Recent climate tendencies on an East Antarctic ice shelf inferred from a shallow firn core network

Nearly three decades of stable isotope ratios and surface mass balance (SMB) data from eight shallow firn cores retrieved at Fimbul Ice Shelf, East Antarctica, in the Austral summers 2009–2011 have been investigated. An additional longer core drilled in 2000/2001 extends the series back to the early...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
Main Authors: Schlosser, E, Anschütz, H, Divine, D, Martma, T, Sinisalo, A, Altnau, S, Isaksson, E
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2014
Subjects:
Research Articles
Antarctic
Austral
East Antarctica
Ekström Ice Shelf
Fimbul Ice Shelf
Neumayer
Neumayer Station
Antarc*
Antarctica
Ice Shelf
Ice Shelves
Online Access:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4370759
https://doi.org/10.1002/2013JD020818
Description
Summary:Nearly three decades of stable isotope ratios and surface mass balance (SMB) data from eight shallow firn cores retrieved at Fimbul Ice Shelf, East Antarctica, in the Austral summers 2009–2011 have been investigated. An additional longer core drilled in 2000/2001 extends the series back to the early eighteenth century. Isotope ratios and SMB from the stacked record of all cores were also related to instrumental temperature data from Neumayer Station on Ekström Ice Shelf. Since the second half of the twentieth century, the SMB shows a statistically significant negative trend, whereas the δ18O of the cores shows a significant positive trend. No trend is found in air temperature at the nearest suitable weather station, Neumayer (available since 1981). This does not correspond to the statistically significant positive trend in Southern Annular Mode (SAM) index, which is usually associated with a cooling of East Antarctica. SAM index and SMB are negatively correlated, which might be explained by a decrease in meridional exchange of energy and moisture leading to lower precipitation amounts. Future monitoring of climate change on the sensitive Antarctic ice shelves is necessary to assess its consequences for sea level change.

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