganization occurred around 1470 CE in response to the development of the Roosevelt Island Polynya. El Niño promoted the establishment of the Ross Sea dipole while La Niña favored the eastward expansion of the polynya.
Thomas Lauwers, Elise Fourré, Olivier Jossoud, Daniele Romanini, Frédéric Prié, Giordano Nitti, Mathieu Casado, Kévin Jaulin, Markus Miltner, Morgane Farradèche, Valérie Masson-Delmotte, and Amaëlle Landais
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2149, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2149, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Water vapour isotopes are important tools to better understand processes governing the atmospheric hydrological cycle. In polar regions, their measurement helps to improve the interpretation of water isotopic records in ice cores. However, in situ water vapour isotopic monitoring is an important challenge, especially in dry places of East Antarctica. We present here an alternative laser spectroscopy technique adapted for such measurements, with a limit of detection down to 10 ppm humidity.
Mathieu Casado, Amaelle Landais, Tim Stoltmann, Justin Chaillot, Mathieu Daëron, Fréderic Prié, Baptiste Bordet, and Samir Kassi
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4599–4612, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4599-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4599-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Measuring water isotopic composition in Antarctica is difficult because of the extremely cold temperature in winter. Here, we designed a new infrared spectrometer able to measure the vapour isotopic composition during more than 95 % of the year in the coldest locations of Antarctica, whereas current commercial instruments are only able to measure during the warm summer months in the interior.
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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.
Daniel Francis James Gunning, Kerim Hestnes Nisancioglu, Emilie Capron, and Roderik van de Wal
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1384, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1384, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This work documents the first results from ZEMBA: an energy balance model of the climate system. The model is a computationally efficient tool designed to study the response of climate to changes in the Earth’s orbit. We demonstrate ZEMBA reproduces many features of the Earth’s climate for both the pre-industrial period and the Earth’s most recent cold extreme- the Last Glacial Maximum. We intend to develop ZEMBA further and investigate the glacial cycles of the last 2.5 million years.
Manon Gaillard, Vincent Vionnet, Matthieu Lafaysse, Marie Dumont, and Paul Ginoux
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1795, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1795, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This study presents an efficient method to improve large-scale snow albedo simulations by considering the spatial variability of light-absorbing particles (LAPs) like black carbon and dust. A global climatology of LAP deposition was created and used to optimize a parameter in the Crocus snow model. Testing at ten global sites improved albedo predictions by 10 % on average and over 25 % in the Arctic. This method can also enhance other snow models' predictions without complex simulations.
Jessica Ng, Jeffrey Severinghaus, Ryan Bay, and Delia Tosi
Clim. Past, 20, 1437–1449, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-1437-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-1437-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The pattern of Earth’s ice age cycles shifted around a million years ago, becoming more extreme and longer in duration. Multiple projects are underway to obtain an Antarctic ice core that covers this time period, as ice cores contain important clues to why the transition happened. To make sure the ice is old enough at the bottom, we demonstrate how to use new technology to quickly measure dust patterns in the ice and compare them to dust in deep-ocean sediments whose ages are known.
Ange Haddjeri, Matthieu Baron, Matthieu Lafaysse, Louis Le Toumelin, César Deschamps-Berger, Vincent Vionnet, Simon Gascoin, Matthieu Vernay, and Marie Dumont
The Cryosphere, 18, 3081–3116, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-3081-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-3081-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Our study addresses the complex challenge of evaluating distributed alpine snow simulations with snow transport against snow depths from Pléiades stereo imagery and snow melt-out dates from Sentinel-2 and Landsat-8 satellites. Additionally, we disentangle error contributions between blowing snow, precipitation heterogeneity, and unresolved subgrid variability. Snow transport enhances the snow simulations at high elevations, while precipitation biases are the main error source in other areas.
Ghislain Picard and Quentin Libois
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1176, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1176, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
TARTES is a radiative transfer model to compute the reflectivity in the solar domain (albedo), and the profiles of solar light and energy absorption in a multi-layered snowpack whose physical properties are prescribed by the user. It uniquely considers snow grain shape in a flexible way, allowing us to apply the most recent advances showing that snow does not behave as a collection of ice spheres, but instead as a random medium. TARTES is also simple but compares well with other complex models.
Florent Domine, Mireille Quémener, Ludovick Bégin, Benjamin Bouchard, Valérie Dionne, Sébastien Jerczynski, Raphaël Larouche, Félix Lévesque-Desrosiers, Simon-Olivier Philibert, Marc-André Vigneault, Ghislain Picard, and Daniel C. Côté
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1582, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1582, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Shrubs buried in snow absorb solar radiation and reduce irradiance in the snowpack. This decreases photochemical reactions rates and emissions to the atmosphere. By monitoring irradiance in snowpacks with and without shrubs, we conclude that shrubs absorb solar radiation as much as 140 ppb of soot and reduce irradiance by a factor of two. Shrub expansion in the Arctic may therefore affect tropospheric composition during the snow season, with climatic effects.
Clémence Paul, Clément Piel, Joana Sauze, Olivier Jossoud, Arnaud Dapoigny, Daniele Romanini, Frédérique Prié, Sébastien Devidal, Roxanne Jacob, Alexandru Milcu, and Amaëlle Landais
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1755, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1755, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Our study investigated the influence of plant processes on oxygen dynamics, crucial for paleoclimatology. By examining maize respiration and photosynthesis using advanced techniques, we enhanced our understanding of past climates through ice core analysis.
Ailsa Chung, Frédéric Parrenin, Robert Mulvaney, Luca Vittuari, Massimo Frezzotti, Antonio Zanutta, David A. Lilien, Marie G. P. Cavitte, and Olaf Eisen
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1650, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1650, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We applied an ice flow model to a flow line from the summit of Dome C to the Beyond EPICA ice core drill site on Little Dome C in Antarctica. Results show that the oldest ice at the drill site may be 1.12 Ma (at age density of 20 kyr/m) and originate from around 15 km upstream. We also discuss the nature of the 200–250 m thick basal layer which could be composed of accreted ice, stagnant ice, or even disturbed ice containing debris.
Dominique Raynaud, Qiuzhen Yin, Emilie Capron, Zhipeng Wu, Frédéric Parrenin, André Berger, and Vladimir Lipenkov
Clim. Past, 20, 1269–1282, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-1269-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-1269-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
There is a lack of reconstructions from Antarctic ice cores of the temperature during the summer, a critical season in terms of solar energy received, preventing a good understanding of the link between Antarctic past climate and astronomically induced insolation changes. Here, the variations in total air content in an Antarctic ice core are found to be correlated to local summer temperatures simulated with a climate model. This tracer can be used to reconstruct past local summer temperatures.
Julien Meloche, Melody Sandells, Henning Löwe, Nick Rutter, Richard Essery, Ghislain Picard, Randall K. Scharien, Alexandre Langlois, Matthias Jaggi, Josh King, Peter Toose, Jérôme Bouffard, Alessandro Di Bella, and Michele Scagliola
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1583, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1583, 2024
Preprint archived
Short summary
Short summary
Sea ice thickness is essential for climate studies. Radar altimetry has provided sea ice thickness measurement, but uncertainty arises from interaction of the signal with the snow cover. Therefore, modelling the signal interaction with the snow is necessary to improve retrieval. A radar model was used to simulate the radar signal from the snow-covered sea ice. This work paved the way to improved physical algorithm to retrieve snow depth and sea ice thickness for radar altimeter missions.
V. Holly L. Winton, Robert Mulvaney, Joel Savarino, Kyle R. Clem, and Markus M. Frey
Clim. Past, 20, 1213–1232, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-1213-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-1213-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
In 2018, a new 120 m ice core was drilled in a region located under the Antarctic ozone hole. We present the first results including a 1300-year record of snow accumulation and aerosol chemistry. We investigate the aerosol and moisture source regions and atmospheric processes related to the ice core record and discuss what this means for developing a record of past ultraviolet radiation and ozone depletion using the stable isotopic composition of nitrate measured in the same ice core.
Chloe A. Brashear, Tyler R. Jones, Valerie Morris, Bruce H. Vaughn, William H. G. Roberts, William B. Skorski, Abigail G. Hughes, Richard Nunn, Sune Olander Rasmussen, Kurt M. Cuffey, Bo M. Vinther, Todd Sowers, Christo Buizert, Vasileios Gkinis, Christian Holme, Mari F. Jensen, Sofia E. Kjellman, Petra M. Langebroek, Florian Mekhaldi, Kevin S. Rozmiarek, Jonathan W. Rheinlænder, Margit Simon, Giulia Sinnl, Silje Smith-Johnsen, and James W. C. White
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1003, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1003, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We use a series of spectral techniques to quantify the strength of high-frequency climate variability in Northeastern Greenland to 50,000 ka before present. Importantly, we find that variability consistently decreases hundreds of years prior to Dansgaard-Oeschger warming events. Model simulations suggest a change in North Atlantic sea ice behavior contributed to this pattern, thus providing new information on the conditions which proceeded abrupt climate change during the Last Glacial Period.
Qinggang Gao, Emilie Capron, Louise C. Sime, Rachael H. Rhodes, Rahul Sivankutty, Xu Zhang, Bette L. Otto-Bliesner, and Martin Werner
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1261, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1261, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Marine sediment and ice core records suggest a warmer Southern Ocean and Antarctica at the early last interglacial, ~127 thousand years ago. However, when only forced by orbital parameters and greenhouse gas concentrations during that period, state-of-the-art climate models do not reproduce the magnitude of warming. Here we show that much of the warming at southern mid-to-high latitudes can be reproduced by a UK climate model HadCM3 with a 3000-year freshwater forcing over the North Atlantic.
Cécile Davrinche, Anaïs Orsi, Cécile Agosta, Charles Amory, and Christoph Kittel
The Cryosphere, 18, 2239–2256, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2239-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2239-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Coastal surface winds in Antarctica are amongst the strongest winds on Earth. They are either driven by the cooling of the surface air mass by the ice sheet (katabatic) or by large-scale pressure systems. Here we compute the relative contribution of these drivers. We find that seasonal variations in the wind speed come from the katabatic acceleration, but, at a 3-hourly timescale, none of the large-scale or katabatic accelerations can be considered as the main driver.
Amaelle Landais, Cécile Agosta, Françoise Vimeux, Olivier Magand, Cyrielle Solis, Alexandre Cauquoin, Niels Dutrievoz, Camille Risi, Christophe Leroy-Dos Santos, Elise Fourré, Olivier Cattani, Olivier Jossoud, Bénédicte Minster, Frédéric Prié, Mathieu Casado, Aurélien Dommergue, Yann Bertrand, and Martin Werner
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 4611–4634, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4611-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4611-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We have monitored water vapor isotopes since January 2020 on Amsterdam Island in the Indian Ocean. We show 11 periods associated with abrupt negative excursions of water vapor δ18Ο. Six of these events show a decrease in gaseous elemental mercury, suggesting subsidence of air from a higher altitude. Accurately representing the water isotopic signal during these cold fronts is a real challenge for the atmospheric components of Earth system models equipped with water isotopes.
Xavier Faïn, Sophie Szopa, Vaishali Naïk, Patricia Martinerie, David M. Etheridge, Rachael H. Rhodes, Cathy M. Trudinger, Vasilii V. Petrenko, Kévin Fourteau, and Phillip Place
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-653, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-653, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Carbon monoxide (CO) plays a crucial role in the atmosphere's oxidizing capacity. In this study, we analyse how historical (1850–2014) [CO] outputs from state-of-the-art global chemistry-climate models over Greenland and Antarctica are able to capture both absolute values and trends recorded in multi-site ice archives. A disparity in [CO] growth rates emerges in the Northern Hemisphere between models and observations from 1920–1975 CE, possibly linked to uncertainties in CO emission factors.
Naomi E. Ochwat, Ted A. Scambos, Alison F. Banwell, Robert S. Anderson, Michelle L. Maclennan, Ghislain Picard, Julia A. Shates, Sebastian Marinsek, Liliana Margonari, Martin Truffer, and Erin C. Pettit
The Cryosphere, 18, 1709–1731, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1709-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1709-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
On the Antarctic Peninsula, there is a small bay that had sea ice fastened to the shoreline (
fast ice) for over a decade. The fast ice stabilized the glaciers that fed into the ocean. In January 2022, the fast ice broke away. Using satellite data we found that this was because of low sea ice concentrations and a high long-period ocean wave swell. We find that the glaciers have responded to this event by thinning, speeding up, and retreating by breaking off lots of icebergs at remarkable rates.
Inès Ollivier, Hans Christian Steen-Larsen, Barbara Stenni, Laurent Arnaud, Mathieu Casado, Alexandre Cauquoin, Giuliano Dreossi, Christophe Genthon, Bénédicte Minster, Ghislain Picard, Martin Werner, and Amaëlle Landais
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-685, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-685, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The role of post-depositional processes taking place at the ice sheet's surface on the water stable isotope signal measured in polar ice cores is not fully understood. Using field observations and modelling results, we show that the original precipitation isotopic signal at Dome C, East Antarctica, is modified by post-depositional processes and provide the first quantitative estimation of their mean impact on the isotopic signal observed in the snow.
Kévin Fourteau, Julien Brondex, Fanny Brun, and Marie Dumont
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 1903–1929, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-1903-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-1903-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
In this paper, we provide a novel numerical implementation for solving the energy exchanges at the surface of snow and ice. By combining the strong points of previous models, our solution leads to more accurate and robust simulations of the energy exchanges, surface temperature, and melt while preserving a reasonable computation time.
Justin Murfitt, Claude Duguay, Ghislain Picard, and Juha Lemmetyinen
The Cryosphere, 18, 869–888, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-869-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-869-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This research focuses on the interaction between microwave signals and lake ice under wet conditions. Field data collected for Lake Oulujärvi in Finland were used to model backscatter under different conditions. The results of the modelling likely indicate that a combination of increased water content and roughness of different interfaces caused backscatter to increase. These results could help to identify areas where lake ice is unsafe for winter transportation.
Clément Piel, Daniele Romanini, Morgane Farradèche, Justin Chaillot, Clémence Paul, Nicolas Bienville, Thomas Lauwers, Joana Sauze, Kévin Jaulin, Frédéric Prié, and Amaëlle Landais
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2024-14, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2024-14, 2024
Revised manuscript accepted for AMT
Short summary
Short summary
This paper introduces a new optical gas analyzer based on the Optical-Feedback Cavity-Enhanced Absorption Spectroscopy technique (OF-CEAS) enabling high temporal resolution and high precision measurement of δ18O and concentration of atmospheric O2. The results underscore the good agreement with dual inlet IRMS measurements and the ability of the instrument to monitor biological processes.
Qinggang Gao, Louise C. Sime, Alison J. McLaren, Thomas J. Bracegirdle, Emilie Capron, Rachael H. Rhodes, Hans Christian Steen-Larsen, Xiaoxu Shi, and Martin Werner
The Cryosphere, 18, 683–703, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-683-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-683-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Antarctic precipitation is a crucial component of the climate system. Its spatio-temporal variability impacts sea level changes and the interpretation of water isotope measurements in ice cores. To better understand its climatic drivers, we developed water tracers in an atmospheric model to identify moisture source conditions from which precipitation originates. We find that mid-latitude surface winds exert an important control on moisture availability for Antarctic precipitation.
Claudio Stefanini, Giovanni Macelloni, Marion Leduc-Leballeur, Vincent Favier, Benjamin Pohl, and Ghislain Picard
The Cryosphere, 18, 593–608, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-593-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-593-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Local and large-scale meteorological conditions have been considered in order to explain some peculiar changes of snow grains on the East Antarctic Plateau from 2000 to 2022, by using remote sensing observations and reanalysis. We identified some extreme grain size events on the highest ice divide, resulting from a combination of conditions of low wind speed and low temperature. Moreover, the beginning of seasonal grain growth has been linked to the occurrence of atmospheric rivers.
Frédéric Parrenin, Marie Bouchet, Christo Buizert, Emilie Capron, Ellen Corrick, Russell Drysdale, Kenji Kawamura, Amaëlle Landais, Robert Mulvaney, Ikumi Oyabu, and Sune Rasmussen
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2911, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2911, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The Paleochrono1 probablistic dating model allows to derive a common and optimized chronology for several paleoclimatic sites from various archives (ice cores, speleothems, marine cores, lake cores, etc.). It combines prior sedimentation scenarios with chronological information such as dated horizons, dated intervals, stratigraphic links and (for ice cores) Delta-depth observations. Paleochrono1 is available under the MIT open-source license.
Marie-Adèle Magnaldo, Quentin Libois, Sébastien Riette, and Christine Lac
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 1091–1109, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-1091-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-1091-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
With the worldwide development of the solar energy sector, the need for reliable solar radiation forecasts has significantly increased. However, meteorological models that predict, among others things, solar radiation have errors. Therefore, we wanted to know in which situtaions these errors are most significant. We found that errors mostly occur in cloudy situations, and different errors were highlighted depending on the cloud altitude. Several potential sources of errors were identified.
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
Short summary
Short summary
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.
Emma Nilsson, Carmen Paulina Vega, Dmitry Divine, Anja Eichler, Tonu Martma, Robert Mulvaney, Elisabeth Schlosser, Margit Schwikowski, and Elisabeth Isaksson
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-3156, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-3156, 2024
Preprint withdrawn
Short summary
Short summary
To project future climate change it is necessary to understand paleoclimate including past sea ice conditions. We have investigated methane sulphonic acid (MSA) in Antarctic firn and ice cores to reconstruct sea ice extent (SIE) and found that the MSA – SIE as well as the MSA – phytoplankton biomass relationship varies across the different firn and ice cores. These inconsistencies in correlations across records suggest that MSA in Fimbul Ice Shelf cores does not reliably indicate regional SIE.
Aymeric P. M. Servettaz, Cécile Agosta, Christoph Kittel, and Anaïs J. Orsi
The Cryosphere, 17, 5373–5389, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-5373-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-5373-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
It has been previously observed in polar regions that the atmospheric temperature is warmer during precipitation events. Here, we use a regional atmospheric model to quantify the temperature changes associated with snowfall events across Antarctica. We show that more intense snowfall is statistically associated with a warmer temperature anomaly compared to the seasonal average, with the largest anomalies seen in winter. This bias may affect water isotopes in ice cores deposited during snowfall.
John D. Patterson, Murat Aydin, Andrew M. Crotwell, Gabrielle Pétron, Jeffery P. Severinghaus, Paul B. Krummel, Ray L. Langenfelds, Vasilii V. Petrenko, and Eric S. Saltzman
Clim. Past, 19, 2535–2550, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-2535-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-2535-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Atmospheric levels of molecular hydrogen (H2) can impact climate and air quality. Constraining past changes to atmospheric H2 is useful for understanding how H2 cycles through the Earth system and predicting the impacts of increasing anthropogenic emissions under the
hydrogen economy. Here, we use the aging air found in the polar snowpack to reconstruct H2 levels over the past 100 years. We find that H2 levels increased by 30 % over Greenland and 60 % over Antarctica during the 20th century.
Christophe Leroy-Dos Santos, Elise Fourré, Cécile Agosta, Mathieu Casado, Alexandre Cauquoin, Martin Werner, Benedicte Minster, Frédéric Prié, Olivier Jossoud, Leila Petit, and Amaëlle Landais
The Cryosphere, 17, 5241–5254, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-5241-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-5241-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
In the face of global warming, understanding the changing water cycle and temperatures in polar regions is crucial. These factors directly impact the balance of ice sheets in the Arctic and Antarctic. By studying the composition of water vapor, we gain insights into climate variations. Our 2-year study at Dumont d’Urville station, Adélie Land, offers valuable data to refine models. Additionally, we demonstrate how modeling aids in interpreting signals from ice core samples in the region.
Julien Brondex, Kévin Fourteau, Marie Dumont, Pascal Hagenmuller, Neige Calonne, François Tuzet, and Henning Löwe
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 7075–7106, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-7075-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-7075-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Vapor diffusion is one of the main processes governing snowpack evolution, and it must be accounted for in models. Recent attempts to represent vapor diffusion in numerical models have faced several difficulties regarding computational cost and mass and energy conservation. Here, we develop our own finite-element software to explore numerical approaches and enable us to overcome these difficulties. We illustrate the capability of these approaches on established numerical benchmarks.
Samuel Morin, Hugues François, Marion Réveillet, Eric Sauquet, Louise Crochemore, Flora Branger, Étienne Leblois, and Marie Dumont
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 4257–4277, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-4257-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-4257-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Ski resorts are a key socio-economic asset of several mountain areas. Grooming and snowmaking are routinely used to manage the snow cover on ski pistes, but despite vivid debate, little is known about their impact on water resources downstream. This study quantifies, for the pilot ski resort La Plagne in the French Alps, the impact of grooming and snowmaking on downstream river flow. Hydrological impacts are mostly apparent at the seasonal scale and rather neutral on the annual scale.
Jean Emmanuel Sicart, Victor Ramseyer, Ghislain Picard, Laurent Arnaud, Catherine Coulaud, Guilhem Freche, Damien Soubeyrand, Yves Lejeune, Marie Dumont, Isabelle Gouttevin, Erwan Le Gac, Frédéric Berger, Jean-Matthieu Monnet, Laurent Borgniet, Éric Mermin, Nick Rutter, Clare Webster, and Richard Essery
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 5121–5133, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-5121-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-5121-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Forests strongly modify the accumulation, metamorphism and melting of snow in midlatitude and high-latitude regions. Two field campaigns during the winters 2016–17 and 2017–18 were conducted in a coniferous forest in the French Alps to study interactions between snow and vegetation. This paper presents the field site, instrumentation and collection methods. The observations include forest characteristics, meteorology, snow cover and snow interception by the canopy during precipitation events.
Xavier Faïn, David M. Etheridge, Kévin Fourteau, Patricia Martinerie, Cathy M. Trudinger, Rachael H. Rhodes, Nathan J. Chellman, Ray L. Langenfelds, Joseph R. McConnell, Mark A. J. Curran, Edward J. Brook, Thomas Blunier, Grégory Teste, Roberto Grilli, Anthony Lemoine, William T. Sturges, Boris Vannière, Johannes Freitag, and Jérôme Chappellaz
Clim. Past, 19, 2287–2311, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-2287-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-2287-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We report on a 3000-year record of carbon monoxide (CO) levels in the Southern Hemisphere's high latitudes by combining ice core and firn air measurements with modern direct atmospheric samples. Antarctica [CO] remained stable (–835 to 1500 CE), decreased during the Little Ice Age, and peaked around 1985 CE. Such evolution reflects stable biomass burning CO emissions before industrialization, followed by growth from CO anthropogenic sources, which decline after 1985 due to improved combustion.
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
Short summary
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.
Marie Bouchet, Amaëlle Landais, Antoine Grisart, Frédéric Parrenin, Frédéric Prié, Roxanne Jacob, Elise Fourré, Emilie Capron, Dominique Raynaud, Vladimir Ya Lipenkov, Marie-France Loutre, Thomas Extier, Anders Svensson, Etienne Legrain, Patricia Martinerie, Markus Leuenberger, Wei Jiang, Florian Ritterbusch, Zheng-Tian Lu, and Guo-Min Yang
Clim. Past, 19, 2257–2286, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-2257-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-2257-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
A new federative chronology for five deep polar ice cores retrieves 800 000 years of past climate variations with improved accuracy. Precise ice core timescales are key to studying the mechanisms linking changes in the Earth’s orbit to the diverse climatic responses (temperature and atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations). To construct the chronology, new measurements from the oldest continuous ice core as well as glaciological modeling estimates were combined in a statistical model.
