Holocene Climate Variability in Antarctica Based on 11 Ice-Core Isotopic Records.

Quaternary Research, 54, p. 348-358, 2000

V. Masson, F. Vimeux, J. Jouzel, M. Delmotte, P. Ciais, M. Stievenard
Laboratoire des Sciences Climat et de l'Environnement, Gif-Sur-Yvette, France.
V. Morgan
Antarctic CRC and Australian Antarctic Division, GPO Box 252-80, Hobart 7001, Australia
C. Hammer, S. Johnsen,
The Niels Bohr Institute of Astronomy, Physics and Geophysics, University of Copenhagen .
V. Ya. Lipenkov
Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, 38 Bering Street, St. Petersburg, 199397 Russia.
E. Mosley-Thompson
Byrd Polar Research Center, Department of Geography, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210.
J.-R. Petit
Laboratoire de Glaciologie et Géophysique de l'Environnement, 54 rue Molière, Domaine Universitaire, BP 96, 38402 Saint-Martin-d'Hères Cédex, France.
E.J. Steig
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Pennsylvania, 251 Hayden Hall, 240 South 33rd Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-6316.
R. Vaikmae
Institute of Geology, Tallinn Technical University, 7 Estonia Boulevard 10143 Tallin, Estonia.

ABSTRACT.
A comparison is made of the Holocene records abtained from water isotope measurements along 11 ice cores from coastal and central sites in east Antarctica (Vostok, Dome B, Plateau Remote, Komsomolskaia, Dome C, Taylor Dome, Dominion Range, D47, KM105, and Law Dome) and west Antarctica (Byrd), with temporal resolution from 20 to 50 yr. The longterm trends possibly reflect local ice sheet elevation fluctuations superimposed on common climatic fluctuations. All the records confirm the widespread Antarctic early Holocene optimum between 11,500 and 9000 yr; in the Ross Sea sector, a secondary optimum is identified between 7000 and 5000 yr, whereas all eastern Antarctic sites show a late optimum between 6000 and 3000 yr. Superimposed on the long time trend, all the records exhibit 9 aperiodic millennial-scale oscillations. Climatic optima show a reduced pacing between warm events (typically 800 yr), whereas cooler periods are associated with less-frequent warm events (pacing > 1200 yr).