A comparison of the present and last interglacial periods in six Antarctic ice cores

Valérie Masson-Delmotte (1, 2) , D. Buiron (3) , A. Ekaykin (4) , M. Frezzotti (5) , H. Gallee (3) , Jean Jouzel (1, 2) , G. Krinner (3) , Amaelle Landais (1, 2) , H. Motoyama (6) , H. Oerter (7) , K. Pol (1) , D. Pollard (8) , C. Ritz (9) , E. Schlosser (10) , L. C. Sime (11) , H. Sodemann (12) , B. Stenni (13) , R. Uemura (1, 14) , F. Vimeux (1, 15, 2)

1 LSCE - Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement [Gif-sur-Yvette]
2 GLACCIOS - Glaces et Continents, Climats et Isotopes Stables
3 CLIPS
4 AARI - Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute
5 ENEA - Italian National agency for new technologies, Energy and sustainable economic development [Frascati]
6 Research Organization of Information and Systems
7 AWI - Alfred-Wegener-Institut, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung = Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research = Institut Alfred-Wegener pour la recherche polaire et marine
8 Earth and Environmental Systems Institute
9 EDGe
10 Institute of Meteorology and Geophysics [Innsbruck]
11 BAS - British Antarctic Survey
12 NILU - Norwegian Institute for Air Research
13 Dipartimento di Scienze Geologiche [Trieste]
14 Department of Chemistry, Biology and Marine Science
15 HSM - Hydrosciences Montpellier

We compare the present and last interglacial periods as recorded in Antarctic water stable isotope records now available at various temporal resolutions from six East Antarctic ice cores: Vostok, Taylor Dome, EPICA Dome C (EDC), EPICA Dronning Maud Land (EDML), Dome Fuji and the recent TALDICE ice core from Talos Dome. We first review the different modern site characteristics in terms of ice flow, meteorological conditions, precipitation intermittency and moisture origin, as depicted by meteorological data, atmospheric reanalyses and Lagrangian moisture source diagnostics. These different factors can indeed alter the relationships between temperature and water stable isotopes. Using five records with sufficient resolution on the EDC3 age scale, common features are quantified through principal component analyses. Consistent with instrumental records and atmospheric model results, the ice core data depict rather coherent and homogenous patterns in East Antarctica during the last two interglacials. Across the East Antarctic plateau, regional differences, with respect to the common East Antarctic signal, appear to have similar patterns during the current and last interglacials. We identify two abrupt shifts in isotopic records during the glacial inception at TALDICE and EDML, likely caused by regional sea ice expansion. These regional differences are discussed in terms of moisture origin and in terms of past changes in local elevation histories, which are compared to ice sheet model results. Our results suggest that elevation changes may contribute significantly to inter-site differences. These elevation changes may be underestimated by current ice sheet models.

Domaines: Géomorphologie

Valérie Masson-Delmotte, D. Buiron, A. Ekaykin, M. Frezzotti, H. Gallee, et al.. A comparison of the present and last interglacial periods in six Antarctic ice cores. Climate of the Past, 2011, 7 (2), pp.397-423. ⟨10.5194/cp-7-397-2011⟩. ⟨insu-00649670⟩