Summary
Ice cores provide a suite of proxy variables which respond to potentially complex and non-linear interactions between many climatic and environmental variables. This complexity can obscure identification of links between ice core measurements and classical climate variables. Comparison of high resolution ice core data with meteorological series can aid in identifying such links and prompt better understanding of the underlying physical processes. Here we identify a link between the El Nino Southern Oscillation and austral summer sea-salt levels in the highly resolved Law Dome series. We find significant correlation between the logarithm of chloride concentrations and sea-level pressure (SLP). This is evident in correlations with NCEP SLP and sea-surface temperature fields, which show strong ENSO-like patterns. Moreover the correlation is seen in the longer (1866-present) southern oscillation index (SOI), indicating a persistence of the relationship beyond the satellite era. Although sea-salt levels are higher and more variable in winter, computation of log-concentrations enhances sensitivity to lower-level variability seen in the summer season. Summer only averages of log-concentrations yield similar correlations to annual averages (again of log-concentration) confirming that the winter variability is not the source of the relationship. Correlation with SOI increases slightly when SOI series leads by 1-3 months.