Sunlight-driven nitrate loss records Antarctic surface mass balance

Standard proxies for reconstructing surface mass balance (SMB) in Antarctic ice cores are often inaccurate or coarsely resolved when applied to more complicated environments away from dome summits. Here, we propose an alternative SMB proxy based on photolytic fractionation of nitrogen isotopes in ni...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature Communications
Main Authors: Akers, Pete D., Savarino, Joël, Caillon, Nicolas, Servettaz, Aymeric P. M., Le Meur, Emmanuel, Magand, Olivier, Martins, Jean, Agosta, Cécile, Crockford, Peter, Kobayashi, Kanon, Hattori, Shohei, Curran, Mark, van Ommen, Tas, Jong, Lenneke, Roberts, Jason L.
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: Nature Publishing Group UK 2022
Subjects:
Article
Antarctic
East Antarctica
Antarc*
Antarctica
ice core
Online Access:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9314437/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35879324
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-31855-7
Description
Summary:Standard proxies for reconstructing surface mass balance (SMB) in Antarctic ice cores are often inaccurate or coarsely resolved when applied to more complicated environments away from dome summits. Here, we propose an alternative SMB proxy based on photolytic fractionation of nitrogen isotopes in nitrate observed at 114 sites throughout East Antarctica. Applying this proxy approach to nitrate in a shallow core drilled at a moderate SMB site (Aurora Basin North), we reconstruct 700 years of SMB changes that agree well with changes estimated from ice core density and upstream surface topography. For the under-sampled transition zones between dome summits and the coast, we show that this proxy can provide past and present SMB values that reflect the immediate local environment and are derived independently from existing techniques.

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