Ultra-high resolution snapshots of three multi-decadal periods in an Antarctic ice core

• Published in: Journal of Glaciology
• Main Authors: Skylar A Haines, Paul A Mayewski, Andrei V Kurbatov, Kirk A Maasch, Sharon B Sneed, Nicole E Spaulding, Daniel A Dixon, Pascal Bohleber
• Other Authors: A Haines, Skylar, A Mayewski, Paul, V Kurbatov, Andrei, A Maasch, Kirk, B Sneed, Sharon, E Spaulding, Nicole, A Dixon, Daniel, Bohleber, Pascal
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: Climate change; Glaciology; High resolution sampling; Ice cores; Settore GEO/08 - Geochimica e Vulcanologia; Settore GEO/05 - Geologia Applicata; Antarctic; Siple; Siple Dome; Antarc*; ice core
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10278/5014730; https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2016.5

We offer the first sub-seasonal view of glacial age archives from the Siple Dome-A (SDMA) ice core using the ultra-high resolution capabilities of a newly developed laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS; 121 μm sampling resolution) system capable of conducting multi-element glaciochemical analysis. Our ultra-high resolution data demonstrates that: (1) the SDMA ice core record can be annually dated based on seasonality in chemical inputs at a depth not previously possible using previous glaciochemical sampling methods, (2) winter accumulation at the SD site was greater than summer accumulation during the three late glacial periods selected (∼15.3, 17.3, 21.4 Ka ago) in this study and (3) resulting annual layer thicknesses results show greater variability than the current SD ice core depth/age model (Brook and others, 2005), possibly due to depositional effects such as wind scouring and/or decadal variability in snow accumulation that is not captured by the resolution of the current depth/age model.