Description: Nitrate concentration and isotopic (δ15NNO3) data, ice density, and surface mass balance estimates from the ABN1314-103 ice core. This 103 m long core was drilled beginning on 07 January 2014 as one of three ice cores at Aurora Basin North, Antarctica (-71.17, 111.37, 2679 m.a.s.l), in the 2013-2014 field season. The age-depth model for ABN1314-103 was matched through ion profiles from an annually-resolved model (ALC01112018) originally developed for one of the other ABN cores through seasonal ion and water isotope cycles and constrained by volcanic horizons. Each 1 m segment of the core was weighed and measured for ice density calculations, and then sampled for nitrate at 0.33 m resolution. Nitrate concentrations were taken on melted ice aliquots with ion chromatography, while isotopic analysis was achieved through bacterial denitrification and MAT 253 mass spectrometry after concentrating with anionic resin. Using the density data and the age-depth model's dates for the top and bottom of each 1 m core segment, we reconstructed a history of surface mass balance changes as recorded in ABN1314-103. Additionally, we also estimated the effect of upstream topographic changes on the ice core's surface mass balance record through a ground penetrating radar transect that extended 11.5 km against the direction of glacial ice flow. The modern SMB changes along this upstream transect were linked to ABN1314-103 core depths by through the local horizontal ice flow rate (16.2 m a-1) and the core's age-depth model, and included here for comparative analysis. See Akers et al., 2022 for more analytical details.

Description: Geographic information, surface mass balance (SMB) data, and sub-photic zone (〉0.3 m) nitrate concentration and nitrogen isotopic composition (δ15NNO3) for 135 sites across East Antarctica. This database was used to examine and define the relationship between δ15NNO3 and SMB in Antarctica as part of the SCADI (Snow Core Accumulation from Delta-15N Isotopes) and EAIIST (East Antarctic International Ice Sheet Traverse) projects. Of these 135 sites, 92 are newly reported here while the other site data were previously published and are cited accordingly. Snow bearing nitrate was sampled from snow pits and firn/ice cores at different dates depending on the original scientific campaign, but predominately between 2010 and 2020, with the earliest sampling occurring in 2004. Nitrate was later extracted from the snow, concentrated, and analyzed for δ15NNO3. Surface mass balance data comes from a combination of previous ground-based observations (e.g., stakes, ice core data) and the output from Modèle Atmosphérique Régional version 3.6.4 with European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts “Interim” re-analysis data (ERA-interim) data, adjusted for observed model SMB biases. Elevation data were extracted from the Reference Elevation Model of Antarctica (REMA, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-665-2019).

Description: A high-resolution (1 km line spacing) aerogeophysical survey was conducted over a region near the East Antarctic Ice Sheet’s Dome C that may hold a 1.5 Myr climate record. We combined new ice thickness data derived from an airborne coherent radar sounder with unpublished data that was in part unavailable for earlier compilations, and we were able to remove older data with high positional uncertainties. We generated a revised high-resolution digital elevation model (DEM) to investigate the potential for an old ice record in this region, and used laser altimetry to confirm a Cryosat-2 derived DEM for inferring the glaciological state of the candidate area. By measuring the specularity content of the bed, we were able to find an additional 50 subglacial lakes near the candidate site, and by Doppler focusing the radar data, we were able to map out the roughness of the bed at length scales of hundreds of meters. We find that the primary candidate region contains elevated rough topography interspersed with scattered subglacial lakes and some regions of smoother bed. Free subglacial water appears to be restricted from bed overlain by ice thicknesses of less than 3000 m. A site near the ice divide was selected for further investigation. The high resolution of this ice thickness data set also allows us to explore the nature of ice thickness uncertainties in the context of radar geometry and processing.

Description: Published

Description: 1897-1911

Description: 5A. Paleoclima e ricerche polari

Description: JCR Journal

Description: A high-resolution (1 km line spacing) aerogeophysical survey was conducted over a region near the East Antarctic Ice Sheet's Dome C that may hold a 1.5 Myr climate record. We combined new ice thickness data derived from an airborne coherent radar sounder with unpublished data that was in part unavailable for earlier compilations, and we were able to remove older data with high positional uncertainties. We generated a revised high-resolution digital elevation model (DEM) to investigate the potential for an old ice record in this region, and used laser altimetry to confirm a Cryosat-2 derived DEM for inferring the glaciological state of the candidate area. By measuring the specularity content of the bed, we were able to find an additional 50 subglacial lakes near the candidate site, and by Doppler focusing the radar data, we were able to map out the roughness of the bed at length scales of hundreds of meters. We find that the primary candidate region contains elevated rough topography interspersed with scattered subglacial lakes and some regions of smoother bed. Free subglacial water appears to be restricted from bed overlain by ice thicknesses of less than 3000 m. A site near the ice divide was selected for further investigation. The high resolution of this ice thickness data set also allows us to explore the nature of ice thickness uncertainties in the context of radar geometry and processing.

