Summary
radionuclide 10Be may provide information on the timing and magnitude of past ground level enhancements (GLEs) in cosmic rays. In this paper, ice core 10Be concentrations from recent decades are compared with neutron monitor data in order to test this hypothesis. Two quasi-monthly resolution 10Be records were extracted from the DSS0506 ice core drilled at Dome Summit South (DSS) Law Dome, East Antarctica. The first record spanned 6-years centered on the largest GLE ever recorded by neutron monitors (that of 23rd of February 1956), whilst the second spanned 6-years centered around two of the largest GLEs recorded in the past decade (those of 29th October 2003 and 20th January 2005). Considered together, these GLEs could not be clearly linked to concomitant signals in 10Be concentration in quasi-monthly or annual resolution data. Since the ice core records used in this study had among the highest temporal resolution and most accurate dating achievable at any polar ice core site, we must reject the hypothesis that 10Be ice core records (as they are currently interpreted) are useful proxy indicators for the timing and magnitude of past GLEs. Failure to clearly observe GLE events probably results from the obscuration of any GLE signal present in the data by large local and seasonal meteorological variability inherent in 10Be concentrations