Stable isotopes in surface snow along a traverse route from Zhongshan station to Dome A, East Antarctica

• Published in: Climate Dynamics
• Main Authors: Xiao, C., Ding, M., Masson-Delmotte, V., Zhang, R., Jin, B., Ren, J., Li, C., Werner, Martin, Wang, Y., Cui, X., Wang, X.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Springer 2012
• Subjects: Antarc*; Antarctic; Antarctica; East Antarctica; ice core
• Online Access: https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/31470/; https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-012-1580-0; https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.40246

Samples of surface snow were collected for stable isotope analysis along the traverse route from Zhongshan to Dome A (East Antarctica) from Dec 28th, 2007 to Feb. 8th, 2008. The local relationship between dD and surface temperature is established to be 6.4 ± 0.2 % per °C, very similar to the average for East Antarctic. The deuterium excess shows a pattern of high values over Antarctica, particularly at Dome A. We compare our data with an atmospheric general circulation model which includes stable water isotopes (ECHAM5-wiso). The model simulation captures the right levels of dD, but overestimates d18O. This study provides support for the ongoing deep ice core project at Dome A.