An East Antarctic, sub-annual resolution water isotope record from the Mount Brown South Ice core

Vasileios Gkinis; Sarah Jackson; Nerilie J Abram; Christopher Plummer; Thomas Blunier; Margaret Harlan; Helle Astrid Kjær; Andrew D Moy; Kerttu Maria Peensoo; Thea Quistgaard; Anders Svensson; Tessa R Vance

doi:10.1038/s41597-024-03751-w

An East Antarctic, sub-annual resolution water isotope record from the Mount Brown South Ice core

Sci Data. 2024 Sep 10;11(1):986. doi: 10.1038/s41597-024-03751-w.

Authors

Vasileios Gkinis¹, Sarah Jackson^{2

3

4

5}, Nerilie J Abram^{2

3

4}, Christopher Plummer⁶, Thomas Blunier⁷, Margaret Harlan^{7

6}, Helle Astrid Kjær⁷, Andrew D Moy^{6

8}, Kerttu Maria Peensoo^{7

9}, Thea Quistgaard^{7

10}, Anders Svensson⁷, Tessa R Vance⁶

Affiliations

¹ Physics of Ice Climate and Earth, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Tagensvej 16, 2200, Copenhagen, Denmark. [email protected].
² Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, Building 142, Mills Road, Acton, ACT, 2601, Australia.
³ Australian Centre for Excellence in Antarctic Science, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, 2601, Australia.
⁴ ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, 2601, Australia.
⁵ Climate and Environmental Physics, Physics Institute and Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Bern, CH-3012, Bern, Switzerland.
⁶ Australian Antarctic Program Partnership, Institute for Marine & Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS, 7004, Australia.
⁷ Physics of Ice Climate and Earth, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Tagensvej 16, 2200, Copenhagen, Denmark.
⁸ Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, Australian Antarctic Division, Kingston, TAS, 7050, Australia.
⁹ Second Sun ApS, Carit Etlars Vej 6, kld, 1814, Frederiksberg, Denmark.
¹⁰ Department of Environmental Science-Atmospheric modeling, Aarhus University, Frederiksborgvej 399, 4000, Roskilde, Denmark.

Abstract

We report high resolution measurements of the stable water isotope ratios (δ¹⁸O, δD) from the Mount Brown South ice core (MBS, 69.11^° S 86.31^° E). The record covers the period 873 - 2009 CE with sub-annual temporal resolution. Preliminary analyses of surface cores have shown the Mount Brown South site has relatively high annual snowfall accumulation (0.3 metres ice equivalent) with a seasonal bias toward lower snowfall during austral summer. Precipitation at the site is frequently related to intense, short term synoptic scale events from the mid-latitudes of the southern Indian Ocean. Higher snowfall regimes are associated with easterly winds, while lower snowfall regimes are associated with south-easterly winds. Isotope ratios are measured with Infra-Red Cavity Ring Down Spectroscopy, calibrated on the VSMOW/SLAP scale and reported on the MBS2023 time scale interpolated accordingly. We provide estimates for measurement precision and internal accuracy for δ¹⁸O and δD.

Abstract

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