This article presents isotopic measurements (δ18O and δD) of precipitation and cave drip water from two sites in southern France in order to investigate the link between rainfall and seepage water, ...and to characterize regional rainfall isotopic variability. These data, which are among the longest series in France, come from two rainfall stations in south-west France (Le Mas 1996–2012, and Villars 1998–2012; typically under Atlantic influence), and from one station in the south-east (Orgnac 2000–2012; under both Mediterranean and Atlantic influence). Rainfall isotopic composition is compared to drip water collected under stalactites from the same sites: Villars Cave (four drip stations 1999–2012) in the south-west, and Chauvet Cave (two drip stations 2000–2012) in the south-east, near Orgnac. The study of these isotopic data sets allows the following conclusions to be drawn about the rainfall/drip water relationships and about rainfall variability: (1) the cave drip water isotopic composition does not show any significant changes since the beginning of measurements; in order to explain its isotopic signature it is necessary to integrate weighted rainfall δ18O of all months during several years, which demonstrates that, even at shallow depths (10–50m), cave drip water is a mixture of rain water integrated over relatively long periods, which give an apparent time residence from several months to up to several years. These results have important consequences on the interpretation of proxies like speleothem fluid inclusions and tree-ring cellulose isotopic composition, which are used for paleoclimatic studies; (2) in the Villars Cave, where drip stations at two different depths were studied, lower δ18O values were observed in the lower galleries, which might be due to winter season overflows during infiltration and/or to older rain water with a different isotopic composition that reaches the lower galleries after years; (3) local precipitation is characterized by local meteoric water lines, LMWL, with δ18O/δD slopes close to 7 in both areas, and correlations between air temperature and precipitation δ18O are low at both monthly and annual scales, even with temperature weighted by the amount of precipitation; (4) the mesoscale climate model REMOiso, equipped with a water isotope module, allows the direct comparison of modeled and observed long term water isotope records. The model slightly overestimates rainfall δ18O at the respective sampling stations. However, it simulates very well not only the seasonal rainfall isotopic signal but also some intra-seasonal patterns such as a typical double-peak δ18O pattern in winter time.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
We present here surface water vapor isotopic measurements conducted from June to August 2010 at the NEEM (North Greenland Eemian Drilling Project) camp, NW Greenland (77.45° N, 51.05° W, 2484 m ...a.s.l.). Measurements were conducted at 9 different heights from 0.1 m to 13.5 m above the snow surface using two different types of cavity-enhanced near-infrared absorption spectroscopy analyzers. For each instrument specific protocols were developed for calibration and drift corrections. The inter-comparison of corrected results from different instruments reveals excellent reproducibility, stability, and precision with a standard deviations of ~ 0.23‰ for δ18O and ~ 1.4‰ for δD. Diurnal and intraseasonal variations show strong relationships between changes in local surface humidity and water vapor isotopic composition, and with local and synoptic weather conditions. This variability probably results from the interplay between local moisture fluxes, linked with firn–air exchanges, boundary layer dynamics, and large-scale moisture advection. Particularly remarkable are several episodes characterized by high (> 40‰) surface water vapor deuterium excess. Air mass back-trajectory calculations from atmospheric analyses and water tagging in the LMDZiso (Laboratory of Meteorology Dynamics Zoom-isotopic) atmospheric model reveal that these events are associated with predominant Arctic air mass origin. The analysis suggests that high deuterium excess levels are a result of strong kinetic fractionation during evaporation at the sea-ice margin.
Samples of precipitation and atmospheric water vapor were collected together with shallow firn/ice cores as part of the new deep drilling project in northwest Greenland: the NEEM project. These ...samples were analyzed for their isotope composition to understand the processes affecting the climatic signal archived in the water stable isotope records from the NEEM deep ice core. The dominant moisture source for the snow deposited at the NEEM‐site may be originating as far south as 35°N from the western part of the Atlantic Ocean. The surface atmospheric water vapor appears in isotopic equilibrium with the snow surface indicating a large water exchange between the atmosphere and snowpack. The interannual variability of NEEM shallow firn/ice cores stable isotope data covering the last ∼40 years shows an unexpectedly weak NAO signal. Regional to global atmospheric models simulate a dominant summer precipitation in the NEEM area, suggesting that the intermittency of modern winter precipitation is responsible for the lack of a strong NAO imprint. The interannual variability of NEEM isotope data however shows a strong correlation with interannual variations of Baffin Bay sea ice cover, a relationship consistent with air mass trajectories. NEEM deep ice core isotopic records may therefore provide detailed information on past Baffin Bay sea ice extent. NEEM stable water isotope content increasing trend points to a local warming trend of ∼3.0°C over the last 40 years.
