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An ice-core record over the last two centuries from Penny Ice Cap, Baffin Island, Canada

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 September 2017

Kumiko Goto-Azuma
Affiliation:
National Institute of Polar Research, 1-9-10 Kaga, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo 173-8515, Japan E-mail: kumiko@pmg.nipr.ac.jp
Roy M. Koerner
Affiliation:
Geological Survey of Canada, 601 Booth Street, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0E8, Canada
David A. Fisher
Affiliation:
Geological Survey of Canada, 601 Booth Street, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0E8, Canada
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Abstract

In order to reconstruct climatic and environmental changes in the Canadian Arctic, an 85 m deep ice core drilled in 1995 on Penny Ice Cap, Baffin Island, was analyzed for ions and δ18O. In addition to the core, snow-pit samples collected in 1994 and 1995 were also analyzed. Elution of ions caused by summer melting was observed in the pits. Due to the heavy summer melting on this ice cap, seasonal variations of ion chemistry and δ18O were not always present in the core. Comparisons of this core with a previously reported core drilled 2.5 maway show that the noise contained in single annual time series is 40–50% for ions and 25% for δ18O. the ice-core data, however, provide us with a reasonable proxy record of climatic and environmental changes during the last two centuries on better than a decadal basis. Sulfate and nitrate concentrations started to increase around 1900 and 1960, respectively, due to anthropogenic influx transported from the industrialized regions in North America. Sea-salt concentrations began to increase around the mid-19th century and were elevated throughout the 20th century. This trend of sea-salt concentrations is similar to that of melt percentage, which is a measure of summer temperature. Warming after the Little Ice Age would have reduced the sea-ice extent and led to the elevated sea-salt concentrations on Penny Ice Cap.

Information

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © the Author(s) [year] 2002
Figure 0

Fig. 1 Location of Penny Ice Cap, Baffin Island, after Zdanowicz and others (1998). the locations of the automatic weather station (AWS) and ice-core drilling site in 1995 are shown.

Figure 1

Fig. 2 Stratigraphy of the 1995 and 1994 pits. Thick arrows show the end of the previous summers.

Figure 2

Fig. 3 Ion concentrations and δ18O in the 1995 and 1994 pits. Water equivalent depth in meters is marked on the right vertical axis. Dashed lines indicate the end of the previous summer. Thick and thin arrows show the previous spring peaks and ions concentrated by the melt–refreeze effect, respectively.

Figure 3

Fig. 4 Detailed profile of δ18O at 25–45 m depths. the arrow indicates the depth section with the highest melt percentage.

Figure 4

Fig. 5 Annual mean concentrations of SO42– and NO3 obtained from the 85 m deep core.

Figure 5

Fig. 6 Correlation coefficient time series R(t) for Cl (a), SO42– (b) and Ca2+ (c), computed from the two Penny cores that are 2.5 m apart, together with annual percentage melt from the 334 m core (d). Thick and thin lines represent correlation coefficients for annual average series and seasonal series, respectively. the correlations not significant at 95% level are indicated with the downward-pointing arrow curves.

Figure 6

Table 1. Average correlation coefficients for various species calculated from the two Penny 1995 cores drilled 2.5 m apart

Figure 7

Fig. 7 Hourly snow-accumulation and air-temperature records for 6 May 1994 to 12May 1995 from the AWS. the arrow indicates the winter months. the sudden increase of accumulation in late July is due to rime falling off the snow-depth sensor onto the snow surface underneath.

Figure 8

Fig. 8 Annual mean values of Clconcentrations, δ18O and percentage melt (solid curves) together with the spline curves (broken curves). the former two were obtained from the 85 m deep core, and the latter from the 334 m deep core.