We analysed two Greenland ice cores for methanesulfonate (MSA) and bromine (Br) and concluded that both species are suitable proxies for local sea ice conditions. Interpretation of the records reveals that there have been sharp declines in sea ice in these areas in the past 250 years. However, at both sites the Br record deviates from MSA during the industrial period, raising questions about the value of Br as a sea ice proxy during recent periods of high, industrial, atmospheric acid pollution.

Understanding the Antarctic climate system is crucial in the context of the present-day global environmental changes, but key gaps arise from limited observations. We present a new reconstructed stacked climate record for Princess Elizabeth Land, East Antarctica. Records show 1 °C warming over the last 350 years, with a particularly cold period from the mid-18th to mid-19th century. Temperature variability with a period > 27 years is mainly related to the anomalies of the Indian Ocean Dipole mode.

Seismic profiles from the western and eastern deltas of Lake Issyk-Kul were used to identify lake-level changes of up to 400 m. Seven stratigraphic sequences were identified, each containing a series of delta lobes that were formed during former lake-level stillstands. Lake-level fluctuations point to significant changes in the strength and position of the Siberian High and the mid-latitude Westerlies. Their interplay is responsible for the amount of moisture that reaches this area.