Ion concentrations in ice wedges: An innovative approach to reconstruct past climate variability

TitleIon concentrations in ice wedges: An innovative approach to reconstruct past climate variability
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2019
AuthorsLizuka, Y., C. Miyamoto, S. Matoba, G. Iwahana, K. Horiuchi, Y. Takahashi, N. Kanna, K. Suzuki, and H. Ohno
JournalEarth and Planetary Science Letters
Volume515
Pagination58 - 66
Date Published01/2019
KeywordsBarrow, Beaufort Sea, ice wedge, ion concentrations, last deglaciation
Abstract

For atmospheric gases and aerosols, snow and ice provide a useful archive of paleoenvironmental history. In the northern hemisphere, this archive has been largely limited to Greenland ice, but promising pioneering work has been done recently using chronology of an ice wedge in Barrow, northern Alaska. Here, we investigate past aerosols at the same ice-wedge sampling site, reconstructing the sea-ice fluctuations in the adjacent Beaufort Sea during the Bølling/Allerød (BA) and Younger Dryas (YD) periods. We confirm the integrity of methanesulfonate ion (MS−) concentrations in the BIWS as marine proxies, and then find that the ice wedge has a high MS− concentration through the beginning (coldest) YD periods. The high MS− concentration indicates that even during the coldest YD periods (12,900–12,700 yrBP), the near-shore region in the Alaskan Beaufort Sea near Barrow may not have been completely filled by permanent sea ice.

DOI10.1016/j.epsl.2019.03.013