HR: 09:45h
AN: PP51A-08    [PDF]
TI: Evidence of Little Ice Age in an East Antarctica Ice Core
AU: * Cole-Dai, J
EM: jihong_cole-dai@sdstate.edu
AF: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry South Dakota State University, Box 2202, Brookings, SD 57007 United States
AU: Li, Y
EM: yansheli@public3.sta.net.cn
AF: Polar Research Institute of China, 451 Jinqiao Road PuDong District, Shanghai, 200129 China
AU: Zhou, L
EM: azhouly@yahoo.com.cn
AF: Polar Research Institute of China, 451 Jinqiao Road PuDong District, Shanghai, 200129 China
AU: Zhou, L
EM: azhouly@yahoo.com.cn
AF: Department of Earth Sciences Nanjing University, 22 Hankou Road, Nanjing, 210093 China
AB: An 80 meter ice core was retrieved from an East Antarctica location (76$\deg$S, 77$\deg$E) by the Chinese Antarctica Research Expedition in 1999. Chemical analysis of the ice core has yielded a record of ionic impurities in snow for the past 800 years (1200-1999 A.D.). The ice core is dated using a combination of annual layer counting and volcanic time stratigraphic horizons, resulting in an accurate chronology with high resolution. The ice core record demonstrates that, during the period of approximately 1300-1850 A.D., the concentrations of several chemical species, including nitrate and methanesulfonate, are sharply lower than the levels both prior to and after this period. This period coincides with the most recent neoglacial climatic episode, the "Little Ice Age (LIA)," that has been found in numerous Northern Hemisphere proxy and historic records. Additional evidence includes the sharply reduced net snow accumulation rates during this period. The significance of this new finding will be discussed in the context of LIA evidence in Antarctica ice cores, its probable regional and spatial variations, and chronological relationships to LIA signals in South America and in the Northern Hemisphere.
DE: 1620 Climate dynamics (3309)
DE: 3344 Paleoclimatology
DE: 9310 Antarctica
SC: Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology [PP]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting