An Age Scale for the First Shallow (Sub-)Antarctic Ice Core from Young Island, Northwest Ross Sea

Dorothea Elisabeth Moser*, Sarah Jackson, Helle Astrid Kjaer, Bradley Markle, Estelle Ngoumtsa, Joel B. Pedro, Delia Segato, Andrea Spolaor, Dieter Tetzner, Paul Vallelonga, Elizabeth R. Thomas

*Corresponding author for this work

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Abstract

The climate of the sub-Antarctic is important in understanding the environmental conditions of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. However, regional climate proxy records from this region are scarce. In this study, we present the stable water isotopes, major ion chemistry, and dust records from the first ice core from the (sub-)Antarctic Young Island. We present and discuss various dating approaches based on commonly used ice core proxies, such as stable water isotopes and seasonally deposited ions, together with site-specific characteristics such as melt layers. The dating approaches are compared with estimated precipitation rates from reanalysis data (ERA5) and volcanic cryptotephra shards likely presenting an absolute tie point from a 2001 CE eruption on neighboring Sturge Island. The resulting ice core age scale spans the period 2016 to 1995, with an uncertainty of +/- 2 years.

Original languageEnglish
Article number368
JournalGeosciences
Volume11
Issue number9
Number of pages18
ISSN2076-3263
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Sep 2021

Keywords

  • age scale
  • (sub-)Antarctic island
  • shallow ice core
  • proxies
  • melting

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