Three-year monitoring of stable isotopes of precipitation at Concordia Station, East Antarctica

• Published in: The Cryosphere
• Main Authors: B. Stenni, C. Scarchilli, V. Masson-Delmotte, E. Schlosser, V. Ciardini, G. Dreossi, P. Grigioni, M. Bonazza, A. Cagnati, D. Karlicek, C. Risi, R. Udisti, M. Valt
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Copernicus Publications 2016
• Subjects: Environmental sciences; GE1-350; Geology; QE1-996.5; Antarctic; East Antarctica; Concordia Station; Dome F; Antarc*; Antarctica; EPICA; The Cryosphere
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-2415-2016; https://doaj.org/article/bcb4a77b081741f083f66083af25fb24

Past temperature reconstructions from Antarctic ice cores require a good quantification and understanding of the relationship between snow isotopic composition and 2 m air or inversion (condensation) temperature. Here, we focus on the French–Italian Concordia Station, central East Antarctic plateau, where the European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica (EPICA) Dome C ice cores were drilled. We provide a multi-year record of daily precipitation types identified from crystal morphologies, daily precipitation amounts and isotopic composition. Our sampling period (2008–2010) encompasses a warmer year (2009, +1.2 °C with respect to 2 m air temperature long-term average 1996–2010), with larger total precipitation and snowfall amounts (14 and 76 % above sampling period average, respectively), and a colder and drier year (2010, −1.8 °C, 4 % below long-term and sampling period averages, respectively) with larger diamond dust amounts (49 % above sampling period average). Relationships between local meteorological data and precipitation isotopic composition are investigated at daily, monthly and inter-annual scale, and for the different types of precipitation. Water stable isotopes are more closely related to 2 m air temperature than to inversion temperature at all timescales (e.g. R 2 = 0.63 and 0.44, respectively for daily values). The slope of the temporal relationship between daily δ 18 O and 2 m air temperature is approximately 2 times smaller (0.49 ‰ °C −1 ) than the average Antarctic spatial (0.8 ‰ °C −1 ) relationship initially used for the interpretation of EPICA Dome C records. In accordance with results from precipitation monitoring at Vostok and Dome F, deuterium excess is anti-correlated with δ 18 O at daily and monthly scales, reaching maximum values in winter. Hoar frost precipitation samples have a specific fingerprint with more depleted δ 18 O (about 5 ‰ below average) and higher deuterium excess (about 8 ‰ above average) values than other precipitation types. These datasets provide a basis for ...