A Review of Antarctic Surface Snow Isotopic Composition: Observations, Atmospheric Circulation, and Isotopic Modeling

Valérie Masson-Delmotte (1, 2) , Shugui Hou (3) , Alexey Ekaykin (4) , Jean Jouzel (1, 2) , A. Aristarain (5) , T. R. Bernardo (6) , D. Bromwich (7) , O. Cattani (1, 2) , M. Delmotte (1, 8, 2) , S. Falourd (1, 2) , Massimo Frezzotti (9) , Hubert Gallée (10) , L. Genoni (11) , Elisabeth Isaksson (12) , Amaelle Landais (1, 2, 13) , M. M. Helsen (14) , Georg Hoffmann (1, 2) , J. Lopez (15) , Vin Morgan (16) , Hideaki Motoyama (17) , D. Noone (18, 19) , Hans Oerter (20) , Jean-Robert Petit (10) , A. Royer (1) , R. Uemura (17) , G. A. Schmidt (21) , E. Schlosser (22) , J. Simões (6) , E. J. Steig (23) , Barbara Stenni (11) , M. Stievenard (1, 2, 24) , M. R. van den Broeke (14) , R. S. W. van de Wal (14) , W. J. van de Berg (14) , Françoise Vimeux (1, 2, 25) , J. W. C. White (26)

1 LSCE - Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement [Gif-sur-Yvette]
2 GLACCIOS - Glaces et Continents, Climats et Isotopes Stables
3 Laboratory of Cryosphere and Environment
4 AARI - Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute
5 Laboratorio de Estratigrafía Glaciar y Geoquímica del Agua y de la Nieve
6 Nucleo de Pesquisas Antarcticas e Climaticas
7 OSU - Ohio State University [Columbus]
8 ICOS-RAMCES - ICOS-RAMCES
9 ENEA - Ente per le Nuove Tecnologie, l'Energia e l'Ambiente
10 LGGE - Laboratoire de glaciologie et géophysique de l'environnement
11 Department of Geological, Environmental and Marine Sciences [Trieste]
12 Norwegian Polar Institute
13 HUJ - The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
14 IMAU - Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research [Utrecht]
15 Departamento de Geologica y Geoquimica
16 ACE-CRC - Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre
17 NiPR - National Institute of Polar Research [Tokyo]
18 ATOC - Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences [Boulder]
19 CIRES - Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences
20 Abteilung Klinische Sozialmedizin, Berufs- und Umweltdermatologie
21 GISS - NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies
22 Institute of Meteorology and Geophysics [Innsbruck]
23 Department of Earth and Space Sciences [Seattle]
24 GEOTRAC - Géochrononologie Traceurs Archéométrie
25 GREATICE - Glaciers et ressources en eau d'altitude - Indicateurs climatiques et environnementaux
26 INSTAAR - Institute of Arctic Alpine Research [University of Colorado Boulder]

A database of surface Antarctic snow isotopic composition is constructed using available measurements, with an estimate of data quality and local variability. Although more than 1000 locations are documented, the spatial coverage remains uneven with a majority of sites located in specific areas of East Antarctica. The database is used to analyze the spatial variations in snow isotopic composition with respect to geographical characteristics (elevation, distance to the coast) and climatic features (temperature, accumulation) and with a focus on deuterium excess. The capacity of theoretical isotopic, regional, and general circulation atmospheric models (including “isotopic” models) to reproduce the observed features and assess the role of moisture advection in spatial deuterium excess fluctuations is analyzed.

Domains: Glaciology

Valérie Masson-Delmotte, Shugui Hou, Alexey Ekaykin, Jean Jouzel, A. Aristarain, et al.. A Review of Antarctic Surface Snow Isotopic Composition: Observations, Atmospheric Circulation, and Isotopic Modeling. Journal of Climate, 2008, 21 (13), pp.3359 à 3387. ⟨10.1175/2007JCLI2139.1⟩. ⟨insu-00379745⟩