Antarctic surface temperature and elevation during the Last Glacial Maximum

Water-stable isotopes in polar ice cores are a widely used temperature proxy in paleoclimate reconstruction, yet calibration remains challenging in East Antarctica. Here, we reconstruct the magnitude and spatial pattern of Last Glacial Maximum surface cooling in Antarctica using borehole thermometry...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Buizert, Christo, Fudge, TJ, Roberts, William HG, Steig, Eric J, Sherriff-Tadano, Sam, Ritz, Catherine, Lefebvre, Eric, Edwards, Jon, Kawamura, Kenji, Oyabu, Ikumi, Motoyama, Hideaki, Kahle, Emma C, Jones, Tyler R, Abe-Ouchi, Ayako, Obase, Takashi, Martin, Carlos, Corr, Hugh, Severinghaus, Jeffrey P, Beaudette, Ross, Epifanio, Jenna A, Brook, Edward J, Martin, Kaden, Chappellaz, Jérôme, Aoki, Shuji, Nakazawa, Takakiyo, Sowers, Todd A, Alley, Richard B, Ahn, Jinho, Sigl, Michael, Severi, Mirko, Dunbar, Nelia W, Svensson, Anders, Fegyveresi, John M, He, Chengfei, Liu, Zhengyu, Zhu, Jiang, Otto-Bliesner, Bette L, Lipenkov, Vladimir Y, Kageyama, Masa, Schwander, Jakob
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:unknown
Published: eScholarship, University of California 2021
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Online Access:https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7vb275km
Description
Summary:Water-stable isotopes in polar ice cores are a widely used temperature proxy in paleoclimate reconstruction, yet calibration remains challenging in East Antarctica. Here, we reconstruct the magnitude and spatial pattern of Last Glacial Maximum surface cooling in Antarctica using borehole thermometry and firn properties in seven ice cores. West Antarctic sites cooled ~10°C relative to the preindustrial period. East Antarctic sites show a range from ~4° to ~7°C cooling, which is consistent with the results of global climate models when the effects of topographic changes indicated with ice core air-content data are included, but less than those indicated with the use of water-stable isotopes calibrated against modern spatial gradients. An altered Antarctic temperature inversion during the glacial reconciles our estimates with water-isotope observations.