High resolution climatic information from short firn cores,western Dronning Maud Land,antarctica

Ten meter firn cores were collected during the Swedish Antarctic Expedition to Dronning Maud Land, in 1988/89. The oxygen isotope stratigraphy in the cores was used to obtain a proxy-temperature record and a surface accumulation record for the last 15–30 years. The ¹⁸O record from cores on the ice shelf and the escarpment area, below 2000 m a.s.l., show high variability and little year-to-year correspondence to each other or with the temperature record from nearby Halley. A stacked firn core record was produced to avoid local variability and minor dating errors; this record shows more similarities to the Halley temperature record. The ¹⁸O records from high altitude cores show a much better correspondence to the Halley temperature record over the last 30 years, implying that the source of precipitation is more stable compared to the coastal area. The welldeveloped ¹⁸O stratigraphy in the cores from coastal Dronning Maud Land makes it promising for future work using ice cores as paleoclimatic records.