SOURCES AND DEPOSITION PROCESSES LINKING ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY AND FIRN RECORDS FROM FOUR GLACIER ACCUMULATION ZONES IN THE MCMURDO

• Main Authors: Bruce R. Williamson, Dry Valleys Antarctica, R. Williamson
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2006
• Subjects: Antarctic; Blue Glacier; Clark Glacier; Commonwealth Glacier; East Antarctic Ice Sheet; McMurdo Dry Valleys; Ross Sea; Victoria Upper Glacier; Antarc*; Antarctica; E. Antarctica; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.557.5337; http://www.library.umaine.edu/theses/pdf/WilliamsonBR2006.pdf

Samples of snow and firn from accumulation zones on the Victoria Upper Glacier, the Clark Glacier, the Commonwealth Glacier and the Blue Glacier in the McMurdo Dry Valleys (-77 to 78's and 161 to 164 ' E), Antarctica, are evaluated chemically and isotopically to determine the relative importance of local (site-specific) factors versus regional-scale climatic influences in defining regional glaciochemistry. Two approaches for distinguishing these controls are examined: comparing chemical concentrations using multivariate statistical analysis, and examining the effect of physical filtration (capturing particulate material largely originating in close proximity to each site) on sample values. These techniques provide constraints for interpretation of connections between Dry Valleys climate and the broader Ross Sea and East Antarctic Ice Sheet climate systems. and Sr, on the other hand, are either completely or dominantly (average 65 %- 85%) present in dissolved or soluble particulate form. Statistical analysis and physical filtration together demonstrate that in areas where glaciochemical signals are influenced by locally derived particulates, interpreting