A review of antarctic surface snow isotopic composition: Observations, atmospheric circulation, and isotopic modeling

• Published in: Journal of Climate
• Main Authors: Masson-Delmotte, Valérie, Hou, S., Ekaykin, A., Jouzel, J., Aristarain, A., Bernardo, R. T., Bromwich, D., Cattani, O., Delmotte, M. M., Falourd, S., Frezzotti, M., Gallée, H., Genoni, L., Isaksson, E., Landais, A., Helsen, M. M., Hoffmann, G., López-Martínez, J., Morgan, V., Motoyama, H., Noone, D., Oerter, H., Petit, J. R., Royer, A., Uemura, R., Schmidt, G. A., Schlosser, E., Simões, J. C., Steig, E. J., Stenni, B., Stievenard, M., Van Den Broeke, M. R., Van De Wal, R. S.W., Van De Berg, W. J., Vimeux, F., White, J. W.C.
• Other Authors: UAM. Departamento de Geología y Geoquímica
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: American Meteorological Society 2018
• Subjects: Surface Antarctic; Snow isotopic composition; Circulation atmospheric; Medio Ambiente; Antarctic; Dronning Maud Land; East Antarctica; Norway; Antarc*; Antarctica; EPICA; National Antarctic Research Program
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10486/681707; https://doi.org/10.1175/2007JCLI2139.1

A database of surface Antarctic snow isotopic composition is constructed using available measurements, with an estimate of data quality and local variability. Although more than 1000 locations are documented, the spatial coverage remains uneven with a majority of sites located in specific areas of East Antarctica. The database is used to analyze the spatial variations in snow isotopic composition with respect to geographical characteristics (elevation, distance to the coast) and climatic features (temperature, accumulation) and with a focus on deuterium excess. The capacity of theoretical isotopic, regional, and general circulation atmospheric models (including "isotopic" models) to reproduce the observed features and assess the role of moisture advection in spatial deuterium excess fluctuations is analyzed Stable isotope analyses at LSCE have been funded by CEA, CNRS, ACI C3. Italian research was funded by National Antarctic Research Program (PNRA). The calibration of the isotope–temperature relationship is part of the European Commission 6th PCRDT EPICA-MIS and French ANR PICC projects. This work is a contribution to the European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica (EPICA), a joint European Science Foundation/European Commission scientific program, funded by the EU and by national contributions from Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. The main logistic support was provided by IPEV and PNRA (at Dome C) and AWI (at Dronning Maud Land)