Climate models show strong links between Antarctic and global temperature both in future and in glacial climate simulations. Past Antarctic temperatures can be estimated from measurements of water ...stable isotopes along the EPICA Dome C ice core over the past 800 000 years. Here we focus on the reliability of the relative intensities of glacial and interglacial periods derived from the stable isotope profile. The consistency between stable isotope-derived temperature and other environmental and climatic proxies measured along the EDC ice core is analysed at the orbital scale and compared with estimates of global ice volume. MIS 2, 12 and 16 appear as the strongest glacial maxima, while MIS 5.5 and 11 appear as the warmest interglacial maxima.
The links between EDC temperature, global temperature, local and global radiative forcings are analysed. We show: (i) a strong but changing link between EDC temperature and greenhouse gas global radiative forcing in the first and second part of the record; (ii) a large residual signature of obliquity in EDC temperature with a 5
ky lag; (iii) the exceptional character of temperature variations within interglacial periods.
Focusing on MIS 5.5, the warmest interglacial of EDC record, we show that orbitally forced coupled climate models only simulate a precession-induced shift of the Antarctic seasonal cycle of temperature. While they do capture annually persistent Greenland warmth, models fail to capture the warming indicated by Antarctic ice core δD. We suggest that the model-data mismatch may result from the lack of feedbacks between ice sheets and climate including both local Antarctic effects due to changes in ice sheet topography and global effects due to meltwater–thermohaline circulation interplays. An MIS 5.5 sensitivity study conducted with interactive Greenland melt indeed induces a slight Antarctic warming. We suggest that interglacial EDC optima are caused by transient heat transport redistribution comparable with glacial north–south seesaw abrupt climatic changes.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
A high-resolution deuterium profile is now available along the entire European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica Dome C ice core, extending this climate record back to marine isotope stage 20.2, ...∼800,000 years ago. Experiments performed with an atmospheric general circulation model including water isotopes support its temperature interpretation. We assessed the general correspondence between Dansgaard-Oeschger events and their smoothed Antarctic counterparts for this Dome C record, which reveals the presence of such features with similar amplitudes during previous glacial periods. We suggest that the interplay between obliquity and precession accounts for the variable intensity of interglacial periods in ice core records.
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New high-resolution deuterium excess (
d) data from the two EPICA ice cores drilled in Dronning Maud Land (EDML) and Dome C (EDC) are presented here. The main moisture sources for precipitation at ...EDC and EDML are located in the Indian Ocean and Atlantic Ocean, respectively. The more southward moisture origin for EDML is reflected in a lower present-day
d value, compared to EDC. The EDML and EDC isotopic records (δ
18O and
d) show the main climate features common to the East Antarctic plateau and similar millennial scale climate variability during the last glacial period. However, quite large δ
18O and
d differences are observed during MIS5.5 and the glacial inception with a long-term behaviour. A possibility for this long-term difference could be related to uncertainties in past accumulation rate which are used in the glaciological models. Regional climate anomalies between the two sites during MIS5.5 could also be consistent with the observed EDML-EDC δ
18O and
d gradient anomalies. Simulations performed with the General Circulation Model ECHAM4 for different time slices provide a temporal temperature/isotope slope for the EDML region in fair agreement to the modern spatial slope.