Thomas Dethinne, Quentin Glaude, Ghislain Picard, Christoph Kittel, Patrick Alexander, Anne Orban, and Xavier Fettweis
The Cryosphere, 17, 4267–4288, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-4267-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-4267-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We investigate the sensitivity of the regional climate model
Modèle Atmosphérique Régional(MAR) to the assimilation of wet-snow occurrence estimated by remote sensing datasets. The assimilation is performed by nudging the MAR snowpack temperature. The data assimilation is performed over the Antarctic Peninsula for the 2019–2021 period. The results show an increase in the melt production (+66.7 %) and a decrease in surface mass balance (−4.5 %) of the model for the 2019–2020 melt season.
Yaowen Zheng, Nicholas R. Golledge, Alexandra Gossart, Ghislain Picard, and Marion Leduc-Leballeur
The Cryosphere, 17, 3667–3694, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3667-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3667-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Positive degree-day (PDD) schemes are widely used in many Antarctic numerical ice sheet models. However, the PDD approach has not been systematically explored for its application in Antarctica. We have constructed a novel grid-cell-level spatially distributed PDD (dist-PDD) model and assessed its accuracy. We suggest that an appropriately parameterized dist-PDD model can be a valuable tool for exploring Antarctic surface melt beyond the satellite era.
Ailsa Chung, Frédéric Parrenin, Daniel Steinhage, Robert Mulvaney, Carlos Martín, Marie G. P. Cavitte, David A. Lilien, Veit Helm, Drew Taylor, Prasad Gogineni, Catherine Ritz, Massimo Frezzotti, Charles O'Neill, Heinrich Miller, Dorthe Dahl-Jensen, and Olaf Eisen
The Cryosphere, 17, 3461–3483, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3461-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3461-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We combined a numerical model with radar measurements in order to determine the age of ice in the Dome C region of Antarctica. Our results show that at the current ice core drilling sites on Little Dome C, the maximum age of the ice is almost 1.5 Ma. We also highlight a new potential drill site called North Patch with ice up to 2 Ma. Finally, we explore the nature of a stagnant ice layer at the base of the ice sheet which has been independently observed and modelled but is not well understood.
Esteban Alonso-González, Simon Gascoin, Sara Arioli, and Ghislain Picard
The Cryosphere, 17, 3329–3342, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3329-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3329-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Data assimilation techniques are a promising approach to improve snowpack simulations in remote areas that are difficult to monitor. This paper studies the ability of satellite-observed land surface temperature to improve snowpack simulations through data assimilation. We show that it is possible to improve snowpack simulations, but the temporal resolution of the observations and the algorithm used are critical to obtain satisfactory results.
Isobel Rowell, Carlos Martin, Robert Mulvaney, Helena Pryer, Dieter Tetzner, Emily Doyle, Hara Madhav Talasila, Jilu Li, and Eric Wolff
Clim. Past, 19, 1699–1714, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-1699-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-1699-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We present an age scale for a new type of ice core from a vulnerable region in West Antarctic, which is lacking in longer-term (greater than a few centuries) ice core records. The Sherman Island core extends to greater than 1 kyr. We provide modelling evidence for the potential of a 10 kyr long core. We show that this new type of ice core can be robustly dated and that climate records from this core will be a significant addition to existing regional climate records.
Fanny Brun, Owen King, Marion Réveillet, Charles Amory, Anton Planchot, Etienne Berthier, Amaury Dehecq, Tobias Bolch, Kévin Fourteau, Julien Brondex, Marie Dumont, Christoph Mayer, Silvan Leinss, Romain Hugonnet, and Patrick Wagnon
The Cryosphere, 17, 3251–3268, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3251-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3251-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The South Col Glacier is a small body of ice and snow located on the southern ridge of Mt. Everest. A recent study proposed that South Col Glacier is rapidly losing mass. In this study, we examined the glacier thickness change for the period 1984–2017 and found no thickness change. To reconcile these results, we investigate wind erosion and surface energy and mass balance and find that melt is unlikely a dominant process, contrary to previous findings.
Benoit S. Lecavalier, Lev Tarasov, Greg Balco, Perry Spector, Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand, Christo Buizert, Catherine Ritz, Marion Leduc-Leballeur, Robert Mulvaney, Pippa L. Whitehouse, Michael J. Bentley, and Jonathan Bamber
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 3573–3596, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3573-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3573-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The Antarctic Ice Sheet Evolution constraint database version 2 (AntICE2) consists of a large variety of observations that constrain the evolution of the Antarctic Ice Sheet over the last glacial cycle. This includes observations of past ice sheet extent, past ice thickness, past relative sea level, borehole temperature profiles, and present-day bedrock displacement rates. The database is intended to improve our understanding of past Antarctic changes and for ice sheet model calibrations.
Marie Dumont, Simon Gascoin, Marion Réveillet, Didier Voisin, François Tuzet, Laurent Arnaud, Mylène Bonnefoy, Montse Bacardit Peñarroya, Carlo Carmagnola, Alexandre Deguine, Aurélie Diacre, Lukas Dürr, Olivier Evrard, Firmin Fontaine, Amaury Frankl, Mathieu Fructus, Laure Gandois, Isabelle Gouttevin, Abdelfateh Gherab, Pascal Hagenmuller, Sophia Hansson, Hervé Herbin, Béatrice Josse, Bruno Jourdain, Irene Lefevre, Gaël Le Roux, Quentin Libois, Lucie Liger, Samuel Morin, Denis Petitprez, Alvaro Robledano, Martin Schneebeli, Pascal Salze, Delphine Six, Emmanuel Thibert, Jürg Trachsel, Matthieu Vernay, Léo Viallon-Galinier, and Céline Voiron
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 3075–3094, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3075-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3075-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Saharan dust outbreaks have profound effects on ecosystems, climate, health, and the cryosphere, but the spatial deposition pattern of Saharan dust is poorly known. Following the extreme dust deposition event of February 2021 across Europe, a citizen science campaign was launched to sample dust on snow over the Pyrenees and the European Alps. This campaign triggered wide interest and over 100 samples. The samples revealed the high variability of the dust properties within a single event.
Sara Arioli, Ghislain Picard, Laurent Arnaud, and Vincent Favier
The Cryosphere, 17, 2323–2342, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2323-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2323-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
To assess the drivers of the snow grain size evolution during snow drift, we exploit a 5-year time series of the snow grain size retrieved from spectral-albedo observations made with a new, autonomous, multi-band radiometer and compare it to observations of snow drift, snowfall and snowmelt at a windy location of coastal Antarctica. Our results highlight the complexity of the grain size evolution in the presence of snow drift and show an overall tendency of snow drift to limit its variations.
Aymeric P. M. Servettaz, Anaïs J. Orsi, Mark A. J. Curran, Andrew D. Moy, Amaelle Landais, Joseph R. McConnell, Trevor J. Popp, Emmanuel Le Meur, Xavier Faïn, and Jérôme Chappellaz
Clim. Past, 19, 1125–1152, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-1125-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-1125-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The temperature of the past 2000 years is still poorly known in vast parts of the East Antarctic plateau. In this study, we present temperature reconstructions based on water and gas stable isotopes from the Aurora Basin North ice core. Spatial and temporal significance of each proxy differs, and we can identify some cold periods in the snow temperature up to 2°C cooler in the 1000–1400 CE period, which could not be determined with water isotopes only.
Robert Mulvaney, Eric W. Wolff, Mackenzie M. Grieman, Helene H. Hoffmann, Jack D. Humby, Christoph Nehrbass-Ahles, Rachael H. Rhodes, Isobel F. Rowell, Frédéric Parrenin, Loïc Schmidely, Hubertus Fischer, Thomas F. Stocker, Marcus Christl, Raimund Muscheler, Amaelle Landais, and Frédéric Prié
Clim. Past, 19, 851–864, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-851-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-851-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We present an age scale for a new ice core drilled at Skytrain Ice Rise, an ice rise facing the Ronne Ice Shelf in Antarctica. Various measurements in the ice and air phases are used to match the ice core to other Antarctic cores that have already been dated, and a new age scale is constructed. The 651 m ice core includes ice that is confidently dated to 117 000–126 000 years ago, in the last interglacial. Older ice is found deeper down, but there are flow disturbances in the deeper ice.
Oscar Dick, Léo Viallon-Galinier, François Tuzet, Pascal Hagenmuller, Mathieu Fructus, Benjamin Reuter, Matthieu Lafaysse, and Marie Dumont
The Cryosphere, 17, 1755–1773, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1755-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1755-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Saharan dust deposition can drastically change the snow color, turning mountain landscapes into sepia scenes. Dust increases the absorption of solar energy by the snow cover and thus modifies the snow evolution and potentially the avalanche risk. Here we show that dust can lead to increased or decreased snowpack stability depending on the snow and meteorological conditions after the deposition event. We also show that wet-snow avalanches happen earlier in the season due to the presence of dust.
Simone Ventisette, Samuele Baldini, Claudio Artoni, Silvia Becagli, Laura Caiazzo, Barbara Delmonte, Massimo Frezzotti, Raffaello Nardin, Joel Savarino, Mirko Severi, Andrea Spolaor, Barbara Stenni, and Rita Traversi
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-393, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-393, 2023
Preprint archived
Short summary
Short summary
The paper reports the spatial variability of concentration and fluxes of chemical impurities in superficial snow over unexplored area of the East Antarctic ice sheet. Pinatubo and Puyehue-Cordón Caulle volcanic eruptions in non-sea salt sulfate and dust snow pits record were used to achieve the accumulation rates. Deposition (wet, dry and uptake from snow surface) and post deposition processes are constrained. These knowledges are fundamental in Antarctic ice cores stratigraphies interpretation.
Clémence Paul, Clément Piel, Joana Sauze, Nicolas Pasquier, Frédéric Prié, Sébastien Devidal, Roxanne Jacob, Arnaud Dapoigny, Olivier Jossoud, Alexandru Milcu, and Amaëlle Landais
Biogeosciences, 20, 1047–1062, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-1047-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-1047-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
To improve the interpretation of the δ18Oatm and Δ17O of O2 in air bubbles in ice cores, we need to better quantify the oxygen fractionation coefficients associated with biological processes. We performed a simplified analogue of the terrestrial biosphere in a closed chamber. We found a respiration fractionation in agreement with the previous estimates at the microorganism scale, and a terrestrial photosynthetic fractionation was found. This has an impact on the estimation of the Dole effect.
Christo Buizert, Sarah Shackleton, Jeffrey P. Severinghaus, William H. G. Roberts, Alan Seltzer, Bernhard Bereiter, Kenji Kawamura, Daniel Baggenstos, Anaïs J. Orsi, Ikumi Oyabu, Benjamin Birner, Jacob D. Morgan, Edward J. Brook, David M. Etheridge, David Thornton, Nancy Bertler, Rebecca L. Pyne, Robert Mulvaney, Ellen Mosley-Thompson, Peter D. Neff, and Vasilii V. Petrenko
Clim. Past, 19, 579–606, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-579-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-579-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
It is unclear how different components of the global atmospheric circulation, such as the El Niño effect, respond to large-scale climate change. We present a new ice core gas proxy, called krypton-86 excess, that reflects past storminess in Antarctica. We present data from 11 ice cores that suggest the new proxy works. We present a reconstruction of changes in West Antarctic storminess over the last 24 000 years and suggest these are caused by north–south movement of the tropical rain belt.
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
Short summary
Short summary
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.
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
Short summary
Short summary
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.
Ghislain Picard, Marion Leduc-Leballeur, Alison F. Banwell, Ludovic Brucker, and Giovanni Macelloni
The Cryosphere, 16, 5061–5083, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-5061-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-5061-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Using a snowpack radiative transfer model, we investigate in which conditions meltwater can be detected from passive microwave satellite observations from 1.4 to 37 GHz. In particular, we determine the minimum detectable liquid water content, the maximum depth of detection of a buried wet snow layer and the risk of false alarm due to supraglacial lakes. These results provide information for the developers of new, more advanced satellite melt products and for the users of the existing products.
Dominic Saunderson, Andrew Mackintosh, Felicity McCormack, Richard Selwyn Jones, and Ghislain Picard
The Cryosphere, 16, 4553–4569, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4553-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4553-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We investigate the variability in surface melt on the Shackleton Ice Shelf in East Antarctica over the last 2 decades (2003–2021). Using daily satellite observations and the machine learning approach of a self-organising map, we identify nine distinct spatial patterns of melt. These patterns allow comparisons of melt within and across melt seasons and highlight the importance of both air temperatures and local controls such as topography, katabatic winds, and albedo in driving surface melt.
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
Short summary
Short summary
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.
Ghislain Picard, Henning Löwe, and Christian Mätzler
The Cryosphere, 16, 3861–3866, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3861-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3861-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Microwave satellite observations used to monitor the cryosphere require radiative transfer models for their interpretation. These models represent how microwaves are scattered by snow and ice. However no existing theory is suitable for all types of snow and ice found on Earth. We adapted a recently published generic scattering theory to snow and show how it may improve the representation of snows with intermediate densities (~500 kg/m3) and/or with coarse grains at high microwave frequencies.
Leung Tsang, Michael Durand, Chris Derksen, Ana P. Barros, Do-Hyuk Kang, Hans Lievens, Hans-Peter Marshall, Jiyue Zhu, Joel Johnson, Joshua King, Juha Lemmetyinen, Melody Sandells, Nick Rutter, Paul Siqueira, Anne Nolin, Batu Osmanoglu, Carrie Vuyovich, Edward Kim, Drew Taylor, Ioanna Merkouriadi, Ludovic Brucker, Mahdi Navari, Marie Dumont, Richard Kelly, Rhae Sung Kim, Tien-Hao Liao, Firoz Borah, and Xiaolan Xu
The Cryosphere, 16, 3531–3573, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3531-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3531-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Snow water equivalent (SWE) is of fundamental importance to water, energy, and geochemical cycles but is poorly observed globally. Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) measurements at X- and Ku-band can address this gap. This review serves to inform the broad snow research, monitoring, and application communities about the progress made in recent decades to move towards a new satellite mission capable of addressing the needs of the geoscience researchers and users.
Gauthier Vérin, Florent Domine, Marcel Babin, Ghislain Picard, and Laurent Arnaud
The Cryosphere, 16, 3431–3449, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3431-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3431-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Snow physical properties on Arctic sea ice are monitored during the melt season. As snow grains grow, and the snowpack thickness is reduced, the surface albedo decreases. The extra absorbed energy accelerates melting. Radiative transfer modeling shows that more radiation is then transmitted to the snow–sea-ice interface. A sharp increase in transmitted radiation takes place when the snowpack thins significantly, and this coincides with the initiation of the phytoplankton bloom in the seawater.
Georg Lackner, Florent Domine, Daniel F. Nadeau, Matthieu Lafaysse, and Marie Dumont
The Cryosphere, 16, 3357–3373, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3357-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3357-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We compared the snowpack at two sites separated by less than 1 km, one in shrub tundra and the other one within the boreal forest. Even though the snowpack was twice as thick at the forested site, we found evidence that the vertical transport of water vapor from the bottom of the snowpack to its surface was important at both sites. The snow model Crocus simulates no water vapor fluxes and consequently failed to correctly simulate the observed density profiles.
Franz Lutz, David J. Prior, Holly Still, M. Hamish Bowman, Bia Boucinhas, Lisa Craw, Sheng Fan, Daeyeong Kim, Robert Mulvaney, Rilee E. Thomas, and Christina L. Hulbe
The Cryosphere, 16, 3313–3329, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3313-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3313-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Ice crystal alignment in the sheared margins of fast-flowing polar ice is important as it may control the ice sheet flow rate, from land to the ocean. Sampling shear margins is difficult because of logistical and safety considerations. We show that crystal alignments in a glacier shear margin in Antarctica can be measured using sound waves. Results from a seismic experiment on the 50 m scale and from ultrasonic experiments on the decimetre scale match ice crystal measurements from an ice core.
Helene M. Hoffmann, Mackenzie M. Grieman, Amy C. F. King, Jenna A. Epifanio, Kaden Martin, Diana Vladimirova, Helena V. Pryer, Emily Doyle, Axel Schmidt, Jack D. Humby, Isobel F. Rowell, Christoph Nehrbass-Ahles, Elizabeth R. Thomas, Robert Mulvaney, and Eric W. Wolff
Clim. Past, 18, 1831–1847, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-1831-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-1831-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The WACSWAIN project (WArm Climate Stability of the West Antarctic ice sheet in the last INterglacial) investigates the fate of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet during the last warm period on Earth (115 000–130 000 years before present). Within this framework an ice core was recently drilled at Skytrain Ice Rise. In this study we present a stratigraphic chronology of that ice core based on absolute age markers and annual layer counting for the last 2000 years.
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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.
M. Reza Ershadi, Reinhard Drews, Carlos Martín, Olaf Eisen, Catherine Ritz, Hugh Corr, Julia Christmann, Ole Zeising, Angelika Humbert, and Robert Mulvaney
The Cryosphere, 16, 1719–1739, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-1719-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-1719-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Radio waves transmitted through ice split up and inform us about the ice sheet interior and orientation of single ice crystals. This can be used to infer how ice flows and improve projections on how it will evolve in the future. Here we used an inverse approach and developed a new algorithm to infer ice properties from observed radar data. We applied this technique to the radar data obtained at two EPICA drilling sites, where ice cores were used to validate our results.
Bertrand Cluzet, Matthieu Lafaysse, César Deschamps-Berger, Matthieu Vernay, and Marie Dumont
The Cryosphere, 16, 1281–1298, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-1281-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-1281-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The mountainous snow cover is highly variable at all temporal and spatial scales. Snow cover models suffer from large errors, while snowpack observations are sparse. Data assimilation combines them into a better estimate of the snow cover. A major challenge is to propagate information from observed into unobserved areas. This paper presents a spatialized version of the particle filter, in which information from in situ snow depth observations is successfully used to constrain nearby simulations.
Tobias Erhardt, Matthias Bigler, Urs Federer, Gideon Gfeller, Daiana Leuenberger, Olivia Stowasser, Regine Röthlisberger, Simon Schüpbach, Urs Ruth, Birthe Twarloh, Anna Wegner, Kumiko Goto-Azuma, Takayuki Kuramoto, Helle A. Kjær, Paul T. Vallelonga, Marie-Louise Siggaard-Andersen, Margareta E. Hansson, Ailsa K. Benton, Louise G. Fleet, Rob Mulvaney, Elizabeth R. Thomas, Nerilie Abram, Thomas F. Stocker, and Hubertus Fischer
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 1215–1231, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-1215-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-1215-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The datasets presented alongside this manuscript contain high-resolution concentration measurements of chemical impurities in deep ice cores, NGRIP and NEEM, from the Greenland ice sheet. The impurities originate from the deposition of aerosols to the surface of the ice sheet and are influenced by source, transport and deposition processes. Together, these records contain detailed, multi-parameter records of past climate variability over the last glacial period.
Paolo Gabrielli, Theo Manuel Jenk, Michele Bertó, Giuliano Dreossi, Daniela Festi, Werner Kofler, Mai Winstrup, Klaus Oeggl, Margit Schwikowski, Barbara Stenni, and Carlo Barbante
Clim. Past Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-2022-20, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-2022-20, 2022
Revised manuscript not accepted
Short summary
Short summary
We present a methodology that reduces the chronological uncertainty of an Alpine ice core record from the glacier Alto dell’Ortles, Italy. This chronology will allow the constraint of the Holocene climatic and environmental histories emerging from this archive of Central Europe. This method will allow to obtain accurate chronologies also from other ice cores from-low latitude/high-altitude glaciers that typically suffer from larger dating uncertainties compared with well dated polar records.
Alvaro Robledano, Ghislain Picard, Laurent Arnaud, Fanny Larue, and Inès Ollivier
The Cryosphere, 16, 559–579, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-559-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-559-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Topography controls the surface temperature of snow-covered, mountainous areas. We developed a modelling chain that uses ray-tracing methods to quantify the impact of a few topographic effects on snow surface temperature at high spatial resolution. Its large spatial and temporal variations are correctly simulated over a 50 km2 area in the French Alps, and our results show that excluding a single topographic effect results in cooling (or warming) effects on the order of 1 °C.
Georg Lackner, Florent Domine, Daniel F. Nadeau, Annie-Claude Parent, François Anctil, Matthieu Lafaysse, and Marie Dumont
The Cryosphere, 16, 127–142, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-127-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-127-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The surface energy budget is the sum of all incoming and outgoing energy fluxes at the Earth's surface and has a key role in the climate. We measured all these fluxes for an Arctic snowpack and found that most incoming energy from radiation is counterbalanced by thermal radiation and heat convection while sublimation was negligible. Overall, the snow model Crocus was able to simulate the observed energy fluxes well.
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
Short summary
Short summary
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.
Florent Veillon, Marie Dumont, Charles Amory, and Mathieu Fructus
Geosci. Model Dev., 14, 7329–7343, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-7329-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-7329-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
In climate models, the snow albedo scheme generally calculates only a narrowband or broadband albedo. Therefore, we have developed the VALHALLA method to optimize snow spectral albedo calculations through the determination of spectrally fixed radiative variables. The development of VALHALLA v1.0 with the use of the snow albedo model TARTES and the spectral irradiance model SBDART indicates a considerable reduction in calculation time while maintaining an adequate accuracy of albedo values.
Maria Belke-Brea, Florent Domine, Ghislain Picard, Mathieu Barrere, and Laurent Arnaud
Biogeosciences, 18, 5851–5869, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-5851-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-5851-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Expanding shrubs in the Arctic change snowpacks into a mix of snow, impurities and buried branches. Snow is a translucent medium into which light penetrates and gets partly absorbed by branches or impurities. Measurements of light attenuation in snow in Northern Quebec, Canada, showed (1) black-carbon-dominated light attenuation in snowpacks without shrubs and (2) buried branches influence radiation attenuation in snow locally, leading to melting and pockets of large crystals close to branches.
Sarah Shackleton, James A. Menking, Edward Brook, Christo Buizert, Michael N. Dyonisius, Vasilii V. Petrenko, Daniel Baggenstos, and Jeffrey P. Severinghaus
Clim. Past, 17, 2273–2289, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-2273-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-2273-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
In this study, we measure atmospheric noble gases trapped in ice cores to reconstruct ocean temperature during the last glaciation. Comparing the new reconstruction to other climate records, we show that the ocean reached its coldest temperatures before ice sheets reached maximum volumes and atmospheric CO2 reached its lowest concentrations. Ocean cooling played a major role in lowering atmospheric CO2 early in the glaciation, but it only played a minor role later.
Zacharie Barrou Dumont, Simon Gascoin, Olivier Hagolle, Michaël Ablain, Rémi Jugier, Germain Salgues, Florence Marti, Aurore Dupuis, Marie Dumont, and Samuel Morin
The Cryosphere, 15, 4975–4980, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4975-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4975-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Since 2020, the Copernicus High Resolution Snow & Ice Monitoring Service has distributed snow cover maps at 20 m resolution over Europe in near-real time. These products are derived from the Sentinel-2 Earth observation mission, with a revisit time of 5 d or less (cloud-permitting). Here we show the good accuracy of the snow detection over a wide range of regions in Europe, except in dense forest regions where the snow cover is hidden by the trees.
Marie G. P. Cavitte, Duncan A. Young, Robert Mulvaney, Catherine Ritz, Jamin S. Greenbaum, Gregory Ng, Scott D. Kempf, Enrica Quartini, Gail R. Muldoon, John Paden, Massimo Frezzotti, Jason L. Roberts, Carly R. Tozer, Dustin M. Schroeder, and Donald D. Blankenship
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 4759–4777, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-4759-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-4759-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We present a data set consisting of ice-penetrating-radar internal stratigraphy: 26 internal reflecting horizons that cover the greater Dome C area, East Antarctica, the most extensive IRH data set to date in the region. This data set uses radar surveys collected over the span of 10 years, starting with an airborne international collaboration in 2008 to explore the region, up to the detailed ground-based surveys in support of the European Beyond EPICA – Oldest Ice (BE-OI) project.
Raffaello Nardin, Mirko Severi, Alessandra Amore, Silvia Becagli, Francois Burgay, Laura Caiazzo, Virginia Ciardini, Giuliano Dreossi, Massimo Frezzotti, Sang-Bum Hong, Ishaq Khan, Bianca Maria Narcisi, Marco Proposito, Claudio Scarchilli, Enricomaria Selmo, Andrea Spolaor, Barbara Stenni, and Rita Traversi
Clim. Past, 17, 2073–2089, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-2073-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-2073-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The first step to exploit all the potential information buried in ice cores is to produce a reliable age scale. Based on chemical and isotopic records from the 197 m Antarctic GV7(B) ice core, accurate dating was achieved and showed that the archive spans roughly the last 830 years. The relatively high accumulation rate allowed us to use the non-sea-salt sulfate seasonal pattern to count annual layers. The accumulation rate reconstruction exhibited a slight increase since the 18th century.
Clément Outrequin, Anne Alexandre, Christine Vallet-Coulomb, Clément Piel, Sébastien Devidal, Amaelle Landais, Martine Couapel, Jean-Charles Mazur, Christophe Peugeot, Monique Pierre, Frédéric Prié, Jacques Roy, Corinne Sonzogni, and Claudia Voigt
Clim. Past, 17, 1881–1902, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-1881-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-1881-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Continental atmospheric humidity is a key climate parameter poorly captured by global climate models. Model–data comparison approaches that are applicable beyond the instrumental period are essential to progress on this issue but face a lack of quantitative relative humidity proxies. Here, we calibrate the triple oxygen isotope composition of phytoliths as a new quantitative proxy of continental relative humidity suitable for past climate reconstructions.
Marie Dumont, Frederic Flin, Aleksey Malinka, Olivier Brissaud, Pascal Hagenmuller, Philippe Lapalus, Bernard Lesaffre, Anne Dufour, Neige Calonne, Sabine Rolland du Roscoat, and Edward Ando
The Cryosphere, 15, 3921–3948, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3921-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3921-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The role of snow microstructure in snow optical properties is only partially understood despite the importance of snow optical properties for the Earth system. We present a dataset combining bidirectional reflectance measurements and 3D images of snow. We show that the snow reflectance is adequately simulated using the distribution of the ice chord lengths in the snow microstructure and that the impact of the morphological type of snow is especially important when ice is highly absorptive.
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
Short summary
Short summary
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.
Max Thomas, Johannes C. Laube, Jan Kaiser, Samuel Allin, Patricia Martinerie, Robert Mulvaney, Anna Ridley, Thomas Röckmann, William T. Sturges, and Emmanuel Witrant
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 6857–6873, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6857-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6857-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
CFC gases are destroying the Earth's life-protecting ozone layer. We improve understanding of CFC destruction by measuring the isotopic fingerprint of the carbon in the three most abundant CFCs. These are the first such measurements in the main region where CFCs are destroyed – the stratosphere. We reconstruct the atmospheric isotope histories of these CFCs back to the 1950s by measuring air extracted from deep snow and using a model. The model and the measurements are generally consistent.
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
Short summary
Short summary
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.
Christophe Leroy-Dos Santos, Mathieu Casado, Frédéric Prié, Olivier Jossoud, Erik Kerstel, Morgane Farradèche, Samir Kassi, Elise Fourré, and Amaëlle Landais
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 2907–2918, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2907-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2907-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We developed an instrument that can generate water vapor at low humidity at a very stable level. This instrument was conceived to calibrate water vapor isotopic records obtained in very dry places such as central Antarctica. Here, we provide details on the instrument as well as results obtained for correcting water isotopic records for diurnal variability during a long field season at the Concordia station in East Antarctica.
Daniela Krampe, Frank Kauker, Marie Dumont, and Andreas Herber
The Cryosphere Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2021-100, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2021-100, 2021
Manuscript not accepted for further review
Short summary
Short summary
Reliable and detailed Arctic snow data are limited. Evaluation of the performance of atmospheric reanalysis compared to measurements in northeast Greenland generally show good agreement. Both data sets are applied to an Alpine snow model and the performance for Arctic conditions is investigated: Simulated snow depth evolution is reliable, but vertical snow profiles show weaknesses. These are smaller with an adapted parametrisation for the density of newly fallen snow for harsh Arctic conditions.
Benjamin Birner, William Paplawsky, Jeffrey Severinghaus, and Ralph F. Keeling
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 2515–2527, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2515-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2515-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The atmospheric helium-to-nitrogen ratio is a promising indicator for circulation changes in the upper atmosphere and fossil fuel burning by humans. We present a very precise analysis method to determine changes in the helium-to-nitrogen ratio of air samples. The method relies on stabilizing the gas flow to a mass spectrometer and continuous removal of reactive gases. These advances enable new insights and monitoring possibilities for anthropogenic and natural processes.
Bertrand Cluzet, Matthieu Lafaysse, Emmanuel Cosme, Clément Albergel, Louis-François Meunier, and Marie Dumont
Geosci. Model Dev., 14, 1595–1614, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-1595-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-1595-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
In the mountains, the combination of large model error and observation sparseness is a challenge for data assimilation. Here, we develop two variants of the particle filter (PF) in order to propagate the information content of observations into unobserved areas. By adjusting observation errors or exploiting background correlation patterns, we demonstrate the potential for partial observations of snow depth and surface reflectance to improve model accuracy with the PF in an idealised setting.
Christian Vincent, Diego Cusicanqui, Bruno Jourdain, Olivier Laarman, Delphine Six, Adrien Gilbert, Andrea Walpersdorf, Antoine Rabatel, Luc Piard, Florent Gimbert, Olivier Gagliardini, Vincent Peyaud, Laurent Arnaud, Emmanuel Thibert, Fanny Brun, and Ugo Nanni
The Cryosphere, 15, 1259–1276, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1259-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1259-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
In situ glacier point mass balance data are crucial to assess climate change in different regions of the world. Unfortunately, these data are rare because huge efforts are required to conduct in situ measurements on glaciers. Here, we propose a new approach from remote sensing observations. The method has been tested on the Argentière and Mer de Glace glaciers (France). It should be possible to apply this method to high-spatial-resolution satellite images and on numerous glaciers in the world.
Alison F. Banwell, Rajashree Tri Datta, Rebecca L. Dell, Mahsa Moussavi, Ludovic Brucker, Ghislain Picard, Christopher A. Shuman, and Laura A. Stevens
The Cryosphere, 15, 909–925, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-909-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-909-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Ice shelves are thick floating layers of glacier ice extending from the glaciers on land that buttress much of the Antarctic Ice Sheet and help to protect it from losing ice to the ocean. However, the stability of ice shelves is vulnerable to meltwater lakes that form on their surfaces during the summer. This study focuses on the northern George VI Ice Shelf on the western side of the AP, which had an exceptionally long and extensive melt season in 2019/2020 compared to the previous 31 seasons.
Nora Helbig, Yves Bühler, Lucie Eberhard, César Deschamps-Berger, Simon Gascoin, Marie Dumont, Jesus Revuelto, Jeff S. Deems, and Tobias Jonas
The Cryosphere, 15, 615–632, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-615-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-615-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The spatial variability in snow depth in mountains is driven by interactions between topography, wind, precipitation and radiation. In applications such as weather, climate and hydrological predictions, this is accounted for by the fractional snow-covered area describing the fraction of the ground surface covered by snow. We developed a new description for model grid cell sizes larger than 200 m. An evaluation suggests that the description performs similarly well in most geographical regions.
Bette L. Otto-Bliesner, Esther C. Brady, Anni Zhao, Chris M. Brierley, Yarrow Axford, Emilie Capron, Aline Govin, Jeremy S. Hoffman, Elizabeth Isaacs, Masa Kageyama, Paolo Scussolini, Polychronis C. Tzedakis, Charles J. R. Williams, Eric Wolff, Ayako Abe-Ouchi, Pascale Braconnot, Silvana Ramos Buarque, Jian Cao, Anne de Vernal, Maria Vittoria Guarino, Chuncheng Guo, Allegra N. LeGrande, Gerrit Lohmann, Katrin J. Meissner, Laurie Menviel, Polina A. Morozova, Kerim H. Nisancioglu, Ryouta O'ishi, David Salas y Mélia, Xiaoxu Shi, Marie Sicard, Louise Sime, Christian Stepanek, Robert Tomas, Evgeny Volodin, Nicholas K. H. Yeung, Qiong Zhang, Zhongshi Zhang, and Weipeng Zheng
Clim. Past, 17, 63–94, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-63-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-63-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The CMIP6–PMIP4 Tier 1 lig127k experiment was designed to address the climate responses to strong orbital forcing. We present a multi-model ensemble of 17 climate models, most of which have also completed the CMIP6 DECK experiments and are thus important for assessing future projections. The lig127ksimulations show strong summer warming over the NH continents. More than half of the models simulate a retreat of the Arctic minimum summer ice edge similar to the average for 2000–2018.
François Tuzet, Marie Dumont, Ghislain Picard, Maxim Lamare, Didier Voisin, Pierre Nabat, Mathieu Lafaysse, Fanny Larue, Jesus Revuelto, and Laurent Arnaud
The Cryosphere, 14, 4553–4579, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-4553-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-4553-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
This study presents a field dataset collected over 30 d from two snow seasons at a Col du Lautaret site (French Alps). The dataset compares different measurements or estimates of light-absorbing particle (LAP) concentrations in snow, highlighting a gap in the current understanding of the measurement of these quantities. An ensemble snowpack model is then evaluated for this dataset estimating that LAPs shorten each snow season by around 10 d despite contrasting meteorological conditions.
Ikumi Oyabu, Kenji Kawamura, Kyotaro Kitamura, Remi Dallmayr, Akihiro Kitamura, Chikako Sawada, Jeffrey P. Severinghaus, Ross Beaudette, Anaïs Orsi, Satoshi Sugawara, Shigeyuki Ishidoya, Dorthe Dahl-Jensen, Kumiko Goto-Azuma, Shuji Aoki, and Takakiyo Nakazawa
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 6703–6731, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6703-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6703-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Air in polar ice cores provides information on past atmosphere and climate. We present a new method for simultaneously measuring eight gases (CH4, N2O and CO2 concentrations; isotopic ratios of N2 and O2; elemental ratios between N2, O2 and Ar; and total air content) from single ice-core samples with high precision.
Jenna A. Epifanio, Edward J. Brook, Christo Buizert, Jon S. Edwards, Todd A. Sowers, Emma C. Kahle, Jeffrey P. Severinghaus, Eric J. Steig, Dominic A. Winski, Erich C. Osterberg, Tyler J. Fudge, Murat Aydin, Ekaterina Hood, Michael Kalk, Karl J. Kreutz, David G. Ferris, and Joshua A. Kennedy
Clim. Past, 16, 2431–2444, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-16-2431-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-16-2431-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
A new ice core drilled at the South Pole provides a 54 000-year paleo-environmental record including the composition of the past atmosphere. This paper describes the gas chronology for the South Pole ice core, based on a high-resolution methane record. The new gas chronology, in combination with the existing ice age scale from Winski et al. (2019), allows a model-independent reconstruction of the delta age record.
Jinhwa Shin, Christoph Nehrbass-Ahles, Roberto Grilli, Jai Chowdhry Beeman, Frédéric Parrenin, Grégory Teste, Amaelle Landais, Loïc Schmidely, Lucas Silva, Jochen Schmitt, Bernhard Bereiter, Thomas F. Stocker, Hubertus Fischer, and Jérôme Chappellaz
Clim. Past, 16, 2203–2219, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-16-2203-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-16-2203-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
We reconstruct atmospheric CO2 from the EPICA Dome C ice core during Marine Isotope Stage 6 (185–135 ka) to understand carbon mechanisms under the different boundary conditions of the climate system. The amplitude of CO2 is highly determined by the Northern Hemisphere stadial duration. Carbon dioxide maxima show different lags with respect to the corresponding abrupt CH4 jumps, the latter reflecting rapid warming in the Northern Hemisphere.
Maxim Lamare, Marie Dumont, Ghislain Picard, Fanny Larue, François Tuzet, Clément Delcourt, and Laurent Arnaud
The Cryosphere, 14, 3995–4020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3995-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3995-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Terrain features found in mountainous regions introduce large errors into the calculation of the physical properties of snow using optical satellite images. We present a new model performing rapid calculations of solar radiation over snow-covered rugged terrain that we tested over a site in the French Alps. The results of the study show that all the interactions between sunlight and the terrain should be accounted for over snow-covered surfaces to correctly estimate snow properties from space.
Benjamin Birner, Martyn P. Chipperfield, Eric J. Morgan, Britton B. Stephens, Marianna Linz, Wuhu Feng, Chris Wilson, Jonathan D. Bent, Steven C. Wofsy, Jeffrey Severinghaus, and Ralph F. Keeling
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 12391–12408, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-12391-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-12391-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
With new high-precision observations from nine aircraft campaigns and 3-D chemical transport modeling, we show that the argon-to-nitrogen ratio (Ar / N2) in the lowermost stratosphere provides a useful constraint on the “age of air” (the time elapsed since entry of an air parcel into the stratosphere). Therefore, Ar / N2 in combination with traditional age-of-air indicators, such as CO2 and N2O, could provide new insights into atmospheric mixing and transport.
Bronwen L. Konecky, Nicholas P. McKay, Olga V. Churakova (Sidorova), Laia Comas-Bru, Emilie P. Dassié, Kristine L. DeLong, Georgina M. Falster, Matt J. Fischer, Matthew D. Jones, Lukas Jonkers, Darrell S. Kaufman, Guillaume Leduc, Shreyas R. Managave, Belen Martrat, Thomas Opel, Anais J. Orsi, Judson W. Partin, Hussein R. Sayani, Elizabeth K. Thomas, Diane M. Thompson, Jonathan J. Tyler, Nerilie J. Abram, Alyssa R. Atwood, Olivier Cartapanis, Jessica L. Conroy, Mark A. Curran, Sylvia G. Dee, Michael Deininger, Dmitry V. Divine, Zoltán Kern, Trevor J. Porter, Samantha L. Stevenson, Lucien von Gunten, and Iso2k Project Members
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 12, 2261–2288, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-2261-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-2261-2020, 2020
César Deschamps-Berger, Simon Gascoin, Etienne Berthier, Jeffrey Deems, Ethan Gutmann, Amaury Dehecq, David Shean, and Marie Dumont
The Cryosphere, 14, 2925–2940, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-2925-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-2925-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
We evaluate a recent method to map snow depth based on satellite photogrammetry. We compare it with accurate airborne laser-scanning measurements in the Sierra Nevada, USA. We find that satellite data capture the relationship between snow depth and elevation at the catchment scale and also small-scale features like snow drifts and avalanche deposits. We conclude that satellite photogrammetry stands out as a convenient method to estimate the spatial distribution of snow depth in high mountains.
James E. Lee, Edward J. Brook, Nancy A. N. Bertler, Christo Buizert, Troy Baisden, Thomas Blunier, V. Gabriela Ciobanu, Howard Conway, Dorthe Dahl-Jensen, Tyler J. Fudge, Richard Hindmarsh, Elizabeth D. Keller, Frédéric Parrenin, Jeffrey P. Severinghaus, Paul Vallelonga, Edwin D. Waddington, and Mai Winstrup
Clim. Past, 16, 1691–1713, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-16-1691-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-16-1691-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
The Roosevelt Island ice core was drilled to investigate climate from the eastern Ross Sea, West Antarctica. We describe the ice age-scale and gas age-scale of the ice core for 0–763 m (83 000 years BP). Old ice near the bottom of the core implies the ice dome existed throughout the last glacial period and that ice streaming was active in the region. Variations in methane, similar to those used as evidence of early human influence on climate, were observed prior to significant human populations.
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
Short summary
Short summary
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.
Charles J. R. Williams, Maria-Vittoria Guarino, Emilie Capron, Irene Malmierca-Vallet, Joy S. Singarayer, Louise C. Sime, Daniel J. Lunt, and Paul J. Valdes
Clim. Past, 16, 1429–1450, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-16-1429-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-16-1429-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Computer simulations of the geological past are an important tool to improve our understanding of climate change. We present results from two simulations using the latest version of the UK's climate model, the mid-Holocene (6000 years ago) and Last Interglacial (127 000 years ago). The simulations reproduce temperatures consistent with the pattern of incoming radiation. Model–data comparisons indicate that some regions (and some seasons) produce better matches to the data than others.
Zhiqiang Lyu, Anais J. Orsi, and Hugues Goosse
Clim. Past, 16, 1411–1428, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-16-1411-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-16-1411-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
This paper uses two different ways to perform model–data comparisons for the borehole temperature in Antarctica. The results suggest most models generally reproduce the long-term cooling in West Antarctica from 1000 to 1600 CE and the recent 50 years of warming in West Antarctica and Antarctic Peninsula. However, The 19th-century cooling in the Antarctic Peninsula (−0.94 °C) is not reproduced by any of the models, which tend to show warming instead.
Fanny Larue, Ghislain Picard, Laurent Arnaud, Inès Ollivier, Clément Delcourt, Maxim Lamare, François Tuzet, Jesus Revuelto, and Marie Dumont
The Cryosphere, 14, 1651–1672, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1651-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1651-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
The effect of surface roughness on snow albedo is often overlooked,
although a small change in albedo may strongly affect the surface energy
budget. By carving artificial roughness in an initially smooth snowpack,
we highlight albedo reductions of 0.03–0.04 at 700 nm and 0.06–0.10 at 1000 nm. A model using photon transport is developed to compute albedo considering roughness and applied to understand the impact of roughness as a function of snow properties and illumination conditions.
Kévin Fourteau, Laurent Arnaud, Xavier Faïn, Patricia Martinerie, David M. Etheridge, Vladimir Lipenkov, and Jean-Marc Barnola
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 12, 1171–1177, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-1171-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-1171-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Measurements of the porosity of three polar firns were conducted in the 1990s by Jean-Marc Barnola using the method of gas pycnometry. From these data, a parametrization of firn pore closure was produced and used in different published articles. However, the data have not been published in their own right yet. We have made the data publicly accessible on the PANGAEA database and here propose describing how they were obtained and used to produce the pore closure parametrization.
Ghislain Picard, Marie Dumont, Maxim Lamare, François Tuzet, Fanny Larue, Roberta Pirazzini, and Laurent Arnaud
The Cryosphere, 14, 1497–1517, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1497-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1497-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Surface albedo is an essential variable of snow-covered areas. The measurement of this variable over a tilted terrain with levelled sensors is affected by artefacts that need to be corrected. Here we develop a theory of spectral albedo measurement over slopes from which we derive four correction algorithms. The comparison to in situ measurements taken in the Alps shows the adequacy of the theory, and the application of the algorithms shows systematic improvements.
Kévin Fourteau, Patricia Martinerie, Xavier Faïn, Alexey A. Ekaykin, Jérôme Chappellaz, and Vladimir Lipenkov
Clim. Past, 16, 503–522, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-16-503-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-16-503-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
We quantify how the greenhouse gas records of East Antarctic ice cores (which are the oldest ice cores) might differ from the actual atmosphere history. It is required to properly interpret ice core data. For this, we measured the methane of five new East Antarctic ice core sections using a high-resolution technique. We found that in these very old ice cores, one can retrieve concentration variations occurring in only a few centuries, allowing climatologists to study climate's fast dynamics.
Marion Leduc-Leballeur, Ghislain Picard, Giovanni Macelloni, Arnaud Mialon, and Yann H. Kerr
The Cryosphere, 14, 539–548, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-539-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-539-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
To study the coast and ice shelves affected by melt in Antarctica during the austral summer, we exploited the 1.4 GHz radiometric satellite observations. We showed that this frequency provides additional information on melt occurrence and on the location of the water in the snowpack compared to the 19 GHz observations. This opens an avenue for improving the melting season monitoring with a combination of both frequencies and exploring the possibility of deep-water detection in the snowpack.
Philippe Massicotte, Rémi Amiraux, Marie-Pier Amyot, Philippe Archambault, Mathieu Ardyna, Laurent Arnaud, Lise Artigue, Cyril Aubry, Pierre Ayotte, Guislain Bécu, Simon Bélanger, Ronald Benner, Henry C. Bittig, Annick Bricaud, Éric Brossier, Flavienne Bruyant, Laurent Chauvaud, Debra Christiansen-Stowe, Hervé Claustre, Véronique Cornet-Barthaux, Pierre Coupel, Christine Cox, Aurelie Delaforge, Thibaud Dezutter, Céline Dimier, Florent Domine, Francis Dufour, Christiane Dufresne, Dany Dumont, Jens Ehn, Brent Else, Joannie Ferland, Marie-Hélène Forget, Louis Fortier, Martí Galí, Virginie Galindo, Morgane Gallinari, Nicole Garcia, Catherine Gérikas Ribeiro, Margaux Gourdal, Priscilla Gourvil, Clemence Goyens, Pierre-Luc Grondin, Pascal Guillot, Caroline Guilmette, Marie-Noëlle Houssais, Fabien Joux, Léo Lacour, Thomas Lacour, Augustin Lafond, José Lagunas, Catherine Lalande, Julien Laliberté, Simon Lambert-Girard, Jade Larivière, Johann Lavaud, Anita LeBaron, Karine Leblanc, Florence Le Gall, Justine Legras, Mélanie Lemire, Maurice Levasseur, Edouard Leymarie, Aude Leynaert, Adriana Lopes dos Santos, Antonio Lourenço, David Mah, Claudie Marec, Dominique Marie, Nicolas Martin, Constance Marty, Sabine Marty, Guillaume Massé, Atsushi Matsuoka, Lisa Matthes, Brivaela Moriceau, Pierre-Emmanuel Muller, Christopher-John Mundy, Griet Neukermans, Laurent Oziel, Christos Panagiotopoulos, Jean-Jacques Pangrazi, Ghislain Picard, Marc Picheral, France Pinczon du Sel, Nicole Pogorzelec, Ian Probert, Bernard Quéguiner, Patrick Raimbault, Joséphine Ras, Eric Rehm, Erin Reimer, Jean-François Rontani, Søren Rysgaard, Blanche Saint-Béat, Makoto Sampei, Julie Sansoulet, Catherine Schmechtig, Sabine Schmidt, Richard Sempéré, Caroline Sévigny, Yuan Shen, Margot Tragin, Jean-Éric Tremblay, Daniel Vaulot, Gauthier Verin, Frédéric Vivier, Anda Vladoiu, Jeremy Whitehead, and Marcel Babin
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 12, 151–176, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-151-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-151-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
The Green Edge initiative was developed to understand the processes controlling the primary productivity and the fate of organic matter produced during the Arctic spring bloom (PSB). In this article, we present an overview of an extensive and comprehensive dataset acquired during two expeditions conducted in 2015 and 2016 on landfast ice southeast of Qikiqtarjuaq Island in Baffin Bay.
