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

• Published in: The Cryosphere
• Main Authors: Stenni, Barbara, Scarchilli, Claudio, Masson-Delmotte, Valérie, Schlosser, Elisabeth, Ciardini, Virginia, Dreossi, Giuliano, Grigioni, Paolo, Bonazza, Mattia, Cagnati, Anselmo, Karlicek, Daniele, Risi, Camille, Udisti, Roberto, Valt, Mauro
• Other Authors: University of Ca’ Foscari Venice, Italy, Ente per le Nuove Technologie, l'Energia e l'Ambiente (ENEA), Centro Ricerche Casaccia, Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement Gif-sur-Yvette (LSCE), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Direction de Recherche Fondamentale (CEA) (DRF (CEA)), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA), Glaces et Continents, Climats et Isotopes Stables (GLACCIOS), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Direction de Recherche Fondamentale (CEA) (DRF (CEA)), Universität Innsbruck Innsbruck, Austrian Polar Research Institute, Georg-August-University = Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, ARPA Center of Avalanches, Arabba, Università degli studi di Trieste = University of Trieste, Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique (UMR 8539) (LMD), Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-École polytechnique (X), Institut Polytechnique de Paris (IP Paris)-Institut Polytechnique de Paris (IP Paris)-École des Ponts ParisTech (ENPC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Département des Géosciences - ENS Paris, École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL), Department of Chemistry ''Ugo Schiff", Università degli Studi di Firenze = University of Florence = Université de Florence (UniFI)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2016
• Subjects: [PHYS.PHYS.PHYS-AO-PH]Physics [physics]/Physics [physics]/Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics [physics.ao-ph]; Antarctic; Concordia Station; Dome F; East Antarctica; Antarc*; Antarctica; EPICA; The Cryosphere
• Online Access: https://hal.sorbonne-universite.fr/hal-01398029; https://hal.sorbonne-universite.fr/hal-01398029/document; https://hal.sorbonne-universite.fr/hal-01398029/file/tc-10-2415-2016.pdf; https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-2415-2016

International audience 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 ...