T
site and
T
source records are extracted from both ice cores, using a modelling approach, after corrections for past δ
18O seawater and elevation changes. A limited impact of
d on Antarctic temperature reconstruction at both EDML and EDC has been found with a higher impact only at glacial inception. The AIM (Antarctic Isotope Maximum) events in both ice cores are visible also after the source correction, suggesting that these are real climate features of the glacial period. The different shape of the AIM events between EDC and EDML, as well as some climate features in the early Holocene, points to a slightly different climate evolution at regional scale. A comparison of our temperature reconstruction profiles with the aerosol fluxes show a strong coupling of the nssCa fluxes with Antarctic temperatures during glacial period and a tighter coupling of δ
18O and
T
site with ssNa flux at EDML compared to EDC during the glacial period and MIS5.5.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
Whereas millennial to submillennial climate variability has been identified during the current interglacial period, past interglacial variability features remain poorly explored because of lacking ...data at sufficient temporal resolutions. Here we present new deuterium data from the EPICA Dome C ice core, documenting at decadal resolution temperature changes occurring over the East Antarctic plateau during the warmer‐than‐today last interglacial. Expanding previous evidence of instabilities during the last interglacial, multicentennial subevents are identified and labeled for the first time in a past interglacial context. A variance analysis further reveals two major climatic features. First, an increase in variability is detected prior to the glacial inception, as already observed at the end of Marine Isotopic Stage 11 in the same core. Second, the overall variance level is systematically higher during the last interglacial than during the current one, suggesting that a warmer East Antarctic climate may also be more variable.
Key Points
Twenty year resolved water isotope record documents Marine Isotope Stage 5 temperatures
Long‐term changes are associated with changes in high‐frequency variability
Enhanced variability detected when East Antarctic climate was warmer
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FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Glacial climate was characterised by two types of abrupt events. Greenland ice cores record Dansgaard–Oeschger events, marked by abrupt warming in-between cold, stadial phases. Six of these stadials ...appear related to major Heinrich events (HEs), identified from ice-rafted debris (IRD) and large excursions in carbon- and oxygen-stable isotopic ratios in North Atlantic deep sea sediments, documenting major ice sheet collapse events. This finding has led to the paradigm that glacial cold events are induced by the response of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation to such massive freshwater inputs, supported by sensitivity studies conducted with climate models of various complexities. These models also simulate synchronous Greenland temperature and lower-latitude hydrological changes. To investigate the sequence of events between climate changes at low latitudes and in Greenland, we provide here the first 17O-excess record from a Greenland ice core during Dansgaard–Oeschger events 7 to 13, encompassing H4 and H5. Combined with other ice core proxy records, our new 17O-excess data set demonstrates that stadials are generally characterised by low 17O-excess levels compared to interstadials. This can be interpreted as synchronous change of high-latitude temperature and lower-latitude hydrological cycle (relative humidity at the oceanic source of evaporation or change in the water mass trajectory/recharge) and/or an influence of local temperature on 17O-excess through kinetic effect at snow formation. As an exception from this general pattern, stadial 9 consists of three phases, characterised first by Greenland cooling during 550 ± 60 years (as shown by markers of Greenland temperature δ18O and δ15N), followed by a specific lower-latitude fingerprint as identified from several proxy records (abrupt decrease in 17O-excess, increase in CO2 and methane mixing ratio, heavier δD-CH4 and δ18Oatm), lasting 740 ± 60 years, itself ending approximately 390 ± 50 years prior to abrupt Greenland warming. We hypothesise that this lower-latitude signal may be the fingerprint of Heinrich event 4 in Greenland ice cores. The proposed decoupling between stable cold Greenland temperature and low-latitude climate variability identified for stadial 9 provides new targets for benchmarking climate model simulations and testing mechanisms associated with millennial variability.
The deuterium excess of polar ice cores documents past changes in evaporation conditions and moisture origin. New data obtained from the European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica Dome C East ...Antarctic ice core provide new insights on the sequence of events involved in Termination II, the the transition between the penultimate glacial and interglacial periods. This termination is marked by a north—south seesaw behavior, with first a slow methane concentration rise associated with a strong Antarctic temperature warming and a slow deuterium excess rise. This first step is followed by an abrupt north Atlantic warming, an abrupt resumption of the East Asian summer monsoon, a sharp methane rise, and a CO₂ overshoot, which coincide within dating uncertainties with the end of Antarctic optimum. Here, we show that this second phase is marked by a very sharp Dome C centennial deuterium excess rise, revealing abrupt reorganization of atmospheric circulation in the southern Indian Ocean sector.
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