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
Short summary
Short summary
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.
Christiaan T. van Dalum, Willem Jan van de Berg, Quentin Libois, Ghislain Picard, and Michiel R. van den Broeke
Geosci. Model Dev., 12, 5157–5175, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-5157-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-5157-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Climate models are often limited to relatively simple snow albedo schemes. Therefore, we have developed the SNOWBAL module to couple a climate model with a physically based wavelength dependent snow albedo model. Using SNOWBAL v1.2 to couple the snow albedo model TARTES with the regional climate model RACMO2 indicates a potential performance gain for the Greenland ice sheet.
Anne Alexandre, Elizabeth Webb, Amaelle Landais, Clément Piel, Sébastien Devidal, Corinne Sonzogni, Martine Couapel, Jean-Charles Mazur, Monique Pierre, Frédéric Prié, Christine Vallet-Coulomb, Clément Outrequin, and Jacques Roy
Biogeosciences, 16, 4613–4625, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-4613-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-4613-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
This calibration study shows that despite isotope heterogeneity along grass leaves, the triple oxygen isotope composition of bulk leaf phytoliths can be estimated from the Craig and Gordon model, a mixing equation and a mean leaf water–phytolith fractionation exponent (lambda) of 0.521. The results strengthen the reliability of the 17O–excess of phytoliths to be used as a proxy of atmospheric relative humidity and open tracks for its use as an imprint of leaf water 17O–excess.
Dominic A. Winski, Tyler J. Fudge, David G. Ferris, Erich C. Osterberg, John M. Fegyveresi, Jihong Cole-Dai, Zayta Thundercloud, Thomas S. Cox, Karl J. Kreutz, Nikolas Ortman, Christo Buizert, Jenna Epifanio, Edward J. Brook, Ross Beaudette, Jeffrey Severinghaus, Todd Sowers, Eric J. Steig, Emma C. Kahle, Tyler R. Jones, Valerie Morris, Murat Aydin, Melinda R. Nicewonger, Kimberly A. Casey, Richard B. Alley, Edwin D. Waddington, Nels A. Iverson, Nelia W. Dunbar, Ryan C. Bay, Joseph M. Souney, Michael Sigl, and Joseph R. McConnell
Clim. Past, 15, 1793–1808, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-1793-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-1793-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
A deep ice core was recently drilled at the South Pole to understand past variations in the Earth's climate. To understand the information contained within the ice, we present the relationship between the depth and age of the ice in the South Pole Ice Core. We found that the oldest ice in our record is from 54 302 ± 519 years ago. Our results show that, on average, 7.4 cm of snow falls at the South Pole each year.
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
Short summary
Short summary
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.
Pascal Hagenmuller, Frederic Flin, Marie Dumont, François Tuzet, Isabel Peinke, Philippe Lapalus, Anne Dufour, Jacques Roulle, Laurent Pézard, Didier Voisin, Edward Ando, Sabine Rolland du Roscoat, and Pascal Charrier
The Cryosphere, 13, 2345–2359, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2345-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2345-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Light–absorbing particles (LAPs, e.g. dust or black carbon) in snow are a potent climate forcing agent. Their presence darkens the snow surface and leads to higher solar energy absorption. Several studies have quantified this radiative impact by assuming that LAPs were motionless in dry snow, without any clear evidence of this assumption. Using time–lapse X–ray tomography, we show that temperature gradient metamorphism of snow induces downward motion of LAPs, leading to self–cleaning of snow.
Laurie Menviel, Emilie Capron, Aline Govin, Andrea Dutton, Lev Tarasov, Ayako Abe-Ouchi, Russell N. Drysdale, Philip L. Gibbard, Lauren Gregoire, Feng He, Ruza F. Ivanovic, Masa Kageyama, Kenji Kawamura, Amaelle Landais, Bette L. Otto-Bliesner, Ikumi Oyabu, Polychronis C. Tzedakis, Eric Wolff, and Xu Zhang
Geosci. Model Dev., 12, 3649–3685, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-3649-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-3649-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
As part of the Past Global Changes (PAGES) working group on Quaternary Interglacials, we propose a protocol to perform transient simulations of the penultimate deglaciation for the Paleoclimate Modelling Intercomparison Project (PMIP4). This design includes time-varying changes in orbital forcing, greenhouse gas concentrations, continental ice sheets as well as freshwater input from the disintegration of continental ice sheets. Key paleo-records for model-data comparison are also included.
Francois Tuzet, Marie Dumont, Laurent Arnaud, Didier Voisin, Maxim Lamare, Fanny Larue, Jesus Revuelto, and Ghislain Picard
The Cryosphere, 13, 2169–2187, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2169-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2169-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Here we present a novel method to estimate the impurity content (e.g. black carbon or mineral dust) in Alpine snow based on measurements of light extinction profiles. This method is proposed as an alternative to chemical measurements, allowing rapid retrievals of vertical concentrations of impurities in the snowpack. In addition, the results provide a better understanding of the impact of impurities on visible light extinction in snow.
Jens Mühle, Cathy M. Trudinger, Luke M. Western, Matthew Rigby, Martin K. Vollmer, Sunyoung Park, Alistair J. Manning, Daniel Say, Anita Ganesan, L. Paul Steele, Diane J. Ivy, Tim Arnold, Shanlan Li, Andreas Stohl, Christina M. Harth, Peter K. Salameh, Archie McCulloch, Simon O'Doherty, Mi-Kyung Park, Chun Ok Jo, Dickon Young, Kieran M. Stanley, Paul B. Krummel, Blagoj Mitrevski, Ove Hermansen, Chris Lunder, Nikolaos Evangeliou, Bo Yao, Jooil Kim, Benjamin Hmiel, Christo Buizert, Vasilii V. Petrenko, Jgor Arduini, Michela Maione, David M. Etheridge, Eleni Michalopoulou, Mike Czerniak, Jeffrey P. Severinghaus, Stefan Reimann, Peter G. Simmonds, Paul J. Fraser, Ronald G. Prinn, and Ray F. Weiss
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 10335–10359, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-10335-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-10335-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
We discuss atmospheric concentrations and emissions of the strong greenhouse gas perfluorocyclobutane. A large fraction of recent emissions stem from China, India, and Russia, probably as a by-product from the production of fluoropolymers and fluorochemicals. Most historic emissions likely stem from developed countries. Total emissions are higher than what is being reported. Clearly, more measurements and better reporting are needed to understand emissions of this and other greenhouse gases.
James A. Menking, Edward J. Brook, Sarah A. Shackleton, Jeffrey P. Severinghaus, Michael N. Dyonisius, Vasilii Petrenko, Joseph R. McConnell, Rachael H. Rhodes, Thomas K. Bauska, Daniel Baggenstos, Shaun Marcott, and Stephen Barker
Clim. Past, 15, 1537–1556, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-1537-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-1537-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
An ice core from Taylor Glacier, Antarctica, spans a period ~ 70 000 years ago when Earth entered the last ice age. Chemical analyses of the ice and air bubbles allow for an independent determination of the ages of the ice and gas bubbles. The difference between the age of the ice and the bubbles at any given depth, called ∆age, is unusually high in the Taylor Glacier core compared to the Taylor Dome ice core situated to the south. This implies a dramatic accumulation gradient between the sites.
Gauthier Verin, Florent Dominé, Marcel Babin, Ghislain Picard, and Laurent Arnaud
The Cryosphere Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2019-113, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2019-113, 2019
Publication in TC not foreseen
Short summary
Short summary
The results of two sampling campaigns conducted on landfast sea ice in Baffin Bay show that the melt season can be divided into four main phases during which surface albedo and snow properties show distinct signatures. A radiative transfer model was used to successfully reconstruct the albedo from snow properties. This modeling work highlights that only little changes on the very surface of the snowpack are able to dramatically change the albedo, a key element for the energy budget of sea ice.
Ghislain Picard, Laurent Arnaud, Romain Caneill, Eric Lefebvre, and Maxim Lamare
The Cryosphere, 13, 1983–1999, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1983-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1983-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
To study how snow accumulates in Antarctica, we analyze daily surface elevation recorded by an automatic laser scanner. We show that new snow often accumulates in thick patches covering a small fraction of the surface. Most patches are removed by erosion within weeks, implying that only a few contribute to the snowpack. This explains the heterogeneity on the surface and in the snowpack. These findings are important for surface mass and energy balance, photochemistry, and ice core interpretation.
Cécile B. Ménard, Richard Essery, Alan Barr, Paul Bartlett, Jeff Derry, Marie Dumont, Charles Fierz, Hyungjun Kim, Anna Kontu, Yves Lejeune, Danny Marks, Masashi Niwano, Mark Raleigh, Libo Wang, and Nander Wever
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 11, 865–880, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-11-865-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-11-865-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
This paper describes long-term meteorological and evaluation datasets from 10 reference sites for use in snow modelling. We demonstrate how data sharing is crucial to the identification of errors and how the publication of these datasets contributes to good practice, consistency, and reproducibility in geosciences. The ease of use, availability, and quality of the datasets will help model developers quantify and reduce model uncertainties and errors.
Jai Chowdhry Beeman, Léa Gest, Frédéric Parrenin, Dominique Raynaud, Tyler J. Fudge, Christo Buizert, and Edward J. Brook
Clim. Past, 15, 913–926, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-913-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-913-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Atmospheric CO2 was likely an important amplifier of global-scale orbitally-driven warming during the last deglaciation. However, the mechanisms responsible for the rise in CO2, and the coherent rise in Antarctic isotopic temperature records, are under debate. Using a stochastic method, we detect variable lags between coherent changes in Antarctic temperature and CO2. This implies that the climate mechanisms linking the two records changed or experienced modulations during the deglaciation.
Tobias Erhardt, Emilie Capron, Sune Olander Rasmussen, Simon Schüpbach, Matthias Bigler, Florian Adolphi, and Hubertus Fischer
Clim. Past, 15, 811–825, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-811-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-811-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
The cause of the rapid warming events documented in proxy records across the Northern Hemisphere during the last glacial has been a long-standing puzzle in paleo-climate research. Here, we use high-resolution ice-core data from to cores in Greenland to investigate the progression during the onset of these events on multi-annual timescales to test their plausible triggers. We show that atmospheric circulation changes preceded the warming in Greenland and the collapse of the sea ice by a decade.
Nicolas Champollion, Ghislain Picard, Laurent Arnaud, Éric Lefebvre, Giovanni Macelloni, Frédérique Rémy, and Michel Fily
The Cryosphere, 13, 1215–1232, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1215-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1215-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
The snow density close to the surface has been retrieved from satellite observations at Dome C on the Antarctic Ice Sheet. It shows a marked decrease between 2002 and 2011 of about 10 kg m-3 yr-1. This trend has been confirmed by in situ measurements and other satellite observations though no long-term meteorological evolution has been found. These results have implications for surface mass balance and energy budget.
Mai Winstrup, Paul Vallelonga, Helle A. Kjær, Tyler J. Fudge, James E. Lee, Marie H. Riis, Ross Edwards, Nancy A. N. Bertler, Thomas Blunier, Ed J. Brook, Christo Buizert, Gabriela Ciobanu, Howard Conway, Dorthe Dahl-Jensen, Aja Ellis, B. Daniel Emanuelsson, Richard C. A. Hindmarsh, Elizabeth D. Keller, Andrei V. Kurbatov, Paul A. Mayewski, Peter D. Neff, Rebecca L. Pyne, Marius F. Simonsen, Anders Svensson, Andrea Tuohy, Edwin D. Waddington, and Sarah Wheatley
Clim. Past, 15, 751–779, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-751-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-751-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
We present a 2700-year timescale and snow accumulation history for an ice core from Roosevelt Island, Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica. We observe a long-term slightly decreasing trend in accumulation during most of the period but a rapid decline since the mid-1960s. The latter is linked to a recent strengthening of the Amundsen Sea Low and the expansion of regional sea ice. The year 1965 CE may thus mark the onset of significant increases in sea-ice extent in the eastern Ross Sea.
Biagio Di Mauro, Roberto Garzonio, Micol Rossini, Gianluca Filippa, Paolo Pogliotti, Marta Galvagno, Umberto Morra di Cella, Mirco Migliavacca, Giovanni Baccolo, Massimiliano Clemenza, Barbara Delmonte, Valter Maggi, Marie Dumont, François Tuzet, Matthieu Lafaysse, Samuel Morin, Edoardo Cremonese, and Roberto Colombo
The Cryosphere, 13, 1147–1165, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1147-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1147-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
The snow albedo reduction due to dust from arid regions alters the melting dynamics of the snowpack, resulting in earlier snowmelt. We estimate up to 38 days of anticipated snow disappearance for a season that was characterized by a strong dust deposition event. This process has a series of further impacts. For example, earlier snowmelts may alter the hydrological cycle in the Alps, induce higher sensitivity to late summer drought, and finally impact vegetation and animal phenology.
François Klein, Nerilie J. Abram, Mark A. J. Curran, Hugues Goosse, Sentia Goursaud, Valérie Masson-Delmotte, Andrew Moy, Raphael Neukom, Anaïs Orsi, Jesper Sjolte, Nathan Steiger, Barbara Stenni, and Martin Werner
Clim. Past, 15, 661–684, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-661-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-661-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Antarctic temperature changes over the past millennia have been reconstructed from isotope records in ice cores in several studies. However, the link between both variables is complex. Here, we investigate the extent to which this affects the robustness of temperature reconstructions using pseudoproxy and data assimilation experiments. We show that the reconstruction skill is limited, especially at the regional scale, due to a weak and nonstationary covariance between δ18O and temperature.
Jonathan P. D. Abbatt, W. Richard Leaitch, Amir A. Aliabadi, Allan K. Bertram, Jean-Pierre Blanchet, Aude Boivin-Rioux, Heiko Bozem, Julia Burkart, Rachel Y. W. Chang, Joannie Charette, Jai P. Chaubey, Robert J. Christensen, Ana Cirisan, Douglas B. Collins, Betty Croft, Joelle Dionne, Greg J. Evans, Christopher G. Fletcher, Martí Galí, Roya Ghahreman, Eric Girard, Wanmin Gong, Michel Gosselin, Margaux Gourdal, Sarah J. Hanna, Hakase Hayashida, Andreas B. Herber, Sareh Hesaraki, Peter Hoor, Lin Huang, Rachel Hussherr, Victoria E. Irish, Setigui A. Keita, John K. Kodros, Franziska Köllner, Felicia Kolonjari, Daniel Kunkel, Luis A. Ladino, Kathy Law, Maurice Levasseur, Quentin Libois, John Liggio, Martine Lizotte, Katrina M. Macdonald, Rashed Mahmood, Randall V. Martin, Ryan H. Mason, Lisa A. Miller, Alexander Moravek, Eric Mortenson, Emma L. Mungall, Jennifer G. Murphy, Maryam Namazi, Ann-Lise Norman, Norman T. O'Neill, Jeffrey R. Pierce, Lynn M. Russell, Johannes Schneider, Hannes Schulz, Sangeeta Sharma, Meng Si, Ralf M. Staebler, Nadja S. Steiner, Jennie L. Thomas, Knut von Salzen, Jeremy J. B. Wentzell, Megan D. Willis, Gregory R. Wentworth, Jun-Wei Xu, and Jacqueline D. Yakobi-Hancock
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 2527–2560, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-2527-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-2527-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
The Arctic is experiencing considerable environmental change with climate warming, illustrated by the dramatic decrease in sea-ice extent. It is important to understand both the natural and perturbed Arctic systems to gain a better understanding of how they will change in the future. This paper summarizes new insights into the relationships between Arctic aerosol particles and climate, as learned over the past five or so years by a large Canadian research consortium, NETCARE.
Cécile Agosta, Charles Amory, Christoph Kittel, Anais Orsi, Vincent Favier, Hubert Gallée, Michiel R. van den Broeke, Jan T. M. Lenaerts, Jan Melchior van Wessem, Willem Jan van de Berg, and Xavier Fettweis
The Cryosphere, 13, 281–296, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-281-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-281-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Antarctic surface mass balance (ASMB), a component of the sea level budget, is commonly estimated through modelling as observations are scarce. The polar-oriented regional climate model MAR performs well in simulating the observed ASMB. MAR and RACMO2 share common biases we relate to drifting snow transport, with a 3 times larger magnitude than in previous estimates. Sublimation of precipitation in the katabatic layer modelled by MAR is of a magnitude similar to an observation-based estimate.
Yves Lejeune, Marie Dumont, Jean-Michel Panel, Matthieu Lafaysse, Philippe Lapalus, Erwan Le Gac, Bernard Lesaffre, and Samuel Morin
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 11, 71–88, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-11-71-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-11-71-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
This paper introduces and provides access to a daily (1960–2017) and an hourly (1993–2017) dataset of snow and meteorological data measured at the Col de Porte site, 1325 m a.s.l, Charteuse, France. The daily dataset can be used to quantify the effect of climate change at this site, with a reduction of the mean snow depth of 39 cm from 1960–1990 to 1990–2017. The daily and hourly datasets are useful and appropriate for driving and evaluating a snowpack model over such a long period.
Amaëlle Landais, Emilie Capron, Valérie Masson-Delmotte, Samuel Toucanne, Rachael Rhodes, Trevor Popp, Bo Vinther, Bénédicte Minster, and Frédéric Prié
Clim. Past, 14, 1405–1415, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-1405-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-1405-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
During the last glacial–interglacial climate transition (120 000 to 10 000 years before present), Greenland climate and midlatitude North Atlantic climate and water cycle vary in phase over the succession of millennial events. We identify here one notable exception to this behavior with a decoupling unambiguously identified through a combination of water isotopic tracers measured in a Greenland ice core. The midlatitude moisture source becomes warmer and wetter at 16 200 years before present.
Laurie Menviel, Emilie Capron, Aline Govin, Andrea Dutton, Lev Tarasov, Ayako Abe-Ouchi, Russell Drysdale, Philip Gibbard, Lauren Gregoire, Feng He, Ruza Ivanovic, Masa Kageyama, Kenji Kawamura, Amaelle Landais, Bette L. Otto-Bliesner, Ikumi Oyabu, Polychronis Tzedakis, Eric Wolff, and Xu Zhang
Clim. Past Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-2018-106, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-2018-106, 2018
Preprint withdrawn
Short summary
Short summary
The penultimate deglaciation (~ 138–128 ka), which represents the transition into the Last Interglacial period, provides a framework to investigate the climate and environmental response to large changes in boundary conditions. Here, as part of the PAGES-PMIP working group on Quaternary Interglacials, we propose a protocol to perform transient simulations of the penultimate deglaciation as well as a selection of paleo records for upcoming model-data comparisons.
Alexis Burr, Clément Ballot, Pierre Lhuissier, Patricia Martinerie, Christophe L. Martin, and Armelle Philip
The Cryosphere, 12, 2481–2500, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-2481-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-2481-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Three-dimensional imaging of the pore network of polar firn from Antarctica was realized in order to relate the morphological evolution of pores with their progressive closure with depth. Evaluating the closed porosity was found to be very dependent on the size of samples and image reconstructions. A connectivity index, which is a parameter less dependent on such issues, was proposed and proved to accurately predict the close-off depths and densities of two polar sites.
Alexander Kokhanovsky, Maxim Lamare, Biagio Di Mauro, Ghislain Picard, Laurent Arnaud, Marie Dumont, François Tuzet, Carsten Brockmann, and Jason E. Box
The Cryosphere, 12, 2371–2382, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-2371-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-2371-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
This work presents a new technique with which to derive the snow microphysical and optical properties from snow spectral reflectance measurements. The technique is robust and easy to use, and it does not require the extraction of snow samples from a given snowpack. It can be used in processing satellite imagery over extended fresh dry, wet and polluted snowfields.
Ghislain Picard, Melody Sandells, and Henning Löwe
Geosci. Model Dev., 11, 2763–2788, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-2763-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-2763-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
The Snow Microwave Radiative Transfer (SMRT) is a novel model developed to calculate how microwaves are scattered and emitted by snow. The model is built from separate, interconnecting modules to make it easy to compare different aspects of the theory. SMRT is the first model to allow a choice of how to represent the microstructure of the snow, which is extremely important, and has been used to unite multiple previous studies. This model will ultimately be used to observe snow from space.
Sentia Goursaud, Valérie Masson-Delmotte, Vincent Favier, Anaïs Orsi, and Martin Werner
Clim. Past, 14, 923–946, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-923-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-923-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Atmospheric general circulation models equipped with water stable isotopes are key tools to explore the links between climate variables and precipitation isotopic composition and thus to quantify past temperature changes using ice core records. Here, we evaluate the skills of ECHAM5-wiso to simulate the spatio-temporal characteristics of Antarctic climate and precipitation isotopic composition at the regional scale, thanks to a database of precipitation and ice core records.
Alexandra Touzeau, Amaëlle Landais, Samuel Morin, Laurent Arnaud, and Ghislain Picard
Geosci. Model Dev., 11, 2393–2418, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-2393-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-2393-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
We introduced a new module of water vapor diffusion into the snowpack model Crocus. Vapor transport locally modifies the density of snow layers, possibly influencing compaction. It also affects the original isotopic signature of snow layers. We also introduced water isotopes (𝛿18O) in the model. Over 10 years, the modeled attenuation of isotopic variations due to vapor diffusion is 7–18 % lower than the observations. Thus, other processes are required to explain the total attenuation.
Thomas Condom, Marie Dumont, Lise Mourre, Jean Emmanuel Sicart, Antoine Rabatel, Alessandra Viani, and Alvaro Soruco
Geosci. Instrum. Method. Data Syst., 7, 169–178, https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-7-169-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-7-169-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
This study presents a new instrument called a low-cost albedometer (LCA) composed of two illuminance sensors. The ratio between reflected vs. incident illuminances is called the albedo index and can be compared with actual albedo values. We demonstrate that our system performs well and thus provides relevant opportunities to document spatiotemporal changes in the surface albedo from direct observations at the scale of an entire catchment at a low cost.
Benjamin Birner, Christo Buizert, Till J. W. Wagner, and Jeffrey P. Severinghaus
The Cryosphere, 12, 2021–2037, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-2021-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-2021-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Ancient air enclosed in bubbles of the Antarctic ice sheet is a key source of information about the Earth's past climate. However, a range of physical processes in the snow layer atop an ice sheet may change the trapped air's chemical composition before it is occluded in the ice. We developed the first detailed 2-D computer simulation of these processes and found a new method to improve the reconstruction of past climate from air in ice cores bubbles.
