Spatial and temporal characteristics of the Little Ice Age: The Antarctic ice-core record

Technical Report · Sun Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 1992

OSTI ID:7015519

Mosley-Thompson, E; Thompson, L G

Recently, ice core records from both hemispheres, in conjunction with other proxy records (e.g., tree rings, speleothems and corals), have shown that the Little Ice Age (LIA) was spatially extensive, extending to the Antarctic. This paper examines the temporal and spatial characteristics of the dust and delta 18O information from Antarctic ice cores. Substantial differences exist in the records. For example, a 550-year record of delta 18O and dust concentrations from Siple Station, Antarctica suggests that, less dusty conditions prevailed from A.D. 1600 to 1830. Alternately, dust and delta 18O data from South Pole Station indicate that opposite conditions (e.g., cooler and more dusty) were prevalent during the LIA. Three additional Antarctic delta 18O records are integrated with the Siple and South Pole histories for a more comprehensive picture of LIA conditions. The records provide additional support for the LIA temperature opposition between the Antarctic Peninsula region and East Antarctica. In addition, periods of strongest LIA cooling are not temporally synchronous over East Antarctica. These strong regional differences demonstrate that a suite of spatially distributed, high resolution ice core records will be necessary to characterize the LIA in Antarctica.

• Research Organization: Ohio State Univ., Columbus, OH (United States)
• OSTI ID: 7015519
• Report Number(s): AD-P-007347/8/XAB
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540110*
540210 -- Environment
Terrestrial-- Basic Studies-- (1990-)
540310 -- Environment
Aquatic-- Basic Studies-- (1990-)
58 GEOSCIENCES
580000 -- Geosciences
AMBIENT TEMPERATURE
ANTARCTIC REGIONS
CLIMATIC CHANGE
DISTRIBUTION
DRILL CORES
ICE
LITTLE ICE AGE
MONITORING
PALEOCLIMATOLOGY
PALEONTOLOGY
POLAR REGIONS
SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION
TREE RINGS