the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Climate dependent contrast in surface mass balance in East Antarctica over the past 216 kyr
Abstract. Documenting past changes in the East Antarctic surface mass balance is important to improve ice core chronologies and to constrain the ice sheet contribution to global mean sea level. Here we reconstruct the past changes in the ratio of surface mass balance (SMB ratio) between the EPICA Dome C (EDC) and Dome Fuji (DF) East Antarctica ice core sites, based on a precise volcanic synchronisation of the two ice cores and on corrections for the vertical thinning of layers. During the past 216 000 years, this SMB ratio, denoted SMBEDC/SMBDF, varied between 0.7 and 1.1, decreasing during cold periods and increasing during warm periods. While past climatic changes have been depicted as homogeneous along the East Antarctic Plateau, our results reveal larger amplitudes of changes in SMB at EDC compared to DF, consistent with previous results showing larger amplitudes of changes in water stable isotopes and estimated surface temperature at EDC compared to DF. Within interglacial periods and during the last glacial inception (Marine Isotope Stages, MIS-5c and MIS-5d), the SMB ratio deviates by up to 30% from what is expected based on differences in water stable isotope records. Moreover, the SMB ratio is constant throughout the late parts of the current and last interglacial periods, despite contrasting isotopic trends. These SMB ratio changes not closely related to isotopic changes are one of the possible causes of the observed gaps between the ice core chronologies at DF and EDC. Such changes in SMB ratio may have been caused by (i) climatic processes related to changes in air mass trajectories and local climate, (ii) glaciological processes associated with relative elevation changes, or (iii) a combination of climatic and glaciological processes, such as the interaction between changes in accumulation and in the position of the domes. Our inferred SMB ratio history has important implications for ice sheet modeling (for which SMB is a boundary condition) or atmospheric modeling (our inferred SMB ratio could serve as a test).
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- SC C42: 'Correction of a mistake in the author list', Copernicus Publications, 23 Feb 2015
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RC C149: 'Review: Climate dependent contrast in surface mass balance in East Antarctica over the past 216 kyr, By Parrenin, Fujita et al', Anonymous Referee #1, 26 Mar 2015
- AC C367: 'Answers to reviewer 1', Frédéric Parrenin, 12 May 2015
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RC C163: 'Review of Parrenin et al. and Fujita et al. companion papers', Anonymous Referee #2, 28 Mar 2015
- AC C368: 'Answers to reviewer 2', Frédéric Parrenin, 12 May 2015
- EC C343: 'Editor's comment', Volker Rath, 08 May 2015
- SC C42: 'Correction of a mistake in the author list', Copernicus Publications, 23 Feb 2015
-
RC C149: 'Review: Climate dependent contrast in surface mass balance in East Antarctica over the past 216 kyr, By Parrenin, Fujita et al', Anonymous Referee #1, 26 Mar 2015
- AC C367: 'Answers to reviewer 1', Frédéric Parrenin, 12 May 2015
-
RC C163: 'Review of Parrenin et al. and Fujita et al. companion papers', Anonymous Referee #2, 28 Mar 2015
- AC C368: 'Answers to reviewer 2', Frédéric Parrenin, 12 May 2015
- EC C343: 'Editor's comment', Volker Rath, 08 May 2015
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Cited
2 citations as recorded by crossref.
- A one-dimensional temperature and age modeling study for selecting the drill site of the oldest ice core near Dome Fuji, Antarctica T. Obase et al. 10.5194/tc-17-2543-2023
- Reconstruction du climat et de l’environnement des derniers 800 000 ans à partir des carottes de glace – variabilité orbitale et millénaire. A. Landais 10.4000/quaternaire.7664