Emmanuel Le Meur, Olivier Magand, Laurent Arnaud, Michel Fily, Massimo Frezzotti, Marie Cavitte, Robert Mulvaney, and Stefano Urbini
The Cryosphere, 12, 1831–1850, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1831-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1831-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents surface mass balance measurements from both GPR and ice core data collected during a traverse in a so-far-unexplored area between the DC and Vostok stations. Results presented here will contribute to a better knowledge of the global mass balance of the Antarctic ice sheet and thus help in constraining its contribution to sea level rise. Another novelty of the paper resides in the comprehensive error budget proposed for the method used for inferring accumulation rates.
Anne Alexandre, Amarelle Landais, Christine Vallet-Coulomb, Clément Piel, Sébastien Devidal, Sandrine Pauchet, Corinne Sonzogni, Martine Couapel, Marine Pasturel, Pauline Cornuault, Jingming Xin, Jean-Charles Mazur, Frédéric Prié, Ilhem Bentaleb, Elizabeth Webb, Françoise Chalié, and Jacques Roy
Biogeosciences, 15, 3223–3241, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-3223-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-3223-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
There is a lack of proxies suitable for reconstructing, in a quantitative way, past changes in continental atmospheric humidity, which is a key climate parameter. Here, we demonstrate through climate chamber and climate transect calibrations that the triple oxygen isotope composition of phytoliths offers a potential for reconstructing changes in relative humidity.
Christine Lac, Jean-Pierre Chaboureau, Valéry Masson, Jean-Pierre Pinty, Pierre Tulet, Juan Escobar, Maud Leriche, Christelle Barthe, Benjamin Aouizerats, Clotilde Augros, Pierre Aumond, Franck Auguste, Peter Bechtold, Sarah Berthet, Soline Bielli, Frédéric Bosseur, Olivier Caumont, Jean-Martial Cohard, Jeanne Colin, Fleur Couvreux, Joan Cuxart, Gaëlle Delautier, Thibaut Dauhut, Véronique Ducrocq, Jean-Baptiste Filippi, Didier Gazen, Olivier Geoffroy, François Gheusi, Rachel Honnert, Jean-Philippe Lafore, Cindy Lebeaupin Brossier, Quentin Libois, Thibaut Lunet, Céline Mari, Tomislav Maric, Patrick Mascart, Maxime Mogé, Gilles Molinié, Olivier Nuissier, Florian Pantillon, Philippe Peyrillé, Julien Pergaud, Emilie Perraud, Joris Pianezze, Jean-Luc Redelsperger, Didier Ricard, Evelyne Richard, Sébastien Riette, Quentin Rodier, Robert Schoetter, Léo Seyfried, Joël Stein, Karsten Suhre, Marie Taufour, Odile Thouron, Sandra Turner, Antoine Verrelle, Benoît Vié, Florian Visentin, Vincent Vionnet, and Philippe Wautelet
Geosci. Model Dev., 11, 1929–1969, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-1929-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-1929-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents the Meso-NH model version 5.4, which is an atmospheric non-hydrostatic research model that is applied on synoptic to turbulent scales. The model includes advanced numerical techniques and state-of-the-art physics parameterization schemes. It has been expanded to provide capabilities for a range of Earth system prediction applications such as chemistry and aerosols, electricity and lightning, hydrology, wildland fires, volcanic eruptions, and cyclones with ocean coupling.
Fifi Ibrahime Adodo, Frédérique Remy, and Ghislain Picard
The Cryosphere, 12, 1767–1778, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1767-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1767-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
In Antarctica, the seasonal cycle of the backscatter behaves differently at high and low frequencies, peaking in winter and in summer, respectively. At the intermediate frequency, some areas behave analogously to low frequency in terms of the seasonal cycle, but other areas behave analogously to high frequency. This calls into question the empirical relationships often used to correct elevation changes from radar penetration into the snowpack using backscatter.
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
Short summary
Short summary
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.
Carmen Paulina Vega, Elisabeth Isaksson, Elisabeth Schlosser, Dmitry Divine, Tõnu Martma, Robert Mulvaney, Anja Eichler, and Margit Schwikowski-Gigar
The Cryosphere, 12, 1681–1697, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1681-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1681-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Ions were measured in firn and ice cores from Fimbul Ice Shelf, Antarctica, to evaluate sea-salt loads. A significant sixfold increase in sea salts was found in the S100 core after 1950s which suggests that it contains a more local sea-salt signal, dominated by processes during sea-ice formation in the neighbouring waters. In contrast, firn cores from three ice rises register the larger-scale signal of atmospheric flow conditions and transport of sea-salt aerosols produced over open water.
Marion Réveillet, Delphine Six, Christian Vincent, Antoine Rabatel, Marie Dumont, Matthieu Lafaysse, Samuel Morin, Vincent Vionnet, and Maxime Litt
The Cryosphere, 12, 1367–1386, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1367-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1367-2018, 2018
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
Short summary
Short summary
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.
John M. Fegyveresi, Richard B. Alley, Atsuhiro Muto, Anaïs J. Orsi, and Matthew K. Spencer
The Cryosphere, 12, 325–341, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-325-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-325-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Observations at the WAIS Divide site in West Antarctica show that near-surface snow is strongly altered by weather-related processes, such as strong winds and temperature fluctuations, producing features that are recognizable within the WDC06A ice core. Specifically, over 10 000 prominent crusts were observed in the upper 560 m of the core. We show that these crusts develop more often in summers, during relatively low-wind, low-humidity, clear-sky periods with intense daytime sunshine.
Lucas Davaze, Antoine Rabatel, Yves Arnaud, Pascal Sirguey, Delphine Six, Anne Letreguilly, and Marie Dumont
The Cryosphere, 12, 271–286, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-271-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-271-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
About 150 of the 250 000 inventoried glaciers are currently monitored with surface mass balance (SMB) measurements. To increase this number, we propose a method to retrieve annual and summer SMB from optical satellite imagery, with an application over 30 glaciers in the French Alps. Computing the glacier-wide averaged albedo allows us to reconstruct annual and summer SMB of most of the studied glaciers, highlighting the potential of this method to retrieve SMB of unmonitored glaciers.
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
Short summary
Short summary
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.
Kévin Fourteau, Xavier Faïn, Patricia Martinerie, Amaëlle Landais, Alexey A. Ekaykin, Vladimir Ya. Lipenkov, and Jérôme Chappellaz
Clim. Past, 13, 1815–1830, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-13-1815-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-13-1815-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
We measured methane concentrations from a polar ice core to quantify the differences between the ice record and the past true atmospheric conditions. Two effects were investigated by combining data analysis and modeling: the stratification of polar snow before gas enclosure driving chronological hiatuses in the record and the gradual formation of bubbles in the ice attenuating fast atmospheric variations. This study will contribute to improving future climatic interpretations from ice archives.
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
Short summary
Short summary
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.
Francois Tuzet, Marie Dumont, Matthieu Lafaysse, Ghislain Picard, Laurent Arnaud, Didier Voisin, Yves Lejeune, Luc Charrois, Pierre Nabat, and Samuel Morin
The Cryosphere, 11, 2633–2653, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2633-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2633-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Light-absorbing impurities deposited on snow, such as soot or dust, strongly modify its evolution. We implemented impurity deposition and evolution in a detailed snowpack model, thereby expanding the reach of such models into addressing the subtle interplays between snow physics and impurities' optical properties. Model results were evaluated based on innovative field observations at an Alpine site. This allows future investigations in the fields of climate, hydrology and avalanche prediction.
Barbara Stenni, Mark A. J. Curran, Nerilie J. Abram, Anais Orsi, Sentia Goursaud, Valerie Masson-Delmotte, Raphael Neukom, Hugues Goosse, Dmitry Divine, Tas van Ommen, Eric J. Steig, Daniel A. Dixon, Elizabeth R. Thomas, Nancy A. N. Bertler, Elisabeth Isaksson, Alexey Ekaykin, Martin Werner, and Massimo Frezzotti
Clim. Past, 13, 1609–1634, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-13-1609-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-13-1609-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Within PAGES Antarctica2k, we build an enlarged database of ice core water stable isotope records. We produce isotopic composites and temperature reconstructions since 0 CE for seven distinct Antarctic regions. We find a significant cooling trend from 0 to 1900 CE across all regions. Since 1900 CE, significant warming trends are identified for three regions. Only for the Antarctic Peninsula is this most recent century-scale trend unusual in the context of last-2000-year natural variability.
Elizabeth R. Thomas, J. Melchior van Wessem, Jason Roberts, Elisabeth Isaksson, Elisabeth Schlosser, Tyler J. Fudge, Paul Vallelonga, Brooke Medley, Jan Lenaerts, Nancy Bertler, Michiel R. van den Broeke, Daniel A. Dixon, Massimo Frezzotti, Barbara Stenni, Mark Curran, and Alexey A. Ekaykin
Clim. Past, 13, 1491–1513, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-13-1491-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-13-1491-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Regional Antarctic snow accumulation derived from 79 ice core records is evaluated as part of the PAGES Antarctica 2k working group. Our results show that surface mass balance for the total Antarctic ice sheet has increased at a rate of 7 ± 0.13 Gt dec-1 since 1800 AD, representing a net reduction in sea level of ~ 0.02 mm dec-1 since 1800 and ~ 0.04 mm dec-1 since 1900 AD. The largest contribution is from the Antarctic Peninsula.
Bette L. Otto-Bliesner, Pascale Braconnot, Sandy P. Harrison, Daniel J. Lunt, Ayako Abe-Ouchi, Samuel Albani, Patrick J. Bartlein, Emilie Capron, Anders E. Carlson, Andrea Dutton, Hubertus Fischer, Heiko Goelzer, Aline Govin, Alan Haywood, Fortunat Joos, Allegra N. LeGrande, William H. Lipscomb, Gerrit Lohmann, Natalie Mahowald, Christoph Nehrbass-Ahles, Francesco S. R. Pausata, Jean-Yves Peterschmitt, Steven J. Phipps, Hans Renssen, and Qiong Zhang
Geosci. Model Dev., 10, 3979–4003, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-3979-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-3979-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
The PMIP4 and CMIP6 mid-Holocene and Last Interglacial simulations provide an opportunity to examine the impact of two different changes in insolation forcing on climate at times when other forcings were relatively similar to present. This will allow exploration of the role of feedbacks relevant to future projections. Evaluating these simulations using paleoenvironmental data will provide direct out-of-sample tests of the reliability of state-of-the-art models to simulate climate changes.
Elisabeth Schlosser, Anna Dittmann, Barbara Stenni, Jordan G. Powers, Kevin W. Manning, Valérie Masson-Delmotte, Mauro Valt, Anselmo Cagnati, Paolo Grigioni, and Claudio Scarchilli
The Cryosphere, 11, 2345–2361, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2345-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2345-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
To derive paleotemperatures from ice cores we must know all processes involved in ice formation. At the Antarctic base Dome C, a unique precipitation data set plus stable water isotope data enabled us to study atmospheric processes influencing isotope ratios of precipitation in detail. Meteorological data from both automatic weather station and an atmospheric model were used to investigate how different atmospheric flow patterns determine the precipitation parameters used in paleoclimatology.
Alan M. Seltzer, Christo Buizert, Daniel Baggenstos, Edward J. Brook, Jinho Ahn, Ji-Woong Yang, and Jeffrey P. Severinghaus
Clim. Past, 13, 1323–1338, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-13-1323-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-13-1323-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
To explore whether the oxygen-18 to oxygen-16 ratio of atmospheric O2 is sensitive to the position of the tropical rain belts, we (1) present a record of ice core bubble oxygen isotope measurements from two Antarctic ice cores, and (2) examine the sensitivity of oxygen isotopes in precipitation, weighted by photosynthesis, to the location of oxygen production over the modern-day seasonal cycle. We find a strong modern relationship and discuss implications for past shifts in tropical rainfall.
Jesús Revuelto, Grégoire Lecourt, Matthieu Lafaysse, Isabella Zin, Luc Charrois, Vincent Vionnet, Marie Dumont, Antoine Rabatel, Delphine Six, Thomas Condom, Samuel Morin, Alessandra Viani, and Pascal Sirguey
The Cryosphere Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2017-184, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2017-184, 2017
Revised manuscript not accepted
Short summary
Short summary
We evaluated distributed and semi-distributed modeling approaches to simulating the spatial and temporal evolution of snow and ice over an extended mountain catchment, using the Crocus snowpack model. The distributed approach simulated the snowpack dynamics on a 250-m grid, enabling inclusion of terrain shadowing effects. The semi-distributed approach simulated the snowpack dynamics for discrete topographic classes characterized by elevation range, aspect, and slope.
Pirmin Philipp Ebner, Hans Christian Steen-Larsen, Barbara Stenni, Martin Schneebeli, and Aldo Steinfeld
The Cryosphere, 11, 1733–1743, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-1733-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-1733-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Stable water isotopes (δ18O) obtained from snow and ice samples from polar regions are used to reconstruct past climate variability. We present an experimental study on the effect on the snow isotopic composition by airflow through a snowpack in controlled laboratory conditions. The disequilibrium between snow and vapor isotopes changed the isotopic content of the snow. These measurements suggest that metamorphism and its history affect the snow isotopic composition.
Daniel Baggenstos, Thomas K. Bauska, Jeffrey P. Severinghaus, James E. Lee, Hinrich Schaefer, Christo Buizert, Edward J. Brook, Sarah Shackleton, and Vasilii V. Petrenko
Clim. Past, 13, 943–958, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-13-943-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-13-943-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
We present measurements of the gas composition in trapped air bubbles in ice samples taken from Taylor Glacier, Antarctica. We can show that ice from the entire last glacial cycle (125 000 years ago to the present) is exposed at the surface of this glacier and that the atmospheric record contained in the air bubbles is well preserved. Taylor Glacier therefore provides an easily accessible archive of ancient ice that allows for studies of trace components that require large ice volumes.
Camille Bréant, Patricia Martinerie, Anaïs Orsi, Laurent Arnaud, and Amaëlle Landais
Clim. Past, 13, 833–853, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-13-833-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-13-833-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
All firn densification models applied to deglaciations show a large disagreement with δ15N measurements at sites in East Antarctica, predicting larger firn thickness during the Last Glacial Maximum, whereas δ15N suggests a reduced firn thickness compared to the Holocene. Here we present modifications, which significantly reduce the model–data mismatch for the gas trapping depth evolution over the last deglaciation at the coldest sites in East Antarctica, to the LGGE firn densification model.
Mike J. Newland, Patricia Martinerie, Emmanuel Witrant, Detlev Helmig, David R. Worton, Chris Hogan, William T. Sturges, and Claire E. Reeves
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 8269–8283, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-8269-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-8269-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
We report increasing levels of alkyl nitrates in the Northern Hemisphere atmosphere between 1960 and the mid-1990s. These increases are symptomatic of large-scale changes to the chemical composition of the atmosphere, particularly with regards to the amounts of short-lived, reactive species. The observed increases are likely driven by increasing levels of nitrogen oxides. These changes have direct implications for the lifetimes of climate-relevant species in the atmosphere, such as methane.
Dennis L. Nielson, Chris Delahunty, John W. Goodge, and Jeffery P. Severinghaus
Sci. Dril., 22, 29–33, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-22-29-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-22-29-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
The North American Testing (NAT) was designed to test critical functions of a Rapid Access Ice Drill (RAID) at a site in northern Utah. The RAID was designed to rapidly drill in Antarctica through over 2500 m of ice and then take a core sample of the bedrock. The system has many innovative features that required field testing before the system was shipped to Antarcitca. The NAT facility consisted of a borehole where we froze a column of ice to test drilling and fluid circulation functions.
Léa Gest, Frédéric Parrenin, Jai Chowdhry Beeman, Dominique Raynaud, Tyler J. Fudge, Christo Buizert, and Edward J. Brook
Clim. Past Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-2017-71, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-2017-71, 2017
Revised manuscript has not been submitted
Short summary
Short summary
In this manuscript, we place the atmospheric CO2 and Antarctic temperature records onto a common age scale during the last deglaciation. Moreover, we evaluate the phase relationship between those two records in order to discuss possible climatic and carbon cycle scenarios. Indeed, this phase relationship is central to determine the role of the former in past (and therefore future) climatic variations. This scientific problem was even discussed by some policy makers (e.g., in the USA senate).
Matthieu Lafaysse, Bertrand Cluzet, Marie Dumont, Yves Lejeune, Vincent Vionnet, and Samuel Morin
The Cryosphere, 11, 1173–1198, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-1173-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-1173-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Physically based multilayer snowpack models suffer from various modelling errors. To represent these errors, we built the new multiphysical ensemble system ESCROC by implementing new representations of different physical processes in a coupled multilayer ground/snowpack model. This system is a promising tool to integrate snow modelling errors in ensemble forecasting and ensemble assimilation systems in support of avalanche hazard forecasting and other snowpack modelling applications.
Marie Dumont, Laurent Arnaud, Ghislain Picard, Quentin Libois, Yves Lejeune, Pierre Nabat, Didier Voisin, and Samuel Morin
The Cryosphere, 11, 1091–1110, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-1091-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-1091-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Snow spectral albedo in the visible/near-infrared range has been continuously measured during a winter season at Col de Porte alpine site (French Alps; 45.30° N, 5.77°E; 1325 m a.s.l.). This study highlights that the variations of spectral albedo can be successfully explained by variations of the following snow surface variables: snow-specific surface area, effective light-absorbing impurities content, presence of liquid water and slope.
Markella Prokopiou, Patricia Martinerie, Célia J. Sapart, Emmanuel Witrant, Guillaume Monteil, Kentaro Ishijima, Sophie Bernard, Jan Kaiser, Ingeborg Levin, Thomas Blunier, David Etheridge, Ed Dlugokencky, Roderik S. W. van de Wal, and Thomas Röckmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 4539–4564, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-4539-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-4539-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Nitrous oxide is the third most important anthropogenic greenhouse gas with an increasing mole fraction. To understand its natural and anthropogenic sources
we employ isotope measurements. Results show that while the N2O mole fraction increases, its heavy isotope content decreases. The isotopic changes observed underline the dominance of agricultural emissions especially at the early part of the record, whereas in the later decades the contribution from other anthropogenic sources increases.
Grant M. Raisbeck, Alexandre Cauquoin, Jean Jouzel, Amaelle Landais, Jean-Robert Petit, Vladimir Y. Lipenkov, Juerg Beer, Hans-Arno Synal, Hans Oerter, Sigfus J. Johnsen, Jorgen P. Steffensen, Anders Svensson, and Françoise Yiou
Clim. Past, 13, 217–229, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-13-217-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-13-217-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Using records of a long-lived radioactive nuclide (10Be) that is formed globally in the atmosphere and deposited within a few years to the earth’s surface, we have synchronized three Antarctic ice cores to one from Greenland. This permits the climate and other environmental parameters registered in these ice cores to be put on a common timescale with a precision of a few decades, thus allowing different models and mechanisms associated with these parameters to be tested with the same precision.
Quentin Libois, Liviu Ivanescu, Jean-Pierre Blanchet, Hannes Schulz, Heiko Bozem, W. Richard Leaitch, Julia Burkart, Jonathan P. D. Abbatt, Andreas B. Herber, Amir A. Aliabadi, and Éric Girard
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 15689–15707, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-15689-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-15689-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
The first airborne measurements performed with the FIRR are presented. Vertical profiles of upwelling spectral radiance in the far-infrared are measured in the Arctic atmosphere for the first time. They show the impact of the temperature inversion on the radiative budget of the atmosphere, especially in the far-infrared. The presence of ice clouds also significantly alters the far-infrared budget, highlighting the critical interplay between water vapour and clouds in this very dry region.
Johannes C. Laube, Norfazrin Mohd Hanif, Patricia Martinerie, Eileen Gallacher, Paul J. Fraser, Ray Langenfelds, Carl A. M. Brenninkmeijer, Jakob Schwander, Emmanuel Witrant, Jia-Lin Wang, Chang-Feng Ou-Yang, Lauren J. Gooch, Claire E. Reeves, William T. Sturges, and David E. Oram
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 15347–15358, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-15347-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-15347-2016, 2016
Paolo Gabrielli, Carlo Barbante, Giuliano Bertagna, Michele Bertó, Daniel Binder, Alberto Carton, Luca Carturan, Federico Cazorzi, Giulio Cozzi, Giancarlo Dalla Fontana, Mary Davis, Fabrizio De Blasi, Roberto Dinale, Gianfranco Dragà, Giuliano Dreossi, Daniela Festi, Massimo Frezzotti, Jacopo Gabrieli, Stephan P. Galos, Patrick Ginot, Petra Heidenwolf, Theo M. Jenk, Natalie Kehrwald, Donald Kenny, Olivier Magand, Volkmar Mair, Vladimir Mikhalenko, Ping Nan Lin, Klaus Oeggl, Gianni Piffer, Mirko Rinaldi, Ulrich Schotterer, Margit Schwikowski, Roberto Seppi, Andrea Spolaor, Barbara Stenni, David Tonidandel, Chiara Uglietti, Victor Zagorodnov, Thomas Zanoner, and Piero Zennaro
The Cryosphere, 10, 2779–2797, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-2779-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-2779-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
New ice cores were extracted from Alto dell'Ortles, the highest glacier of South Tyrol in the Italian Alps, to check whether prehistoric ice, which is coeval to the famous 5300-yr-old Tyrolean Iceman, is still preserved in this region. Dating of the ice cores confirms the hypothesis and indicates the drilling site has been glaciated since the end of the Northern Hemisphere Climatic Optimum (7000 yrs BP). We also infer that an unprecedented acceleration of the glacier flow has recently begun.
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
Short summary
Short summary
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.
Ghislain Picard, Quentin Libois, and Laurent Arnaud
The Cryosphere, 10, 2655–2672, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-2655-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-2655-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
The absorption of visible light in ice is very weak but its precise value is unknown. By measuring the profile of light intensity in snow, Warren and Brand (2006) deduced that light is attenuated by a factor 2 per kilometer in pure ice at a wavelength of 400 nm. We replicated their experiment on a large number of samples and found that ice absorption is at least 10 times stronger. The paper explores various potential physical and statistical biases that could impact the experiment.
Bette L. Otto-Bliesner, Pascale Braconnot, Sandy P. Harrison, Daniel J. Lunt, Ayako Abe-Ouchi, Samuel Albani, Patrick J. Bartlein, Emilie Capron, Anders E. Carlson, Andrea Dutton, Hubertus Fischer, Heiko Goelzer, Aline Govin, Alan Haywood, Fortunat Joos, Allegra N. Legrande, William H. Lipscomb, Gerrit Lohmann, Natalie Mahowald, Christoph Nehrbass-Ahles, Jean-Yves Peterschmidt, Francesco S.-R. Pausata, Steven Phipps, and Hans Renssen
Clim. Past Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-2016-106, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-2016-106, 2016
Preprint retracted
Pascal Sirguey, Holly Still, Nicolas J. Cullen, Marie Dumont, Yves Arnaud, and Jonathan P. Conway
The Cryosphere, 10, 2465–2484, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-2465-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-2465-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
Fourteen years of satellite observations are used to monitor the albedo of Brewster Glacier, New Zealand and estimate annual and seasonal balances. This confirms the governing role of the summer balance in the annual balance and allows the reconstruction of the annual balance to 1977 using a photographic record of the snowline. The longest mass balance record for a New Zealand glacier shows negative balances after 2008, yielding a loss of 35 % of the gain accumulated over the previous 30 years.
