A 60-year atmospheric nitrate isotope record from a southeastern Greenland ice core with minimal postdepositional alteration

• Published in: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
• Main Authors: Wei, Zhao, Hattori, Shohei, Tsuruta, Asuka, Jiang, Zhuang, Ishino, Sakiko, Fujita, Koji, Matoba, Sumito, Geng, Lei, Lamothe, Alexis, Uemura, Ryu, Yoshida, Naohiro, Savarino, Joel, Iizuka, Yoshinori
• Other Authors: Institut des Géosciences de l’Environnement (IGE), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Observatoire des Sciences de l'Univers de Grenoble (Fédération OSUG)-Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA)-Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology (Grenoble INP), Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA), Centre Européen de Recherche et d'Enseignement des Géosciences de l'Environnement (CEREGE), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Collège de France (CdF (institution))-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: CCSD 2025
• Subjects: [PHYS.PHYS.PHYS-AO-PH]Physics [physics]/Physics [physics]/Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics [physics.ao-ph]; [CHIM.OTHE]Chemical Sciences/Other; Greenland; Greenland ice core; ice core
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-05117195; https://hal.science/hal-05117195v1/document; https://hal.science/hal-05117195v1/file/Wei%20et%20al.%20-%202025%20-%20A%2060-year%20atmospheric%20nitrate%20isotope%20record%20from%20.pdf; https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5727-2025

International audience Stable isotopes of atmospheric nitrate (NO - 3 ) are valuable tools for tracing nitrogen sources and processes; however, their signals in ice core records are often disrupted by postdepositional processes. The ice core from the southeastern Dome (SE-Dome) in Greenland is a potential record of variations in atmospheric chemistry that has experienced a lower postdepositional effect owing to a high accumulation rate (∼1 m water equivalent per year). Herein, we report 60-year (1959–2014) δ 15 N(NO) and Δ 17 O(NO - 3 ) records from the SE-Dome ice core. The δ 15 N(NO - 3 ) decreased from 1960 to 1974 and exhibited clear seasonal changes (high in summer and low in winter). The Δ 17 O(NO - 3 ) did not exhibit any significant long-term trends, but it did contain seasonal patterns. The mass-weighted annual average of δ 15 N(NO - 3 ) values in the SE-Dome core were 4.2±2.8 ‰ lower than those in the Greenland Summit ice core between 1959 and 2006. The TRansfer of Atmospheric Nitrate Stable Isotopes To the Snow (TRANSITS) model under the SE-Dome condition estimated changes of only 0.9 ‰ for δ 15 N(NO - 3 ) and −0.2 ‰ for Δ 17 O(NO - 3 ) from the initial deposition. Although differences in the source of NO - 3 cannot be discounted, the lower δ 15 N(NO - 3 ) values observed at SE-Dome compared to Summit were likely due to reduced postdepositional alteration. Therefore, the SE-Dome ice core NO - 3 record offers a precise reconstruction of nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions from both North America and western Europe, as well as atmospheric oxidation chemistry and transport, thereby providing reliable insight into atmospheric nitrogen cycling.