Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T20:04:11.579Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Nine Centuries of Microparticle Deposition at the South Pole1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

E. Mosley-Thompson  and
L. G. Thompson
E. Mosley-Thompson
Affiliation:
Institute of Polar Studies, The Ohio State University, 125 So. Oval Mall, Columbus, Ohio 43210
L. G. Thompson
Affiliation:
Institute of Polar Studies, The Ohio State University, 125 So. Oval Mall, Columbus, Ohio 43210
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The analysis of microparticles in a 101-m core from Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, Antarctica has revealed a substantial increase in total particle concentration between approximately 1450 and 1850 A.D., a period encompassing the latest neoglacial interval or Little Ice Age. It is likely that this reflects a simultaneous increase in the concentration of particulate material in the Antarctic atmosphere. This is important climatologically, for the Antarctic atmosphere may represent the closest approximation to the natural background aerosol. Thus cores from East Antarctica may contain long and detailed records of the natural global background aerosol. Such records are unavailable from any other medium. Additionally, a cyclical variation which appears to be annual has been detected in the South Pole particle record. These features allow construction of a relative time scale for ice cores older than 100 yr from regions of low accumulation (<10 g a−1) where many traditional techniques are not applicable. This is especially significant, as the comparison of climatic data extracted from ice cores with other records of proxy data depends upon the ability to assign an accurate time scale to the ice core. An estimated nine-century record of net annual accumulation at the South Pole has been compiled and the calculated error in the time scale is ±90 yr.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 17 , Issue 1 , January 1982 , pp. 1 - 13
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

1

Contribution No. 429 of the Institute of Polar Studies, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210.