Barbara Stenni, Claudio Scarchilli, Valerie Masson-Delmotte, Elisabeth Schlosser, Virginia Ciardini, Giuliano Dreossi, Paolo Grigioni, Mattia Bonazza, Anselmo Cagnati, Daniele Karlicek, Camille Risi, Roberto Udisti, and Mauro Valt
The Cryosphere, 10, 2415–2428, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-2415-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-2415-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
Here, we focus on the Concordia Station, central East Antarctic plateau, providing a multi-year record (2008–2010) of daily precipitation types identified from crystal morphologies, precipitation amounts and isotopic composition. Relationships between local meteorological data and precipitation oxygen isotope composition are investigated. Our dataset is available for in-depth model evaluation at the synoptic scale.
Josué Bock, Joël Savarino, and Ghislain Picard
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 12531–12550, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-12531-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-12531-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
We develop a physically based parameterisation of the co-condensation process. Our model includes solid-state diffusion within a snow grain. It reproduces with good agreement the nitrate measurement in surface snow. Winter and summer concentrations are driven respectively by thermodynamic equilibrium and co-condensation. Adsorbed nitrate likely accounts for a minor part. This work shows that co-condensation is required to explain the chemical composition of snow undergoing temperature gradient.
Emma J. Stone, Emilie Capron, Daniel J. Lunt, Antony J. Payne, Joy S. Singarayer, Paul J. Valdes, and Eric W. Wolff
Clim. Past, 12, 1919–1932, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-1919-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-1919-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
Climate models forced only with greenhouse gas concentrations and orbital parameters representative of the early Last Interglacial are unable to reproduce the observed colder-than-present temperatures in the North Atlantic and the warmer-than-present temperatures in the Southern Hemisphere. Using a climate model forced also with a freshwater amount derived from data representing melting from the remnant Northern Hemisphere ice sheets accounts for this response via the bipolar seesaw mechanism.
Amaelle Landais, Valérie Masson-Delmotte, Emilie Capron, Petra M. Langebroek, Pepijn Bakker, Emma J. Stone, Niklaus Merz, Christoph C. Raible, Hubertus Fischer, Anaïs Orsi, Frédéric Prié, Bo Vinther, and Dorthe Dahl-Jensen
Clim. Past, 12, 1933–1948, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-1933-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-1933-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
The last lnterglacial (LIG; 116 000 to 129 000 years before present) surface temperature at the upstream Greenland NEEM deposition site is estimated to be warmer by +7 to +11 °C compared to the preindustrial period. We show that under such warm temperatures, melting of snow probably led to a significant surface melting. There is a paradox between the extent of the Greenland ice sheet during the LIG and the strong warming during this period that models cannot solve.
Christo Buizert and Jeffrey P. Severinghaus
The Cryosphere, 10, 2099–2111, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-2099-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-2099-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
The upper 50–100 m of the world's ice sheets consists of the firn layer, a porous layer of snow that is slowly compacted by overlying snow. Understanding air movement inside the firn is critical for ice core climate reconstructions. Buizert and Severinghaus identify and describe a new mechanism of firn air movement. High- and low-pressure systems force air movement in the firn that drives strong mixing, called dispersion. Dispersion is the main mechanism for air mixing in the deep firn.
Timothé Bolliet, Patrick Brockmann, Valérie Masson-Delmotte, Franck Bassinot, Valérie Daux, Dominique Genty, Amaelle Landais, Marlène Lavrieux, Elisabeth Michel, Pablo Ortega, Camille Risi, Didier M. Roche, Françoise Vimeux, and Claire Waelbroeck
Clim. Past, 12, 1693–1719, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-1693-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-1693-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents a new database of past climate proxies which aims to facilitate the distribution of data by using a user-friendly interface. Available data from the last 40 years are often fragmented, with lots of different formats, and online libraries are sometimes nonintuitive. We thus built a new dynamic web portal for data browsing, visualizing, and batch downloading of hundreds of datasets presenting a homogeneous format.
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
Short summary
Short summary
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.
Louis Quéno, Vincent Vionnet, Ingrid Dombrowski-Etchevers, Matthieu Lafaysse, Marie Dumont, and Fatima Karbou
The Cryosphere, 10, 1571–1589, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-1571-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-1571-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
Simulations are carried out in the Pyrenees with the snowpack model Crocus, driven by meteorological forecasts from the model AROME at kilometer resolution. The evaluation is done with ground-based measurements, satellite data and reference simulations. Studying daily snow depth variations allows to separate different physical processes affecting the snowpack. We show the benefits of AROME kilometric resolution and dynamical behavior in terms of snowpack spatial variability in a mountain range.
Ghislain Picard, Laurent Arnaud, Jean-Michel Panel, and Samuel Morin
The Cryosphere, 10, 1495–1511, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-1495-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-1495-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
A cost-effective automatic laser scan has been built to measure snow depth spatio-temporal variations. Deployed in the Alps and in Dome C (Antarctica), two devices acquired daily scans covering a surface area of 100–150 m2. The precision and long-term stability of the measurements are about 1 cm and the accuracy is better than 5 cm. These high performances are particularly suited at Dome C, where it was possible to reveal that most of the accumulation in the year 2015 stems from a single event.
Mathieu Casado, Amaelle Landais, Valérie Masson-Delmotte, Christophe Genthon, Erik Kerstel, Samir Kassi, Laurent Arnaud, Ghislain Picard, Frederic Prie, Olivier Cattani, Hans-Christian Steen-Larsen, Etienne Vignon, and Peter Cermak
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 8521–8538, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-8521-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-8521-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
Climatic conditions in Concordia are very cold (−55 °C in average) and very dry, imposing difficult conditions to measure the water vapour isotopic composition. New developments in infrared spectroscopy enable now the measurement of isotopic composition in water vapour traces (down to 20 ppmv). Here we present the results results of a first campaign of measurement of isotopic composition of water vapour in Concordia, the site where the 800 000 years long ice core was drilled.
Ghislain Picard, Quentin Libois, Laurent Arnaud, Gauthier Verin, and Marie Dumont
The Cryosphere, 10, 1297–1316, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-1297-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-1297-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
Albedo of snow surfaces depends on snow grain size. By measuring albedo during 3 years at Dome C in Antarctica with an automatic spectroradiometer, we were able to monitor the snow specific surface area and show an overall growth of the grains in spring and summer followed by an accumulation of small-grained snow from mid-summer. This study focuses on the uncertainties due to the spectroradiometer and concludes that the observed variations are significant with respect to the precision.
Richard Essery, Anna Kontu, Juha Lemmetyinen, Marie Dumont, and Cécile B. Ménard
Geosci. Instrum. Method. Data Syst., 5, 219–227, https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-5-219-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-5-219-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
Physically based models that predict the properties of snow on the ground are used in many applications, but meteorological input data required by these models are hard to obtain in cold regions. Monitoring at the Sodankyla research station allows construction of model input and evaluation datasets covering several years for the first time in the Arctic. The data are used to show that a sophisticated snow model developed for warmer and wetter sites can perform well in very different conditions.
Luc Charrois, Emmanuel Cosme, Marie Dumont, Matthieu Lafaysse, Samuel Morin, Quentin Libois, and Ghislain Picard
The Cryosphere, 10, 1021–1038, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-1021-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-1021-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
This study investigates the assimilation of optical reflectances, snowdepth data and both combined into a multilayer snowpack model. Data assimilation is performed with an ensemble-based method, the Sequential Importance Resampling Particle filter. Experiments assimilating only synthetic data are conducted at one point in the French Alps, the Col du Lautaret, over five hydrological years. Results of the assimilation experiments show improvements of the snowpack bulk variables estimates.
Quentin Libois, Christian Proulx, Liviu Ivanescu, Laurence Coursol, Ludovick S. Pelletier, Yacine Bouzid, Francesco Barbero, Éric Girard, and Jean-Pierre Blanchet
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 1817–1832, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-1817-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-1817-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
Here we present a radiometer, FIRR, aimed at measuring atmospheric radiation in the far infrared, an underexplored region of the Earth spectrum. The FIRR is a prototype for the planned TICFIRE satellite mission dedicated to studying thin ice clouds in polar regions. Preliminary in situ measurements compare well with radiative transfer simulations. This highlights the high sensitivity of the FIRR to water vapor content and cloud physical properties, paving the way for new retrieval algorithms.
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
Short summary
Short summary
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.
Elisabeth Schlosser, Barbara Stenni, Mauro Valt, Anselmo Cagnati, Jordan G. Powers, Kevin W. Manning, Marilyn Raphael, and Michael G. Duda
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 4757–4770, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-4757-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-4757-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
Striking differences in the atmospheric flow and thus weather conditions in 2009 and 2010 at the Antarctic deep ice core drilling site Dome C were investigated using a mesoscale atmospheric model and precipitation measurements, and implications for interpretation of ice cores are discussed. Stable isotope ratios are commonly used to derive paleotemperatures and are strongly influenced by the prevailing atmospheric flow regime, namely a strong zonal flow or a highly meriodional flow.
Alexandra Touzeau, Amaëlle Landais, Barbara Stenni, Ryu Uemura, Kotaro Fukui, Shuji Fujita, Sarah Guilbaud, Alexey Ekaykin, Mathieu Casado, Eugeni Barkan, Boaz Luz, Olivier Magand, Grégory Teste, Emmanuel Le Meur, Mélanie Baroni, Joël Savarino, Ilann Bourgeois, and Camille Risi
The Cryosphere, 10, 837–852, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-837-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-837-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
The relationship between water isotope ratios and temperature is investigated in precipitation snow at Vostok and Dome C, as well as in surface snow along traverses. The temporal slope of the linear regression for the precipitation is smaller than the geographical slope. Thus, using the latter could lead to an underestimation of past temperature changes. The processes active at remote sites (best glacial analogs) are explored through a combination of water isotopes in short snow pits.
Michael Sigl, Tyler J. Fudge, Mai Winstrup, Jihong Cole-Dai, David Ferris, Joseph R. McConnell, Ken C. Taylor, Kees C. Welten, Thomas E. Woodruff, Florian Adolphi, Marion Bisiaux, Edward J. Brook, Christo Buizert, Marc W. Caffee, Nelia W. Dunbar, Ross Edwards, Lei Geng, Nels Iverson, Bess Koffman, Lawrence Layman, Olivia J. Maselli, Kenneth McGwire, Raimund Muscheler, Kunihiko Nishiizumi, Daniel R. Pasteris, Rachael H. Rhodes, and Todd A. Sowers
Clim. Past, 12, 769–786, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-769-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-769-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
Here we present a chronology (WD2014) for the upper part (0–2850 m; 31.2 ka BP) of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) Divide ice core, which is based on layer counting of distinctive annual cycles preserved in the elemental, chemical and electrical conductivity records. We validated the chronology by comparing it to independent high-accuracy, absolutely dated chronologies. Given its demonstrated high accuracy, WD2014 can become a reference chronology for the Southern Hemisphere.
Lucie Bazin, Amaelle Landais, Emilie Capron, Valérie Masson-Delmotte, Catherine Ritz, Ghislain Picard, Jean Jouzel, Marie Dumont, Markus Leuenberger, and Frédéric Prié
Clim. Past, 12, 729–748, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-729-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-729-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
We present new measurements of δO2⁄N2 and δ18Oatm performed on well-conserved ice from EDC covering MIS5 and between 380 and 800 ka. The combination of the observation of a 100 ka periodicity in the new δO2⁄N2 record with a MIS5 multi-site multi-proxy study has revealed a potential influence of local climatic parameters on δO2⁄N2. Moreover, we propose that the varying delay between d18Oatm and precession for the last 800 ka is affected by the occurrence of ice sheet discharge events.
Alexandre Roy, Alain Royer, Olivier St-Jean-Rondeau, Benoit Montpetit, Ghislain Picard, Alex Mavrovic, Nicolas Marchand, and Alexandre Langlois
The Cryosphere, 10, 623–638, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-623-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-623-2016, 2016
Q. Libois, G. Picard, L. Arnaud, M. Dumont, M. Lafaysse, S. Morin, and E. Lefebvre
The Cryosphere, 9, 2383–2398, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-2383-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-2383-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
The albedo and surface energy budget of the Antarctic Plateau are largely determined by snow specific surface area. The latter experiences substantial daily-to-seasonal variations in response to meteorological conditions. In particular, it decreases by a factor three in summer, causing a drop in albedo. These variations are monitored from in situ and remote sensing observations at Dome C. For the first time, they are also simulated with a snowpack evolution model adapted to Antarctic conditions.
C. Reutenauer, A. Landais, T. Blunier, C. Bréant, M. Kageyama, M.-N. Woillez, C. Risi, V. Mariotti, and P. Braconnot
Clim. Past, 11, 1527–1551, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-11-1527-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-11-1527-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
Isotopes of atmospheric O2 undergo millennial-scale variations during the last glacial period, and systematically increase during Heinrich stadials.
Such variations are mostly due to vegetation and water cycle processes.
Our modeling approach reproduces the main observed features of Heinrich stadials in terms of climate, vegetation and rainfall.
It highlights the strong role of hydrology on O2 isotopes, which can be seen as a global integrator of precipitation changes over vegetated areas.
H. Löwe and G. Picard
The Cryosphere, 9, 2101–2117, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-2101-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-2101-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
The paper establishes a theoretical link between two widely used microwave models for snow. The scattering formulations from both models are unified by reformulating their microstructure models in a common framework. The results show that the scattering formulations can be considered equivalent, if exactly the same microstructure model is used. The paper also provides a method to measure a hitherto unknown input parameter for the microwave models from tomography images of snow.
J.-L. Tison, M. de Angelis, G. Littot, E. Wolff, H. Fischer, M. Hansson, M. Bigler, R. Udisti, A. Wegner, J. Jouzel, B. Stenni, S. Johnsen, V. Masson-Delmotte, A. Landais, V. Lipenkov, L. Loulergue, J.-M. Barnola, J.-R. Petit, B. Delmonte, G. Dreyfus, D. Dahl-Jensen, G. Durand, B. Bereiter, A. Schilt, R. Spahni, K. Pol, R. Lorrain, R. Souchez, and D. Samyn
The Cryosphere, 9, 1633–1648, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-1633-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-1633-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
The oldest paleoclimatic information is buried within the lowermost layers of deep ice cores. It is therefore essential to judge how deep these records remain unaltered. We study the bottom 60 meters of the EPICA Dome C ice core from central Antarctica to show that the paleoclimatic signal is only affected at the small scale (decimeters) in terms of some of the global ice properties. However our data suggest that the time scale has been considerably distorted by mechanical stretching.
V. Masson-Delmotte, H. C. Steen-Larsen, P. Ortega, D. Swingedouw, T. Popp, B. M. Vinther, H. Oerter, A. E. Sveinbjornsdottir, H. Gudlaugsdottir, J. E. Box, S. Falourd, X. Fettweis, H. Gallée, E. Garnier, V. Gkinis, J. Jouzel, A. Landais, B. Minster, N. Paradis, A. Orsi, C. Risi, M. Werner, and J. W. C. White
The Cryosphere, 9, 1481–1504, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-1481-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-1481-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
The deep NEEM ice core provides the oldest Greenland ice core record, enabling improved understanding of the response of ice core records to local climate. Here, we focus on shallow ice cores providing a stack record of accumulation and water-stable isotopes spanning the past centuries. For the first time, we document the ongoing warming in a Greenland ice core. By combining our data with other Greenland ice cores and model results, we characterise the spatio-temporal patterns of variability.
B. Lemieux-Dudon, L. Bazin, A. Landais, H. Toyé Mahamadou Kele, M. Guillevic, P. Kindler, F. Parrenin, and P. Martinerie
Clim. Past, 11, 959–978, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-11-959-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-11-959-2015, 2015
S. J. Allin, J. C. Laube, E. Witrant, J. Kaiser, E. McKenna, P. Dennis, R. Mulvaney, E. Capron, P. Martinerie, T. Röckmann, T. Blunier, J. Schwander, P. J. Fraser, R. L. Langenfelds, and W. T. Sturges
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 6867–6877, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-6867-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-6867-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
Stratospheric ozone protects life on Earth from harmful UV-B radiation. Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are man-made compounds which act to destroy this barrier.
This paper presents (1) the first measurements of the stratospheric δ(37Cl) of CFCs -11 and -113; (2) the first quantification of long-term trends in the tropospheric δ(37Cl) of CFCs -11, -12 and -113.
This study provides a better understanding of source and sink processes associated with these destructive compounds.
F. Parrenin, L. Bazin, E. Capron, A. Landais, B. Lemieux-Dudon, and V. Masson-Delmotte
Geosci. Model Dev., 8, 1473–1492, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-8-1473-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-8-1473-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
This manuscript describes a probabilistic model which aims at optimizing the chronology of ice cores by combining different sources of information.
A. Cauquoin, A. Landais, G. M. Raisbeck, J. Jouzel, L. Bazin, M. Kageyama, J.-Y. Peterschmitt, M. Werner, E. Bard, and ASTER Team
Clim. Past, 11, 355–367, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-11-355-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-11-355-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
We present a new 10Be record at EDC between 269 and 355ka. Our 10Be-based accumulation rate is in good agreement with the one associated with the EDC3 timescale except for the warm MIS 9.3 optimum. This suggests that temperature reconstruction from water isotopes may be underestimated by 2.4K for the difference between the MIS 9.3 and present day. The CMIP5-PMIP3 models do not quantitatively reproduce changes in precipitation vs. temperature increase during glacial–interglacial transitions.
F. Parrenin, S. Fujita, A. Abe-Ouchi, K. Kawamura, V. Masson-Delmotte, H. Motoyama, F. Saito, M. Severi, B. Stenni, R. Uemura, and E. Wolff
Clim. Past Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/cpd-11-377-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/cpd-11-377-2015, 2015
Revised manuscript has not been submitted
F. Brun, M. Dumont, P. Wagnon, E. Berthier, M. F. Azam, J. M. Shea, P. Sirguey, A. Rabatel, and Al. Ramanathan
The Cryosphere, 9, 341–355, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-341-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-341-2015, 2015
C. Buizert, K. M. Cuffey, J. P. Severinghaus, D. Baggenstos, T. J. Fudge, E. J. Steig, B. R. Markle, M. Winstrup, R. H. Rhodes, E. J. Brook, T. A. Sowers, G. D. Clow, H. Cheng, R. L. Edwards, M. Sigl, J. R. McConnell, and K. C. Taylor
Clim. Past, 11, 153–173, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-11-153-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-11-153-2015, 2015
X. V. Phan, L. Ferro-Famil, M. Gay, Y. Durand, M. Dumont, S. Morin, S. Allain, G. D'Urso, and A. Girard
The Cryosphere, 8, 1975–1987, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-1975-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-1975-2014, 2014
M. F. Loutre, T. Fichefet, H. Goosse, P. Huybrechts, H. Goelzer, and E. Capron
Clim. Past, 10, 1541–1565, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-1541-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-1541-2014, 2014
P. Ginot, M. Dumont, S. Lim, N. Patris, J.-D. Taupin, P. Wagnon, A. Gilbert, Y. Arnaud, A. Marinoni, P. Bonasoni, and P. Laj
The Cryosphere, 8, 1479–1496, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-1479-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-1479-2014, 2014
J.-C. Gallet, F. Domine, J. Savarino, M. Dumont, and E. Brun
The Cryosphere, 8, 1205–1215, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-1205-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-1205-2014, 2014
J.-C. Gallet, F. Domine, and M. Dumont
The Cryosphere, 8, 1139–1148, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-1139-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-1139-2014, 2014
G. Picard, A. Royer, L. Arnaud, and M. Fily
The Cryosphere, 8, 1105–1119, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-1105-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-1105-2014, 2014
M. Baumgartner, P. Kindler, O. Eicher, G. Floch, A. Schilt, J. Schwander, R. Spahni, E. Capron, J. Chappellaz, M. Leuenberger, H. Fischer, and T. F. Stocker
Clim. Past, 10, 903–920, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-903-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-903-2014, 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
D. Helmig, V. Petrenko, P. Martinerie, E. Witrant, T. Röckmann, A. Zuiderweg, R. Holzinger, J. Hueber, C. Thompson, J. W. C. White, W. Sturges, A. Baker, T. Blunier, D. Etheridge, M. Rubino, and P. Tans
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 1463–1483, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-1463-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-1463-2014, 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
Q. Libois, G. Picard, J. L. France, L. Arnaud, M. Dumont, C. M. Carmagnola, and M. D. King
The Cryosphere, 7, 1803–1818, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-1803-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-1803-2013, 2013
P. Wagnon, C. Vincent, Y. Arnaud, E. Berthier, E. Vuillermoz, S. Gruber, M. Ménégoz, A. Gilbert, M. Dumont, J. M. Shea, D. Stumm, and B. K. Pokhrel
The Cryosphere, 7, 1769–1786, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-1769-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-1769-2013, 2013
K. Kawamura, J. P. Severinghaus, M. R. Albert, Z. R. Courville, M. A. Fahnestock, T. Scambos, E. Shields, and C. A. Shuman
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 11141–11155, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-11141-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-11141-2013, 2013
H. Fischer, J. Severinghaus, E. Brook, E. Wolff, M. Albert, O. Alemany, R. Arthern, C. Bentley, D. Blankenship, J. Chappellaz, T. Creyts, D. Dahl-Jensen, M. Dinn, M. Frezzotti, S. Fujita, H. Gallee, R. Hindmarsh, D. Hudspeth, G. Jugie, K. Kawamura, V. Lipenkov, H. Miller, R. Mulvaney, F. Parrenin, F. Pattyn, C. Ritz, J. Schwander, D. Steinhage, T. van Ommen, and F. Wilhelms
Clim. Past, 9, 2489–2505, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-2489-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-2489-2013, 2013
V. V. Petrenko, P. Martinerie, P. Novelli, D. M. Etheridge, I. Levin, Z. Wang, T. Blunier, J. Chappellaz, J. Kaiser, P. Lang, L. P. Steele, S. Hammer, J. Mak, R. L. Langenfelds, J. Schwander, J. P. Severinghaus, E. Witrant, G. Petron, M. O. Battle, G. Forster, W. T. Sturges, J.-F. Lamarque, K. Steffen, and J. W. C. White
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 7567–7585, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-7567-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-7567-2013, 2013
L. Bazin, A. Landais, B. Lemieux-Dudon, H. Toyé Mahamadou Kele, D. Veres, F. Parrenin, P. Martinerie, C. Ritz, E. Capron, V. Lipenkov, M.-F. Loutre, D. Raynaud, B. Vinther, A. Svensson, S. O. Rasmussen, M. Severi, T. Blunier, M. Leuenberger, H. Fischer, V. Masson-Delmotte, J. Chappellaz, and E. Wolff
Clim. Past, 9, 1715–1731, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-1715-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-1715-2013, 2013
D. Veres, L. Bazin, A. Landais, H. Toyé Mahamadou Kele, B. Lemieux-Dudon, F. Parrenin, P. Martinerie, E. Blayo, T. Blunier, E. Capron, J. Chappellaz, S. O. Rasmussen, M. Severi, A. Svensson, B. Vinther, and E. W. Wolff
Clim. Past, 9, 1733–1748, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-1733-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-1733-2013, 2013
C. M. Carmagnola, F. Domine, M. Dumont, P. Wright, B. Strellis, M. Bergin, J. Dibb, G. Picard, Q. Libois, L. Arnaud, and S. Morin
The Cryosphere, 7, 1139–1160, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-1139-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-1139-2013, 2013
M. Geyer, D. Salas Y Melia, E. Brun, and M. Dumont
The Cryosphere Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/tcd-7-3163-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/tcd-7-3163-2013, 2013
Revised manuscript has not been submitted
H. C. Steen-Larsen, S. J. Johnsen, V. Masson-Delmotte, B. Stenni, C. Risi, H. Sodemann, D. Balslev-Clausen, T. Blunier, D. Dahl-Jensen, M. D. Ellehøj, S. Falourd, A. Grindsted, V. Gkinis, J. Jouzel, T. Popp, S. Sheldon, S. B. Simonsen, J. Sjolte, J. P. Steffensen, P. Sperlich, A. E. Sveinbjörnsdóttir, B. M. Vinther, and J. W. C. White
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 4815–4828, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-4815-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-4815-2013, 2013
M. Guillevic, L. Bazin, A. Landais, P. Kindler, A. Orsi, V. Masson-Delmotte, T. Blunier, S. L. Buchardt, E. Capron, M. Leuenberger, P. Martinerie, F. Prié, and B. M. Vinther
Clim. Past, 9, 1029–1051, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-1029-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-1029-2013, 2013
E. Capron, A. Landais, D. Buiron, A. Cauquoin, J. Chappellaz, M. Debret, J. Jouzel, M. Leuenberger, P. Martinerie, V. Masson-Delmotte, R. Mulvaney, F. Parrenin, and F. Prié
Clim. Past, 9, 983–999, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-983-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-983-2013, 2013
P. Mathiot, H. Goosse, X. Crosta, B. Stenni, M. Braida, H. Renssen, C. J. Van Meerbeeck, V. Masson-Delmotte, A. Mairesse, and S. Dubinkina
Clim. Past, 9, 887–901, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-887-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-887-2013, 2013
M. Dumont, J. Gardelle, P. Sirguey, A. Guillot, D. Six, A. Rabatel, and Y. Arnaud
The Cryosphere, 6, 1527–1539, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-6-1527-2012, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-6-1527-2012, 2012
Related subject area
Discipline: Ice sheets | Subject: Paleoclimate
Analysis of the surface mass balance for deglacial climate simulations
Western Greenland ice sheet retreat history reveals elevated precipitation during the Holocene thermal maximum
Marie-Luise Kapsch, Uwe Mikolajewicz, Florian A. Ziemen, Christian B. Rodehacke, and Clemens Schannwell
The Cryosphere, 15, 1131–1156, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1131-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1131-2021, 2021
Jacob Downs, Jesse Johnson, Jason Briner, Nicolás Young, Alia Lesnek, and Josh Cuzzone
The Cryosphere, 14, 1121–1137, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1121-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1121-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
We use an inverse modeling approach based on the unscented transform (UT) and a new reconstruction of Holocene ice sheet retreat in western central Greenland to infer precipitation changes throughout the Holocene. Our results indicate that warming during the Holocene Thermal Maximum (HTM) was linked to elevated snowfall that slowed retreat despite high temperatures. We also find that the UT provides a computationally inexpensive approach to Bayesian inversion and uncertainty quantification.