Description: Climate trends in the Antarctic region remain poorly characterized, owing to the brevity and scarcity of direct climate observations and the large magnitude of interannual to decadal-scale climate variability. Here, within the framework of the PAGES Antarctica2k working group, we build an enlarged database of ice core water stable isotope records from Antarctica, consisting of 112 records. We produce both unweighted and weighted isotopic (δ18O) composites and temperature reconstructions since 0 CE, binned at 5- and 10-year resolution, for seven climatically distinct regions covering the Antarctic continent. Following earlier work of the Antarctica2k working group, we also produce composites and reconstructions for the broader regions of East Antarctica, West Antarctica and the whole continent. We use three methods for our temperature reconstructions: (i) a temperature scaling based on the δ18O–temperature relationship output from an ECHAM5-wiso model simulation nudged to ERA-Interim atmospheric reanalyses from 1979 to 2013, and adjusted for the West Antarctic Ice Sheet region to borehole temperature data, (ii) a temperature scaling of the isotopic normalized anomalies to the variance of the regional reanalysis temperature and (iii) a composite-plus-scaling approach used in a previous continent-scale reconstruction of Antarctic temperature since 1 CE but applied to the new Antarctic ice core database. Our new reconstructions confirm a significant cooling trend from 0 to 1900 CE across all Antarctic regions where records extend back into the 1st millennium, with the exception of the Wilkes Land coast and Weddell Sea coast regions. Within this long-term cooling trend from 0 to 1900 CE, we find that the warmest period occurs between 300 and 1000 CE, and the coldest interval occurs from 1200 to 1900 CE. Since 1900 CE, significant warming trends are identified for the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, the Dronning Maud Land coast and the Antarctic Peninsula regions, and these trends are robust across the distribution of records that contribute to the unweighted isotopic composites and also significant in the weighted temperature reconstructions. Only for the Antarctic Peninsula is this most recent century-scale trend unusual in the context of natural variability over the last 2000 years. However, projected warming of the Antarctic continent during the 21st century may soon see significant and unusual warming develop across other parts of the Antarctic continent. The extended Antarctica2k ice core isotope database developed by this working group opens up many avenues for developing a deeper understanding of the response of Antarctic climate to natural and anthropogenic climate forcings. The first long-term quantification of regional climate in Antarctica presented herein is a basis for data–model comparison and assessments of past, present and future driving factors of Antarctic climate.

Description: Past global climate changes had strong regional expression. To elucidate their spatio-temporal pattern, we reconstructed past temperatures for seven continental-scale regions during the past one to two millennia. The most coherent feature in nearly all of the regional temperature reconstructions is a long-term cooling trend, which ended late in the nineteenth century. At multi-decadal to centennial scales, temperature variability shows distinctly different regional patterns, with more similarity within each hemisphere than between them. There were no globally synchronous multi-decadal warm or cold intervals that define a worldwide Medieval Warm Period or Little Ice Age, but all reconstructions show generally cold conditions between ad 1580 and 1880, punctuated in some regions by warm decades during the eighteenth century. The transition to these colder conditions occurred earlier in the Arctic, Europe and Asia than in North America or the Southern Hemisphere regions. Recent warming reversed the long-term cooling; during the period ad 1971–2000, the area-weighted average reconstructed temperature was higher than any other time in nearly 1,400 years.

Description: The Weddell Sea sector is one of the main formation sites for Antarctic Bottom Water and an outlet for about one fifth of Antarctica’s continental ice volume. Over the last few decades, studies on glacialegeological records in this sector have provided conflicting reconstructions of changes in ice-sheet extent and ice-sheet thickness since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM at ca 23e19 calibrated kiloyears before present, cal ka BP). Terrestrial geomorphological records and exposure ages obtained from rocks in the hinterland of the Weddell Sea, ice-sheet thickness constraints from ice cores and some radiocarbon dates on offshore sediments were interpreted to indicate no significant ice thickening and locally restricted grounding-line advance at the LGM. Other marine geological and geophysical studies concluded that subglacial bedforms mapped on theWeddell Sea continental shelf, subglacial deposits and sediments over-compacted by overriding ice recovered in cores, and the few available radiocarbon ages from marine sediments are consistent with major ice-sheet advance at the LGM. Reflecting the geological interpretations, different icesheet models have reconstructed conflicting LGM ice-sheet configurations for the Weddell Sea sector. Consequently, the estimated contributions of ice-sheet build-up in the Weddell Sea sector to the LGM sealevel low-stand of w130 m vary considerably. In this paper, we summarise and review the geological records of past ice-sheet margins and past icesheet elevations in the Weddell Sea sector. We compile marine and terrestrial chronological data constraining former ice-sheet size, thereby highlighting different levels of certainty, and present two alternative scenarios of the LGM ice-sheet configuration, including time-slice reconstructions for post- LGM grounding-line retreat. Moreover, we discuss consistencies and possible reasons for inconsistencies between the various reconstructions and propose objectives for future research. The aim of our study is to provide two alternative interpretations of glacialegeological datasets on Antarctic Ice- Sheet History for the Weddell Sea sector, which can be utilised to test and improve numerical icesheet models

Description: Temperature changes in Antarctica over the last millennium are investigated using proxy records, a set of simulations driven by natural and anthropogenic forcings and one simulation with data assimilation. Over Antarctica, a long term cooling trend in annual mean is simulated during the period 1000-1850. The main contributor to this cooling trend is the volcanic forcing, astronomical forcing playing a dominant role at seasonal timescale. Since 1850, all the models produce an Antarctic warming in response to the increase in greenhouse gas concentrations. We present a composite of Antarctic temperature, calculated by averaging seven temperature records derived from isotope measurements in ice cores. This simple approach is supported by the coherency displayed between model results at these data grid points and Antarctic mean temperature. The composite shows a weak multi-centennial cooling trend during the pre-industrial period and a warming after 1850 that is broadly consistent with model results. In both data and simulations, large regional variations are superimposed on this common signal, at decadal to centennial timescales. The model results appear spatially more consistent than ice core records. We conclude that more records are needed to resolve the complex spatial distribution of Antarctic temperature variations during the last millennium.