The GRIP deuterium-excess record

Quaternary Science Reviews, Vol. 26, 1-2, doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2006.07.015, 2007

J. Jouzel, M. Stiévenard, A. Landais, V. Masson-Delmotte, F. Vimeux and U. von Grafenstein
IPSL/Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, CE Saclay-91191 Gif/Yvette, France.
S.J. Johnsen
Ice and Climate, The Niels Bohr Institute, Juliane Maries Vej 30, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
A. Sveinbjörnsdottir
Science Institute, University of Reykjavik, Dunhaga 3, Reykjavik 107, Iceland.
J.W.C. White
Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research and Department of Geological Sciences, Campus Box 450, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA.

ABSTRACT.
Ice cores from Greenland and Antarctica are ideal archives for retrieving long time series of deuterium-excess (d = δD-8*δ¹⁸O), a parameter influenced by conditions prevailing in the oceanic regions which provide moisture for polar snow. The central Greenland GRIP deuterium-excess record has recently been interpreted in terms of oceanic source temperatures both for the Holocene and for the last glacial period, this approach being less straightforward for the latter period because of changes in the precipitation seasonality between glacial and interglacial periods. This article examines why a conventional, or sea surface temperature, interpretation of the GRIP excess record seems inconsistent with inferred site and source temperature changes. In addition, the GRIP excess record is extended back into the penultimate glacial period and we assess its geographic significance through a comparison with existing Dye 3 and North GRIP data. We examine why low δD/δ¹⁸O slopes observed during glacial times are associated with low deuterium-excess values. Similarities between the Greenland GRIP and Antarctic Vostok excess records are discussed in terms of potential links with insolation and insolation gradient changes. Finally, the isotope records in specific DO events are examined in light of intruiging differences between the isotope ratios (δD or δ¹⁸O) and the excess records that may result from a feedback mechanism linked with freshwater oceanic input.