Acidity decline in antarctic ice cores during the little ice age linked to changes in atmospheric nitrate and sea salt concentrations
Acidity is an important chemical variable that impacts atmospheric and snowpack chemistry. Here we describe composite time series and the spatial pattern of acidity concentration (Acy=H+-HCO3-) during the last 2000 years across the Dronning Maud Land region of the East Antarctic Plateau using measur...
Published in: | Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres |
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2014
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Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/42352 https://doi.org/10.1002/2013JD020377 |
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ftcurtin:oai:espace.curtin.edu.au:20.500.11937/42352 2023-06-11T04:04:48+02:00 Acidity decline in antarctic ice cores during the little ice age linked to changes in atmospheric nitrate and sea salt concentrations Pasteris, D. McConnell, J. Edwards, Peter Isaksson, E. Albert, M. 2014 unknown https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/42352 https://doi.org/10.1002/2013JD020377 unknown Wiley-Blackwell Publishing http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/42352 doi:10.1002/2013JD020377 ice cores Little Ice Age Antarctica Holocene acidity Journal Article 2014 ftcurtin https://doi.org/20.500.11937/4235210.1002/2013JD020377 2023-05-30T19:42:26Z Acidity is an important chemical variable that impacts atmospheric and snowpack chemistry. Here we describe composite time series and the spatial pattern of acidity concentration (Acy=H+-HCO3-) during the last 2000 years across the Dronning Maud Land region of the East Antarctic Plateau using measurements in seven ice cores. Coregistered measurements of the major ion species show that sulfuric acid (H2SO4), nitric acid (HNO3), and hydrochloric acid (HCl) determine greater than 98% of the acidity value. The latter, also described as excess chloride (ExCl-), is shown mostly to be derived from postdepositional diffusion of chloride with little net gain or loss from the snowpack. A strong inverse linear relationship between nitrate concentration and inverse accumulation rate provides evidence of spatially homogenous fresh snow concentrations and reemission rates of nitrate from the snowpack across the study area. A decline in acidity during the Little Ice Age (LIA, 1500–1900 Common Era) is observed and is linked to declines in HNO3 and ExCl- during that time. The nitrate decline is found to correlate well with published methane isotope data from Antarctica (d13CH4), indicating that it is caused by a decline in biomass burning. The decrease in ExCl- concentration during the LIA is well correlated to published sea surface temperature reconstructions in the Atlantic Ocean, which suggests increased sea salt aerosol production associated with greater sea ice extent. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Dronning Maud Land Sea ice Curtin University: espace Antarctic Dronning Maud Land Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 119 9 5640 5652 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Curtin University: espace |
op_collection_id |
ftcurtin |
language |
unknown |
topic |
ice cores Little Ice Age Antarctica Holocene acidity |
spellingShingle |
ice cores Little Ice Age Antarctica Holocene acidity Pasteris, D. McConnell, J. Edwards, Peter Isaksson, E. Albert, M. Acidity decline in antarctic ice cores during the little ice age linked to changes in atmospheric nitrate and sea salt concentrations |
topic_facet |
ice cores Little Ice Age Antarctica Holocene acidity |
description |
Acidity is an important chemical variable that impacts atmospheric and snowpack chemistry. Here we describe composite time series and the spatial pattern of acidity concentration (Acy=H+-HCO3-) during the last 2000 years across the Dronning Maud Land region of the East Antarctic Plateau using measurements in seven ice cores. Coregistered measurements of the major ion species show that sulfuric acid (H2SO4), nitric acid (HNO3), and hydrochloric acid (HCl) determine greater than 98% of the acidity value. The latter, also described as excess chloride (ExCl-), is shown mostly to be derived from postdepositional diffusion of chloride with little net gain or loss from the snowpack. A strong inverse linear relationship between nitrate concentration and inverse accumulation rate provides evidence of spatially homogenous fresh snow concentrations and reemission rates of nitrate from the snowpack across the study area. A decline in acidity during the Little Ice Age (LIA, 1500–1900 Common Era) is observed and is linked to declines in HNO3 and ExCl- during that time. The nitrate decline is found to correlate well with published methane isotope data from Antarctica (d13CH4), indicating that it is caused by a decline in biomass burning. The decrease in ExCl- concentration during the LIA is well correlated to published sea surface temperature reconstructions in the Atlantic Ocean, which suggests increased sea salt aerosol production associated with greater sea ice extent. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Pasteris, D. McConnell, J. Edwards, Peter Isaksson, E. Albert, M. |
author_facet |
Pasteris, D. McConnell, J. Edwards, Peter Isaksson, E. Albert, M. |
author_sort |
Pasteris, D. |
title |
Acidity decline in antarctic ice cores during the little ice age linked to changes in atmospheric nitrate and sea salt concentrations |
title_short |
Acidity decline in antarctic ice cores during the little ice age linked to changes in atmospheric nitrate and sea salt concentrations |
title_full |
Acidity decline in antarctic ice cores during the little ice age linked to changes in atmospheric nitrate and sea salt concentrations |
title_fullStr |
Acidity decline in antarctic ice cores during the little ice age linked to changes in atmospheric nitrate and sea salt concentrations |
title_full_unstemmed |
Acidity decline in antarctic ice cores during the little ice age linked to changes in atmospheric nitrate and sea salt concentrations |
title_sort |
acidity decline in antarctic ice cores during the little ice age linked to changes in atmospheric nitrate and sea salt concentrations |
publisher |
Wiley-Blackwell Publishing |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/42352 https://doi.org/10.1002/2013JD020377 |
geographic |
Antarctic Dronning Maud Land |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Dronning Maud Land |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Dronning Maud Land Sea ice |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Dronning Maud Land Sea ice |
op_relation |
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/42352 doi:10.1002/2013JD020377 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/20.500.11937/4235210.1002/2013JD020377 |
container_title |
Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres |
container_volume |
119 |
container_issue |
9 |
container_start_page |
5640 |
op_container_end_page |
5652 |
_version_ |
1768390840849268736 |