Cited articles
Albert, M., Shuman, C., Courville, Z., Bauer, R., Fahnestock, M., and Scambos, T.: Extreme firn metamorphism: impact of decades of vapor transport on near-surface firn at a low-accumulation glazed site on the East Antarctic plateau, Ann. Glaciol., 39, 73–78, https://doi.org/10.3189/172756404781814041, 2004. a
Alley, R. B. and Koci, B. R.: Ice-core analysis at site A, Greenland: preliminary results, Ann. Glaciol., 10, 1–4, https://doi.org/10.3189/S0260305500004067, 1988. a
Alley, R. B., Meese, D. A., Shuman, C. A., Gow, A. J., Taylor, K. C., Grootes, P. M., White, J. W. C., Ram, M., Waddington, E. D., Mayewski, P. A., and Zielinski, G. A.: Abrupt increase in Greenland snow accumulation at the end of the Younger Dryas event, Nature, 362, 527–529, https://doi.org/10.1038/362527a0, 1993. a
Battle, M., Bender, M., Sowers, T., Tans, P., Butler, J., Elkins, J., Ellis, J., Conway, T., Zhang, N., Lang, P., and Clarket, A. D.: Atmospheric gas concentrations over the past century measured in air from firn at the South Pole, Nature, 383, 231–235, https://doi.org/10.1038/383231a0, 1996. a
Battle, M. O., Severinghaus, J. P., Sofen, E. D., Plotkin, D., Orsi, A. J., Aydin, M., Montzka, S. A., Sowers, T., and Tans, P. P.: Controls on the movement and composition of firn air at the West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 11, 11007–11021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-11-11007-2011, 2011. a
Bazin, L., Landais, A., Lemieux-Dudon, B., Toyé Mahamadou Kele, H., Veres, D., Parrenin, F., Martinerie, P., Ritz, C., Capron, E., Lipenkov, V., Loutre, M.-F., Raynaud, D., Vinther, B., Svensson, A., Rasmussen, S. O., Severi, M., Blunier, T., Leuenberger, M., Fischer, H., Masson-Delmotte, V., Chappellaz, J., and Wolff, E.: An optimized multi-proxy, multi-site Antarctic ice and gas orbital chronology (AICC2012): 120–800 ka, Clim. Past, 9, 1715–1731, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-1715-2013, 2013. a, b, c, d, e, f
Bazin, L., Landais, A., Capron, E., Masson-Delmotte, V., Ritz, C., Picard, G., Jouzel, J., Dumont, M., Leuenberger, M., and Prié, F.: Phase relationships between orbital forcing and the composition of air trapped in Antarctic ice cores, Clim. Past, 12, 729–748, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-729-2016, 2016. a, b, c, d
Bender, M., Sowers, T., and Lipenkov, V.: On the concentrations of O2, N2, and Ar in trapped gases from ice cores, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 100, 18651–18660, https://doi.org/10.1029/94JD02212, 1995. a
Bender, M. L., Tans, P. P., Ellis, J., Orchardo, J., and Habfast, K.: A high precision isotope ratio mass spectrometry method for measuring the
Bertler, N. A. N., Conway, H., Dahl-Jensen, D., Emanuelsson, D. B., Winstrup, M., Vallelonga, P. T., Lee, J. E., Brook, E. J., Severinghaus, J. P., Fudge, T. J., Keller, E. D., Baisden, W. T., Hindmarsh, R. C. A., Neff, P. D., Blunier, T., Edwards, R., Mayewski, P. A., Kipfstuhl, S., Buizert, C., Canessa, S., Dadic, R., Kjær, H. A., Kurbatov, A., Zhang, D., Waddington, E. D., Baccolo, G., Beers, T., Brightley, H. J., Carter, L., Clemens-Sewall, D., Ciobanu, V. G., Delmonte, B., Eling, L., Ellis, A., Ganesh, S., Golledge, N. R., Haines, S., Handley, M., Hawley, R. L., Hogan, C. M., Johnson, K. M., Korotkikh, E., Lowry, D. P., Mandeno, D., McKay, R. M., Menking, J. A., Naish, T. R., Noerling, C., Ollive, A., Orsi, A., Proemse, B. C., Pyne, A. R., Pyne, R. L., Renwick, J., Scherer, R. P., Semper, S., Simonsen, M., Sneed, S. B., Steig, E. J., Tuohy, A., Venugopal, A. U., Valero-Delgado, F., Venkatesh, J., Wang, F., Wang, S., Winski, D. A., Winton, V. H. L., Whiteford, A., Xiao, C., Yang, J., and Zhang, X.: The Ross Sea Dipole – temperature, snow accumulation and sea ice variability in the Ross Sea region, Antarctica, over the past 2700 years, Clim. Past, 14, 193–214, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-193-2018, 2018. a
Bouchet, M., Landais, A., Grisart, A., Parrenin, F., Prié, F., Jacob, R., Fourré, E., Capron, E., Raynaud, D., Lipenkov, V. Y., Loutre, M.-F., Extier, T., Svensson, A., Legrain, E., Martinerie, P., Leuenberger, M., Jiang, W., Ritterbusch, F., Lu, Z.-T., and Yang, G.-M.: The Antarctic Ice Core Chronology 2023 (AICC2023) chronological framework and associated timescale for the European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica (EPICA) Dome C ice core, Clim. Past, 19, 2257–2286, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-2257-2023, 2023. a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j
Bouchet, M., Landais, A., Grisart, A., Parrenin, F., Prié, F., Jacob, R., Fourré, E., Capron, E., Raynaud, D., Lipenkov, V. Y., Loutre, M.-F., Extier, T., Svensson, A. M., Martinerie, P., Leuenberger, M. C., Jiang, W., Ritterbusch, F., Lu, Z.-T., and Yang, G.-M.: AICC2023, VOSTOK, PANGAEA [data set], https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.961022, 2023. a
Buiron, D., Chappellaz, J., Stenni, B., Frezzotti, M., Baumgartner, M., Capron, E., Landais, A., Lemieux-Dudon, B., Masson-Delmotte, V., Montagnat, M., Parrenin, F., and Schilt, A.: TALDICE-1 age scale of the Talos Dome deep ice core, East Antarctica, Clim. Past, 7, 1–16, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-7-1-2011, 2011. a
Buizert, C.: The Ice Core Gas Age-Ice Age Difference as a Proxy for Surface Temperature, Geophys. Res. Lett., 48, e2021GL094241, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL094241, 2021. a
Buizert, C. and Severinghaus, J. P.: Dispersion in deep polar firn driven by synoptic-scale surface pressure variability, The Cryosphere, 10, 2099–2111, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-2099-2016, 2016. a
Buizert, C., Martinerie, P., Petrenko, V. V., Severinghaus, J. P., Trudinger, C. M., Witrant, E., Rosen, J. L., Orsi, A. J., Rubino, M., Etheridge, D. M., Steele, L. P., Hogan, C., Laube, J. C., Sturges, W. T., Levchenko, V. A., Smith, A. M., Levin, I., Conway, T. J., Dlugokencky, E. J., Lang, P. M., Kawamura, K., Jenk, T. M., White, J. W. C., Sowers, T., Schwander, J., and Blunier, T.: Gas transport in firn: multiple-tracer characterisation and model intercomparison for NEEM, Northern Greenland, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 12, 4259–4277, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-12-4259-2012, 2012. a
Buizert, C., Baggenstos, D., Bereiter, B., Bertler, N., Brook, E. J., and Etheridge, D.: Multi-site ice core Krypton stable isotope ratios, U.S. Antarctic Program (USAP) Data Center [data set], https://doi.org/10.15784/601394, 2020. a, b
Buizert, C., Fudge, T., Roberts, W. H., Steig, E. J., Sherriff-Tadano, S., Ritz, C., Lefebvre, E., Edwards, J., Kawamura, K., Oyabu, I., Motoyama, H., Kahle, E., Jones, T., Abe-Ouchi, A., Obase, T., Martin, C., Corr, H., Severinghaus, J., Beaudette, R., Epifanio, J., Brook, E., Martin, K., Chappellaz, J., Aoki, S., Nakazawa, T., Sowers, T., Alley, R. B., Ahn, J., Sigl, M., Severi, M., Dunbar, N. W., Svensson, A., Fegyveresi, J. M., He, C., Liu, Z., Zhu, J., Otto-Bliesner, B. L., Lipenkov, V. Y., Kageyama, M., and Schwander, J.: Antarctic surface temperature and elevation during the Last Glacial Maximum, Science, 372, 1097–1101, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abd2897, 2021. a, b
Buizert, C., Shackleton, S., Severinghaus, J. P., Roberts, W. H. G., Seltzer, A., Bereiter, B., Kawamura, K., Baggenstos, D., Orsi, A. J., Oyabu, I., Birner, B., Morgan, J. D., Brook, E. J., Etheridge, D. M., Thornton, D., Bertler, N., Pyne, R. L., Mulvaney, R., Mosley-Thompson, E., Neff, P. D., and Petrenko, V. V.: The new Kr-86 excess ice core proxy for synoptic activity: West Antarctic storminess possibly linked to Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) movement through the last deglaciation, Clim. Past, 19, 579–606, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-579-2023, 2023. a
Calonne, N., Burr, A., Philip, A., Flin, F., and Geindreau, C.: Effective coefficient of diffusion and permeability of firn at Dome C and Lock In, Antarctica, and of various snow types – estimates over the 100–850 kg m−3 density range, The Cryosphere, 16, 967–980, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-967-2022, 2022. a
Capron, E., Landais, A., Buiron, D., Cauquoin, A., Chappellaz, J., Debret, M., Jouzel, J., Leuenberger, M., Martinerie, P., Masson-Delmotte, V., Mulvaney, R., Parrenin, F., and Prié, F.: Glacial–interglacial dynamics of Antarctic firn columns: comparison between simulations and ice core air-δ15N measurements, Clim. Past, 9, 983–999, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-983-2013, 2013. a, b, c, d, e, f, g
Carmagnola, C. M., Morin, S., Lafaysse, M., Domine, F., Lesaffre, B., Lejeune, Y., Picard, G., and Arnaud, L.: Implementation and evaluation of prognostic representations of the optical diameter of snow in the SURFEX/ISBA-Crocus detailed snowpack model, The Cryosphere, 8, 417–437, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-417-2014, 2014. a
Casado, M., Landais, A., Picard, G., Arnaud, L., Dreossi, G., Stenni, B., and Prié, F.: Water Isotopic Signature of Surface Snow Metamorphism in Antarctica, Geophys. Res. Lett., 48, e2021GL093382, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL093382, 2021. a, b
Champollion, N., Picard, G., Arnaud, L., Lefebvre, É., Macelloni, G., Rémy, F., and Fily, M.: Marked decrease in the near-surface snow density retrieved by AMSR-E satellite at Dome C, Antarctica, between 2002 and 2011, The Cryosphere, 13, 1215–1232, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1215-2019, 2019. a
Clow, G. D.: GISP2-D Temperature, PANGAEA [data set], https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.55517, 1999. a
Crotti, I., Landais, A., Stenni, B., Bazin, L., Parrenin, F., Frezzotti, M., Ritterbusch, F., Lu, Z.-T., Jiang, W., Yang, G.-M., Fourré, E., Orsi, A., Jacob, R., Minster, B., Prié, F., Dreossi, G., and Barbante, C.: An extension of the TALDICE ice core age scale reaching back to MIS 10.1, Quaternary Sci. Rev., 266, 107078, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2021.107078, 2021. a, b, c
Cuffey, K. M. and Clow, G. D.: GISP2 accumulation rate history, PANGAEA [data set], https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.56075, 1999. a
Domine, F., Salvatori, R., Legagneux, L., Salzano, R., Fily, M., and Casacchia, R.: Correlation between the specific surface area and the short wave infrared (SWIR) reflectance of snow, Cold Reg. Sci. Technol., 46, 60–68, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coldregions.2006.06.002, 2006. a
Eicher, O., Baumgartner, M., Schilt, A., Schmitt, J., Schwander, J., Stocker, T. F., and Fischer, H.: Climatic and insolation control on the high-resolution total air content in the NGRIP ice core, Clim. Past, 12, 1979–1993, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-1979-2016, 2016. a, b, c, d
EPICA community members: Eight glacial cycles from an Antarctic ice core, Nature, 429, 623–628, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature02599, 2004. a
EPICA community members: One-to-one coupling of glacial climate variability in Greenland and Antarctica, Nature, 444, 195–198, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature05301, 2006. a
Epifanio, J. A., Brook, E. J., Buizert, C., Pettit, E. C., Edwards, J. S., Fegyveresi, J. M., Sowers, T. A., Severinghaus, J. P., and Kahle, E. C.: Millennial and orbital-scale variability in a 54 000-year record of total air content from the South Pole ice core, The Cryosphere, 17, 4837–4851, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-4837-2023, 2023. a, b, c
Etheridge, D. M., Steele, L., Langenfelds, R. L., Francey, R. J., Barnola, J.-M., and Morgan, V.: Natural and anthropogenic changes in atmospheric CO2 over the last 1000 years from air in Antarctic ice and firn, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 101, 4115–4128, https://doi.org/10.1029/95JD03410, 1996. a, b
Extier, T., Landais, A., Bréant, C., Prié, F., Bazin, L., Dreyfus, G., Roche, D. M., and Leuenberger, M.: On the use of δ18Oatm for ice core dating, Quaternary Sci. Rev., 185, 244–257, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2018.02.008, 2018. a
Fegyveresi, J. M., Alley, R., Spencer, M., Fitzpatrick, J., Steig, E., White, J., McConnell, J., and Taylor, K.: Late-Holocene climate evolution at the WAIS Divide site, West Antarctica: bubble number-density estimates, J. Glaciol., 57, 629–638, https://doi.org/10.3189/002214311797409677, 2011. a
Fitzpatrick, J. J., Voigt, D. E., Fegyveresi, J. M., Stevens, N. T., Spencer, M. K., Cole-Dai, J., Alley, R. B., Jardine, G. E., Cravens, E. D., Wilen, L. A., Fudge, T. J., and McConnell, J. R.: Physical properties of the WAIS Divide ice core, J. Glaciol., 60, 1181–1198, https://doi.org/10.3189/2014JoG14J100, 2014. a
Flanner, M. G. and Zender, C. S.: Linking snowpack microphysics and albedo evolution, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 111, D12208, https://doi.org/10.1029/2005JD006834, 2006. a, b
Freitag, J., Wilhelms, F., and Kipfstuhl, S.: Microstructure-dependent densification of polar firn derived from X-ray microtomography, J. Glaciol., 50, 243–250, https://doi.org/10.3189/172756504781830123, 2004. a, b, c
Frezzotti, M., Pourchet, M., Flora, O., Gandolfi, S., Gay, M., Urbini, S., Vincent, C., Becagli, S., Gragnani, R., Proposito, M., Severi, M., Traversi, R., Udisti, R., and Fily, M.: New estimations of precipitation and surface sublimation in East Antarctica from snow accumulation measurements, Clim. Dynam., 23, 803–813, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-004-0462-5, 2004. a
Fudge, T. J., Buizert, C., Conway, H., and Waddington, E. D.: Accumulation Rates from the WAIS Divide Ice Core, U.S. Antarctic Program (USAP) Data Center [data set], https://doi.org/10.15784/601004, 2017. a
Fujita, S., Kawada, K., and Fujii, Y.: Glaciological Data Collected by the 37th Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition during 1996–1997, JARE data reports, 27, 1–46, https://doi.org/10.15094/00004965, 1998. a
Fujita, S., Okuyama, J., Hori, A., and Hondoh, T.: Metamorphism of stratified firn at Dome Fuji, Antarctica: A mechanism for local insolation modulation of gas transport conditions during bubble close off, J. Geophys. Res.-Earth Surf., 114, F03023, https://doi.org/10.1029/2008JF001143, 2009. a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n
Gallet, J.-C., Domine, F., and Dumont, M.: Measuring the specific surface area of wet snow using 1310 nm reflectance, The Cryosphere, 8, 1139–1148, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-1139-2014, 2014. a
Gkinis, V., Vinther, B. M., Popp, T. J., Quistgaard, T., Faber, A.-K., Holme, C. T., Jensen, C.-M., Lanzky, M., Lütt, A.-M., Mandrakis, V.,Ørum, N.-O., Pedersen, A.-S., Vaxevani, N., Weng, Y., Capron, E., Dahl-Jensen, D., Hörhold, M., Jones, T. R., Jouzel, J., Landais, A., Masson-Delmotte, V., Oerter, H., Rasmussen, S. O., Steen-Larsen, H. C., Steffensen, J.-P., Sveinbjörnsdóttir, Á.-E., Svensson, A., Vaughn, B., and White, J. W. C.: A 120,000-year long climate record from a NW-Greenland deep ice core at ultra-high resolution, Sci. Data, 8, 141, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-021-00916-9, 2021. a
Gow, A., Meese, D., Alley, R., Fitzpatrick, J., Anandakrishnan, S., Woods, G., and Elder, B.: Physical and structural properties of the Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2 ice core: A review, J. Geophys. Res.-Oceans, 102, 26559–26575, https://doi.org/10.1029/97JC00165, 1997. a
Gow, A. J. and Meese, D.: Physical properties, crystalline textures and c-axis fabrics of the Siple Dome (Antarctica) ice core, J. Glaciol., 53, 573–584, https://doi.org/10.3189/002214307784409252, 2007. a, b
Gregory, S. A., Albert, M. R., and Baker, I.: Impact of physical properties and accumulation rate on pore close-off in layered firn, The Cryosphere, 8, 91–105, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-91-2014, 2014. a, b, c, d
Grenfell, T. C., Warren, S. G., and Mullen, P. C.: Reflection of solar radiation by the Antarctic snow surface at ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared wavelengths, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 99, 18669–18684, https://doi.org/10.1029/94JD01484, 1994. a
Harris Stuart, R.: Compilation of
Hersbach, H., Bell, B., Berrisford, P., Hirahara, S., Horányi, A., Muñoz-Sabater, J., Nicolas, J., Peubey, C., Radu, R., Schepers, D., Simmons, A., Soci, C., Dee, D., and Thépaut, J.-N.: The ERA5 global reanalysis, Q. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 146, 1999–2049, https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.3803, 2020. a, b
Hoffmann, H. M., Grieman, M. M., King, A. C. F., Epifanio, J. A., Martin, K., Vladimirova, D., Pryer, H. V., Doyle, E., Schmidt, A., Humby, J. D., Rowell, I. F., Nehrbass-Ahles, C., Thomas, E. R., Mulvaney, R., and Wolff, E. W.: The ST22 chronology for the Skytrain Ice Rise ice core – Part 1: A stratigraphic chronology of the last 2000 years, Clim. Past, 18, 1831–1847, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-1831-2022, 2022. a
Hörhold, M., Kipfstuhl, S., Wilhelms, F., Freitag, J., and Frenzel, A.: The densification of layered polar firn, J. Geophys. Res.-Earth Surf., 116, F01001, https://doi.org/10.1029/2009JF001630, 2011. a, b, c, d
Hörhold, M., Laepple, T., Freitag, J., Bigler, M., Fischer, H., and Kipfstuhl, S.: On the impact of impurities on the densification of polar firn, Earth Planet. Sc. Lett., 325, 93–99, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2011.12.022, 2012. a
Huber, C., Beyerle, U., Leuenberger, M., Schwander, J., Kipfer, R., Spahni, R., Severinghaus, J., and Weiler, K.: Evidence for molecular size dependent gas fractionation in firn air derived from noble gases, oxygen, and nitrogen measurements, Earth Planet. Sc. Lett., 243, 61–73, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2005.12.036, 2006. a, b, c
Hutterli, M. A., Schneebeli, M., Freitag, J., Kipfstuhl, J., and Röthlisberger, R.: Impact of local insolation on snow metamorphism and ice core records, 2nd International Workshop on Physics of Ice Core Records, 2–6 February 2007, Sapporo, Japan, edited by: Hondoh, T., http://hdl.handle.net/2115/45450, 2009. a, b
Ikeda-Fukazawa, T., Hondoh, T., Fukumura, T., Fukazawa, H., and Mae, S.: Variation in
Ikeda-Fukazawa, T., Kawamura, K., and Hondoh, T.: Mechanism of Molecular Diffusion in Ice Crystals, Molecular Simulation, 30, 973–979, https://doi.org/10.1080/08927020410001709307, 2004. a, b
Ikeda-Fukazawa, T., Fukumizu, K., Kawamura, K., Aoki, S., Nakazawa, T., and Hondoh, T.: Effects of molecular diffusion on trapped gas composition in polar ice cores, Earth Planet. Sc. Lett., 229, 183–192, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2004.11.011, 2005. a, b
Inoue, R., Fujita, S., Kawamura, K., Oyabu, I., Nakazawa, F., Motoyama, H., and Aoki, T.: Spatial distribution of vertical density and microstructure profiles in near-surface firn around Dome Fuji, Antarctica, The Cryosphere, 18, 425–449, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-425-2024, 2024. a, b, c
Jouzel, J., Masson-Delmotte, V., Cattani, O., Dreyfus, G., Falourd, S., Hoffmann, G., Minster, B., Nouet, J., Barnola, J.-M., Chappellaz, J., Fischer, H., Gallet, J. C., Johnsen, S., Leuenberger, M., Loulergue, L., Luethi, D., Oerter, H., Parrenin, F., Raisbeck, G., Raynaud, D., Schilt, A., Schwander, J., Selmo, E., Souchez, R., Spahni, R., Stauffer, B., Steffensen, J. P., Stenni, B., Stocker, T. F., Tison, J. L., Werner, M., and Wolff, E. W.: Orbital and millennial Antarctic climate variability over the past 800,000 years, Science, 317, 793–796, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1141038, 2007. a, b, c