References

Black, H.P. Budd, W. (1964). Accumulation in the region of Wilkes Land, Antarctica. Journal of Glaciology 5, 3–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bull, C. (1971). Snow Accumulation in Antarctica. Research in the Antarctic Quam, L.O. American Association for the Advancement of Science. Washington, DC. 367–421.Google Scholar
Crozaz, G. Picciotto, E. DeBreuck, W. (1964). Antarctic snow chronology with Pb210 . Journal of Geophysical Research 79, 2597–2604.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dansgaard, W. Johnsen, S.J. Clausen, H.B. Gundestrup, N. (1973). Stable isotope glaciology. Meddelelser om Grønland 197, 1–53.Google Scholar
Dermendjian, D. (1973). On volcanic and other particulate turbidity anomalies. Advances in Geophysics 16, 267–296.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dyer, A.J. Hicks, B.B. (1968). Global spread of dust from the Bali eruption of 1963. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society 94, 545–554.Google Scholar
Epstein, S. Sharp, R.P. Gow, A.J. (1965). Six year record of oxygen and hydrogen isotope variations in South Pole firn. Journal of Geophysical Research 70, 1809–1814.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
GARP, . 1975. The Physical Basis of Climate Modelling World Meteorological Organization. Geneva.Google Scholar
Giovinetto, M.B. (1960). Glaciological Report for 1958, South Pole StationThe Ohio State University Research Foundation Report 825-2.Google Scholar
Giovinetto, M.B. (1963). Glaciological Studies on the McMurdo-South Pole Traverse, 1960–1961Institute of Polar Studies Report 7. Columbus, Ohio.Google Scholar
Giovinetto, M.B. Schwerdtfeger, W. (1966). Analysis of a 200-year snow accumulation series from the South Pole. Archiv für Meteorologie, Geophysik und Bioclimatologie A 15, 227–250.Google Scholar
Gow, A.J. (1965). On the accumulation and seasonal stratification of snow at the South Pole. Journal of Glaciology 5, 467–477.Google Scholar
Gow, A.J. Rowland, R. (1965). On the relationship of snow accumulation to surface topography at “Byrd Station”, Antarctica. Journal of Glaciology 5, 843–847.Google Scholar
Hammer, C.U. (1977). Past volcanism revealed by Greenland Ice Sheet impurities. Nature (London) 270, 482–486.Google Scholar
Hammer, C.U. Clausen, H.B. Dansgaard, D. Gundestrup, N. Johnsen, S.J. Reeh, N. (1978). Dating of Greenland ice cores by flow models, isotopes, volcanic debris and continental dust. Journal of Glaciology 20, 3–26.Google Scholar
Hirschboeck, K.K. (1980). A new worldwide chronology of volcanic eruptions. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology and Palaeoecology 29, 223–241.Google Scholar
Hogan, A.W. (1975). Antarctic aerosols. Journal of Applied Meteorology 14, 550–559.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hogan, A.W. (1976). Physical Properties of the Atmospheric AerosolState University of New York Atmospheric Sciences Research Center Publication 408.Google Scholar
Holloway, J.L. Jr.. 1958. Smoothing and filtering of time series and space fields. Advances in Geophysics 4, 351–389.Google Scholar
Junge, C.E. (1977). Processes responsible for the trace content in precipitation Isotopes and Impurities in Snow and Ice. Proceedings of the Grenoble Symposium, 1975 63–77IAHS-AISH publication No. 118.Google Scholar
Lamb, H.H. (1965). The early medieval warm epoch and its sequel. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology and Palaeoecology 1, 13–37.Google Scholar
Lamb, H.H. (1970). Volcanic dust in the atmosphere with a chronology and assessment of its meteorological significance. Philosophical Transactions, Royal Society of London A 266, 425–533.Google Scholar
Lambert, G. Ardouin, J. Sanak, J. Lorius, C. Pourchet, M. (1977). Accumulation of snow and radioactive debris in Antarctica: A possible refined radiochronology beyond reference levels Isotopes and Impurities in Snow and Ice. Proceedings of the Grenoble Symposium, 1975 146–158IASH-AISH publication no. 118.Google Scholar
Mercer, J.H. (1976). Glacial history of southernmost South America. Quaternary Research 6, 125–166.Google Scholar
Mosley-Thompson, E. (1980). 911-Years of Microparticle Deposition at the South Pole: a Climatic InterpretationThe Ohio State Institute of Polar Studies Report No. 73. Columbus, Ohio.Google Scholar
Mossop, S.C. (1964). Volcanic dust collected at an altitude of 20 km. Nature (London) 203, 824–827.Google Scholar
Nye, J.F. (1959). Surface topography of the Antarctic Ice Sheet. Nature (London) 184, 786–787.Google Scholar
Picciotto, E. Crozaz, G. DeBreuck, W. (1971). Accumulation of the South Pole-Queen Maud Land traverse, 1964–1968. Antarctic Snow and Ice Studies II Crary, A.P. American Geophysical Union. Washington, DC. 257–315.Google Scholar
Rand, J.H. (1975). 100-meter ice cores from the South Pole and Ross Ice Shelf. Antarctic Journal of the U.S. 10, 150–151.Google Scholar
Reiter, E.R. (1969). Atmospheric transport process, Part 1: Energy Transfers and Transformations. U.S. Atomic Energy Commission Critical Review Series Atomic Energy Commission. Oak Ridge, Tennessee.Google Scholar
Reiter, E.R. (1971). Atmospheric Transport Processes, Part 2: Chemical Tracers Atomic Energy Commission. Oak Ridge, TennesseeU.S. Atomic Energy Commission Critical Review Series.Google Scholar
Reiter, E.R. (1977). The transport of tracers by global circulation systems of the atmosphere Isotopes and Impurities in Snow and Ice. Proceedings of the Grenoble Symposium, 1975 53–62AIHS-AISH publication no. 118.Google Scholar
Salinger, M.J. (1976). New Zealand temperature since 1300. Nature (London) 260, 310.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thompson, L.G. (1977). Microparticles, Ice Sheets and ClimateThe Ohio State Institute of Polar Studies Report No. 64. Columbus, Ohio.Google Scholar
Thompson, L.G. Hastenrath, S. Arnao, B.M. (1979). Climatic ice core records from the tropical Quelccaya Ice Cap. Science 203, 1240–1243.Google Scholar
Thompson, L.G. Mosley-Thompson, E. (1981). Temporal variability of microparticle properties in polar ice sheets. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 11, 11–27.Google Scholar
Viebrock, H.J. Flowers, E.C. (1968). Comments on the recent decrease in solar radiation at the South Pole. Tellus 20, 400–411.Google Scholar
Wilson, A.T. Hendy, C.H. Reynolds, C.P. (1979). Short-term climatic change and New Zealand temperatures during the last millenium. Nature (London) 279, 315–317.Google Scholar