A 1400-Year Oxygen Isotope History from the Ross Sea Area, Antarctica

• Main Authors: Grootes, P. M., Stuiver, M., Saling, T. L., Mayewski, Paul Andrew, Spencer, M. J., Alley, R. B., Jenssen, D.
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: DigitalCommons@UMaine 1990
• Subjects: Glaciogeology; Geochemistry; Glaciology; Cryology; Climate Change; Earth Sciences; Hydrology; Antarc*; Antarctica; ice core; Ice Shelf; Ross Ice Shelf; Ross Sea
• Online Access: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/ers_facpub/231; https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/context/ers_facpub/article/1236/viewcontent/A1400_yearoxygenisotopehistoryfromtheRossSeaAreaAntarctica.pdf

Four ice cores from the Ross Sea drainage, Antarctica, show patterns of δ18O variations on a time scale of decades to centuries over the last 1400 years without change in the long-term average δ18O. Century scale δ18O fluctuations in the two cores drilled in the Ross Ice Shelf at Station J-9 (82° 23' S, 168° 38' W, elevation 60 m) are highly correlated (P < 2 x 10-4). The long isotope record (>30 000 a) of the 1978 1-9 core thus represents local conditions over at least 102 m and on time scales of 100 years and longer. Regional correlations between the 1-9 δ18O records and those from Ridge BC (82 ° 54'S, 136 ° 40'W, elevation 509 m) and the Dominion Range (85 ° 15' S, 166 ° 10' E, elevation 2700 m) are barely significant (P ≈ 0.05 for J-9 '76 and Dominion Range, δ18O to 1400 years ago) or absent. The failure to find clear regional isotope trends related to climate fluctuations may reflect the finding that between 1957 and 1982 the area was in the transition zone between areas with opposite temperature trends, and showed little or no temperature change. The fact that the records nevertheless show significant δ18O fluctuations highlights the need to base regional climate reconstructions on a regional suite of ice-core records.