Climate influences on sea salt variability at Mount Brown South, East Antarctica

Shea, Helen J.; Gallant, Ailie; Purich, Ariaan; Vance, Tessa R.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-2009-2025

Articles | Volume 21, issue 11

https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-2009-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-2009-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 21, issue 11

Research article

|

06 Nov 2025

Research article |

| 06 Nov 2025

Climate influences on sea salt variability at Mount Brown South, East Antarctica

Helen J. Shea, Ailie Gallant, Ariaan Purich, and Tessa R. Vance

Data sets

Mount Brown South ice core data, Ver. 1 Crockart, C.K. https://doi.org/10.4225/15/58eedf6812621

National Snow and Ice Data Center Climate Data Record version 4 Meier et al. https://doi.org/10.7265/efmz-2t65

European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts fifth generation atmospheric reanalysis Herbash et al. https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.143582cf

Short summary

Ice core data from Mount Brown South (MBS), East Antarctica links high sea salt years to stronger westerly winds and increased sea ice near MBS's northeast coast. Low pressure storms off the coast might transport sea salts from sea ice regions to MBS. The tropical Pacific influences sea salt levels with El Niño events affecting wind patterns around MBS, impacting sea salt sources. Identifying these mechanisms aids in the understanding of climate variability before instrumental records.