Kahle, E., Buizert, C., Conway, H., Epifanio, J., Fudge, T. J., and Jones, T. R.: Temperature, accumulation rate, and layer thinning from the South Pole ice core (SPC14), U.S. Antarctic Program (USAP) Data Center [data set], https://doi.org/10.15784/601396, 2020. a
Kawamura, K., Parrenin, F., Lisiecki, L., Uemura, R., Vimeux, F., Severinghaus, J. P., Hutterli, M. A., Nakazawa, T., Aoki, S., Jouzel, J., Raymo, M. E., Matsumoto, K., Nakata, H., Motoyama, H., Fujita, S., Goto-Azuma, K., Fujii, Y., and Watanabe, O.: Northern Hemisphere forcing of climatic cycles in Antarctica over the past 360,000 years, Nature, 448, 912–916, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature06015, 2007. a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h
Kawamura, K., Motoyama, H., Goto-Azuma, K., Uemura, R., and Oyabu, I.: Dome Fuji Oxygen Isotope and Dust Data over the past 720 ka, NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information [data set], https://doi.org/10.25921/zphz-qz79, 2017. a
Kobashi, T., Ikeda-Fukazawa, T., Suwa, M., Schwander, J., Kameda, T., Lundin, J., Hori, A., Motoyama, H., Döring, M., and Leuenberger, M.: Post-bubble close-off fractionation of gases in polar firn and ice cores: effects of accumulation rate on permeation through overloading pressure, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 13895–13914, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-13895-2015, 2015. a, b, c, d
Landais, A., Chappellaz, J., Delmotte, M., Jouzel, J., Blunier, T., Bourg, C., Caillon, N., Cherrier, S., Malaizé, B., Masson-Delmotte, V., Raynaud, D., Schwander, J., and Steffensen, J. P.: A tentative reconstruction of the last interglacial and glacial inception in Greenland based on new gas measurements in the Greenland Ice Core Project (GRIP) ice core, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 108, 4563, https://doi.org/10.1029/2002JD003147, 2003. a, b
Landais, A., Barnola, J., Kawamura, K., Caillon, N., Delmotte, M., Van Ommen, T., Dreyfus, G., Jouzel, J., Masson-Delmotte, V., Minster, B., Freitag, J., Leuenberger, M., Schwander, J., Huber, C., Etheridge, D., and Morgan, V.: Firn-air δ15N in modern polar sites and glacial–interglacial ice: a model-data mismatch during glacial periods in Antarctica?, Quaternary Sci. Rev., 25, 49–62, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2005.06.007, 2006. a, b
Landais, A., Dreyfus, G., Capron, E., Pol, K., Loutre, M. F., Raynaud, D., Lipenkov, V. Y., Arnaud, L., Masson-Delmotte, V., Paillard, D., Jouzel, J., and Leuenberger, M.: Towards orbital dating of the EPICA Dome C ice core using
Laskar, J., Robutel, P., Joutel, F., Gastineau, M., Correia, A. C. M., and Levrard, B.: A long-term numerical solution for the insolation quantities of the Earth, A&A, 428, 261–285, https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20041335, 2004. a, b, c
Lazzara, M. A., Keller, L. M., Markle, T., and Gallagher, J.: Fifty-year Amundsen–Scott South Pole station surface climatology, Atmos. Res., 118, 240–259, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2012.06.027, 2012. a
Lee, J. E., Brook, E. J., Bertler, N. A. N., Buizert, C., Baisden, T., Blunier, T., Ciobanu, V. G., Conway, H., Dahl-Jensen, D., Fudge, T. J., Hindmarsh, R., Keller, E. D., Parrenin, F., Severinghaus, J. P., Vallelonga, P., Waddington, E. D., and Winstrup, M.: An 83 000-year-old ice core from Roosevelt Island, Ross Sea, Antarctica, Clim. Past, 16, 1691–1713, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-16-1691-2020, 2020. a, b, c
Legagneux, L., Cabanes, A., and Dominé, F.: Measurement of the specific surface area of 176 snow samples using methane adsorption at 77 K, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 107, ACH–5, https://doi.org/10.1029/2001JD001016, 2002. a
Legagneux, L., Lauzier, T., Domin, F., Kuhs, W. F., Heinrichs, T., and Techmer, K.: Rate of decay of specific surface area of snow during isothermal experiments and morphological changes studied by scanning electron microscopy, Can. J. Phys., 81, 459–468, https://doi.org/10.1139/p03-025, 2003. a, b
Leinss, S., Löwe, H., Proksch, M., and Kontu, A.: Modeling the evolution of the structural anisotropy of snow, The Cryosphere, 14, 51–75, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-51-2020, 2020. a
Libois, Q., Picard, G., France, J. L., Arnaud, L., Dumont, M., Carmagnola, C. M., and King, M. D.: Influence of grain shape on light penetration in snow, The Cryosphere, 7, 1803–1818, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-1803-2013, 2013. a
Libois, Q., Picard, G., Arnaud, L., Dumont, M., Lafaysse, M., Morin, S., and Lefebvre, E.: Summertime evolution of snow specific surface area close to the surface on the Antarctic Plateau, The Cryosphere, 9, 2383–2398, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-2383-2015, 2015. a
Lipenkov, V., Raynaud, D., Loutre, M., and Duval, P.: On the potential of coupling air content and
Lüthi, D., Bereiter, B., Stauffer, B., Winkler, R., Schwander, J., Kindler, P., Leuenberger, M., Kipfstuhl, S., Capron, E., Landais, A., Fischer, H., and Stocker, T. F.: CO2 and
Martin, K. C., Buizert, C., Edwards, J. S., Kalk, M. L., Riddell-Young, B., Brook, E. J., Beaudette, R., Severinghaus, J. P., and Sowers, T. A.: Bipolar impact and phasing of Heinrich-type climate variability, Nature, 617, 100–104, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-05875-2, 2023. a
Martinerie, P., Lipenkov, V. Y., Raynaud, D., Chappellaz, J., Barkov, N. I., and Lorius, C.: Air content paleo record in the Vostok ice core (Antarctica): A mixed record of climatic and glaciological parameters, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 99, 10565–10576, https://doi.org/10.1029/93JD03223, 1994. a
Martinerie, P., Nourtier-Mazauric, E., Barnola, J.-M., Sturges, W. T., Worton, D. R., Atlas, E., Gohar, L. K., Shine, K. P., and Brasseur, G. P.: Long-lived halocarbon trends and budgets from atmospheric chemistry modelling constrained with measurements in polar firn, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 9, 3911–3934, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-9-3911-2009, 2009. a
Massam, A.: Modelling the age-depth and temperature profiles of deep ice cores from the Antarctic Peninsula and the Weddell Sea region, Phd thesis, University of Durham, https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/520454/ (last access: 2 August 2023), 2018. a
Matsuoka, K., Skoglund, A., and Roth, G.: Quantarctica, Norwegian Polar Institute [data set], https://doi.org/10.21334/npolar.2018.8516e961, 2018. a
Mitchell, L. E., Buizert, C., Brook, E. J., Breton, D. J., Fegyveresi, J., Baggenstos, D., Orsi, A., Severinghaus, J., Alley, R. B., Albert, M., Rhodes, R. H., McConnell, J. R., Sigl, M., Maselli, O., Gregory, S., and Ahn, J.: Observing and modeling the influence of layering on bubble trapping in polar firn, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 120, 2558–2574, https://doi.org/10.1002/2014JD022766, 2015. a
Moon, T. A., Fisher, M., Stafford, T., and Thurber, A.: QGreenland (v3), National Snow and Ice Data Center [data set], https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12823307, 2023. a
Morgan, V., Wookey, C., Li, J., van Ommen, T., Skinner, W., and Fitzpatrick, M. F.: Site information and initial results from deep ice drilling on Law Dome, Antarctica, J. Glaciol., 43, 3–10, https://doi.org/10.3189/S0022143000002768, 1997. a, b
Mulvaney, R., Alemany, O., and Possenti, P.: The Berkner Island (Antarctica) ice-core drilling project, Ann. Glaciol., 47, 115–124, https://doi.org/10.3189/172756407786857758, 2007. a, b
Mulvaney, R., Abram, N. J., Hindmarsh, R. C., Arrowsmith, C., Fleet, L., Triest, J., Sime, L. C., Alemany, O., and Foord, S.: Recent Antarctic Peninsula warming relative to Holocene climate and ice-shelf history, Nature, 489, 141–144, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11391, 2012. a, b
Mulvaney, R., Triest, J., and Alemany, O.: The James Ross Island and the Fletcher Promontory ice-core drilling projects, Ann. Glaciol., 55, 179–188, https://doi.org/10.3189/2014AoG68A044, 2014. a, b
Mulvaney, R., Rix, J., Polfrey, S., Grieman, M., Martìn, C., Nehrbass-Ahles, C., Rowell, I., Tuckwell, R., and Wolff, E.: Ice drilling on Skytrain Ice Rise and Sherman Island, Antarctica, Ann. Glaciol., 62, 311–323, https://doi.org/10.1017/aog.2021.7, 2021. a
Mulvaney, R., Wolff, E. W., Grieman, M. M., Hoffmann, H. H., Humby, J. D., Nehrbass-Ahles, C., Rhodes, R. H., Rowell, I. F., Parrenin, F., Schmidely, L., Fischer, H., Stocker, T. F., Christl, M., Muscheler, R., Landais, A., and Prié, F.: The ST22 chronology for the Skytrain Ice Rise ice core – Part 2: An age model to the last interglacial and disturbed deep stratigraphy, Clim. Past, 19, 851–864, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-851-2023, 2023. a
NEEM Community Members: Eemian interglacial reconstructed from a Greenland folded ice core, Nature, 493, 489–494, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11789, 2013. a
Neff, P. D.: A review of the brittle ice zone in polar ice cores, Ann. Glaciol., 55, 72–82, https://doi.org/10.3189/2014AoG68A023, 2014. a, b, c
NGRIP project members: High-resolution record of Northern Hemisphere climate extending into the last interglacial period, Nature, 431, 147–151, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature02805, 2004. a
Oyabu, I., Kawamura, K., Uchida, T., Fujita, S., Kitamura, K., Hirabayashi, M., Aoki, S., Morimoto, S., Nakazawa, T., Severinghaus, J. P., and Morgan, J. D.: Fractionation of
Oyabu, I., Kawamura, K., Buizert, C., Parrenin, F., Orsi, A., Kitamura, K., Aoki, S., and Nakazawa, T.: The Dome Fuji ice core DF2021 chronology (0–207 kyr BP), Quaternary Sci. Rev., 294, 107754, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2022.107754, 2022. a
Parrenin, F., Barnola, J.-M., Beer, J., Blunier, T., Castellano, E., Chappellaz, J., Dreyfus, G., Fischer, H., Fujita, S., Jouzel, J., Kawamura, K., Lemieux-Dudon, B., Loulergue, L., Masson-Delmotte, V., Narcisi, B., Petit, J.-R., Raisbeck, G., Raynaud, D., Ruth, U., Schwander, J., Severi, M., Spahni, R., Steffensen, J. P., Svensson, A., Udisti, R., Waelbroeck, C., and Wolff, E.: The EDC3 chronology for the EPICA Dome C ice core, Clim. Past, 3, 485–497, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-3-485-2007, 2007. a
Parrenin, F., Petit, J.-R., Masson-Delmotte, V., Wolff, E., Basile-Doelsch, I., Jouzel, J., Lipenkov, V., Rasmussen, S. O., Schwander, J., Severi, M., Udisti, R., Veres, D., and Vinther, B. M.: Volcanic synchronisation between the EPICA Dome C and Vostok ice cores (Antarctica) 0–145 kyr BP, Clim. Past, 8, 1031–1045, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-8-1031-2012, 2012. a
Petit, J.-R., Jouzel, J., Raynaud, D., Barkov, N. I., Barnola, J.-M., Basile, I., Bender, M., Chappellaz, J., Davis, M., Delaygue, G., Delmotte, M., Kotlyakov, V. M., Legrand, M., Lipenkov, V. Y., Lorius, C., PÉpin, L., Ritz, C., Saltzman, E., and Stievenard, M.: Climate and atmospheric history of the past 420,000 years from the Vostok ice core, Antarctica, Nature, 399, 429–436, https://doi.org/10.1038/20859, 1999. a, b
Petrenko, V. V., Severinghaus, J. P., Brook, E. J., Reeh, N., and Schaefer, H.: Gas records from the West Greenland ice margin covering the Last Glacial Termination: a horizontal ice core, Quaternary Sci. Rev., 25, 865–875, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2005.09.005, 2006. a
Picard, G., Domine, F., Krinner, G., Arnaud, L., and Lefebvre, E.: Inhibition of the positive snow-albedo feedback by precipitation in interior Antarctica, Nat. Clim. Change, 2, 795–798, https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1590, 2012. a, b, c
Rasmussen, S. O., Abbott, P. M., Blunier, T., Bourne, A. J., Brook, E., Buchardt, S. L., Buizert, C., Chappellaz, J., Clausen, H. B., Cook, E., Dahl-Jensen, D., Davies, S. M., Guillevic, M., Kipfstuhl, S., Laepple, T., Seierstad, I. K., Severinghaus, J. P., Steffensen, J. P., Stowasser, C., Svensson, A., Vallelonga, P., Vinther, B. M., Wilhelms, F., and Winstrup, M.: A first chronology for the North Greenland Eemian Ice Drilling (NEEM) ice core, Clim. Past, 9, 2713–2730, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-2713-2013, 2013. a, b
Raynaud, D., Lipenkov, V., Lemieux-Dudon, B., Duval, P., Loutre, M.-F., and Lhomme, N.: The local insolation signature of air content in Antarctic ice. A new step toward an absolute dating of ice records, Earth Planet. Sc. Lett., 261, 337–349, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2007.06.025, 2007. a, b
Rubino, M., Etheridge, D. M., Thornton, D. P., Howden, R., Allison, C. E., Francey, R. J., Langenfelds, R. L., Steele, L. P., Trudinger, C. M., Spencer, D. A., Curran, M. A. J., van Ommen, T. D., and Smith, A. M.: Revised records of atmospheric trace gases CO2, CH4, N2O, and δ13C-CO2 over the last 2000 years from Law Dome, Antarctica, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 11, 473–492, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-11-473-2019, 2019. a
Schaefer, H., Lourantou, A., Chappellaz, J., Lüthi, D., Bereiter, B., and Barnola, J.-M.: On the suitability of partially clathrated ice for analysis of concentration and δ13C of palaeo-atmospheric CO2, Earth Planet. Sc. Lett., 307, 334–340, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2011.05.007, 2011. a
Schwander, J., Sowers, T., Barnola, J.-M., Blunier, T., Fuchs, A., and Malaizé, B.: Age scale of the air in the summit ice: Implication for glacial-interglacial temperature change, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 102, 19483–19493, https://doi.org/10.1029/97JD01309, 1997. a
Severinghaus, J.: Nitrogen and Oxygen Gas Isotopes in the Siple Dome and Byrd Ice Cores, Antarctica, U.S. Antarctic Program (USAP) Data Center [data set], https://doi.org/10.7265/N55X26V0, 2009. a
Severinghaus, J.: Low-res d15N and d18O of O2 in the WAIS Divide 06A Deep Core, U.S. Antarctic Program (USAP) Data Center [data set], https://doi.org/10.7265/N5S46PWD, 2015. a
Severinghaus, J.: South Pole (SPICECORE) 15N, 18O,
Severinghaus, J. P., Grachev, A., and Battle, M.: Thermal fractionation of air in polar firn by seasonal temperature gradients, Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst., 2, 7, https://doi.org/10.1029/2000GC000146, 2001. a, b
Shackleton, S. A.: Tracking Past Changes in Ocean Heat Content with Atmospheric Noble Gases in Ice Cores, Doctoral dissertation, University of California, San Diego, http://dissertations.umi.com/ucsd:18809 (last access: 16 May 2024), 2019. a
Smith, M. E.: The Pleistocene O2 record in two ice cores, Undergraduate Senior Thesis, Princeton University, http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/dsp013484zk00q (last access: 1 November 2023), 1998. a
Sowers, T., Bender, M., and Raynaud, D.: Elemental and isotopic composition of occluded O2 and N2 in polar ice, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 94, 5137–5150, https://doi.org/10.1029/JD094iD04p05137, 1989. a
Stenni, B., Proposito, M., Gragnani, R., Flora, O., Jouzel, J., Falourd, S., and Frezzotti, M.: Eight centuries of volcanic signal and climate change at Talos Dome (East Antarctica), J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 107, ACL–3, https://doi.org/10.1029/2000JD000317, 2002. a
Stenni, B., Masson-Delmotte, V., Selmo, E., Oerter, H., Meyer, H., Röthlisberger, R., Jouzel, J., Cattani, O., Falourd, S., Fischer, H., Hoffmann, G., Iacumin, P., Johnsen, S., Minster, B., and Udisti, R.: The deuterium excess records of EPICA Dome C and Dronning Maud Land ice cores (East Antarctica), Quaternary Sci. Rev., 29, 146–159, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2009.10.009, 2010. a
Suwa, M. and Bender, M. L.: Chronology of the Vostok ice core constrained by
Uchida, T., Duval, P., Lipenkov, V. Y., Hondoh, T., Mae, S., and Shoji, H.: Brittle zone and air-hydrate formation in polar ice sheets, Memoirs of National Institute of Polar Research, Special issue, 49, 298–305, http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501 (last access: 20 June 2023), 1994. a
Ueltzhöffer, K. J., Bendel, V., Freitag, J., Kipfstuhl, S., Wagenbach, D., Faria, S. H., and Garbe, C. S.: Distribution of air bubbles in the EDML and EDC (Antarctica) ice cores, using a new method of automatic image analysis, J. Glaciol., 56, 339–348, https://doi.org/10.3189/002214310791968511, 2010. a
Uemura, R., Motoyama, H., Masson-Delmotte, V., Jouzel, J., Kawamura, K., Goto-Azuma, K., Fujita, S., Kuramoto, T., Hirabayashi, M., Miyake, T., Ohno, H., Fujita, K., Abe-Ouchi, A., Iizuka, Y., Horikawa, S., Igarashi, M., Suzuki, K., Suzuki, T., and Fujii, Y.: Asynchrony between Antarctic temperature and CO2 associated with obliquity over the past 720,000 years, Nat. Commun., 9, 961, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-03328-3, 2018. a
Vionnet, V., Brun, E., Morin, S., Boone, A., Faroux, S., Le Moigne, P., Martin, E., and Willemet, J.-M.: The detailed snowpack scheme Crocus and its implementation in SURFEX v7.2, Geosci. Model Dev., 5, 773–791, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-5-773-2012, 2012 (code available at: https://github.com/UMR-CNRM/snowtools, last access: 2 July 2022). a, b, c, d, e, f, g
Warming, E., Svensson, A., Vallelonga, P., and Bigler, M.: A technique for continuous detection of drill liquid in ice cores, J. Glaciol., 59, 503–506, https://doi.org/10.3189/2013JoG12J124, 2013. a
Warren, S. G., Brandt, R. E., and Grenfell, T. C.: Visible and near-ultraviolet absorption spectrum of ice from transmission of solar radiation into snow, Appl. Optics, 45, 5320–5334, https://doi.org/10.1364/AO.45.005320, 2006. a
White, J., Bradley, E., Garland, J., Jones, T. R., Morris, V., Price, M., and Vaughn, B.: Stable Isotopes of Ice in the Transition and Glacial Sections of the WAIS Divide Deep Ice Core, U.S. Antarctic Program (USAP) Data Center [data set], https://doi.org/10.15784/601274, 2019. a
Winstrup, M., Vallelonga, P., Kjær, H. A., Fudge, T. J., Lee, J. E., Riis, M. H., Edwards, R., Bertler, N. A. N., Blunier, T., Brook, E. J., Buizert, C., Ciobanu, G., Conway, H., Dahl-Jensen, D., Ellis, A., Emanuelsson, B. D., Hindmarsh, R. C. A., Keller, E. D., Kurbatov, A. V., Mayewski, P. A., Neff, P. D., Pyne, R. L., Simonsen, M. F., Svensson, A., Tuohy, A., Waddington, E. D., and Wheatley, S.: A 2700-year annual timescale and accumulation history for an ice core from Roosevelt Island, West Antarctica, Clim. Past, 15, 751–779, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-751-2019, 2019. a
Witrant, E., Martinerie, P., Hogan, C., Laube, J. C., Kawamura, K., Capron, E., Montzka, S. A., Dlugokencky, E. J., Etheridge, D., Blunier, T., and Sturges, W. T.: A new multi-gas constrained model of trace gas non-homogeneous transport in firn: evaluation and behaviour at eleven polar sites, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 12, 11465–11483, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-12-11465-2012, 2012. a
Short summary
Ice core δO2/N2 records are useful dating tools due to their local insolation pacing. A precise understanding of the physical mechanism driving this relationship, however, remain ambiguous. By compiling data from 15 polar sites, we find a strong dependence of mean δO2/N2 on accumulation rate and temperature in addition to the well-documented insolation dependence. Snowpack modelling is used to investigate which physical properties drive the mechanistic dependence on these local parameters.
Ice core δO2/N2 records are useful dating tools due to their local insolation pacing. A precise...
