Summary

A compilation of sea salt data from East Antarctic ice cores are used to quantify the contribution of open ocean and sea ice to the sea salt budget. The ice cores used in this study are from Law Dome, Totten Glacier, Wilkes Land and Wilhelm II Land. Also included are ice cores from off the coast on Mill Island and iceberg B09B (which was grounded near the Mertz Glacier). Sea salt aerosols have two main sources, namely ocean sea spray (related to wind strength) and surface sea ice (due to frost flowers). Frost flowers sources are depleted in sulphate, and this contribution can be calculated from deviations to the expected sulphate:sodium ratio found in seawater. This was calculated for the array of ice cores, and we find that the frost flower source to the Antarctic ice sheet diminishes with elevation and distance inland.

Authors:Curran M.A.J. van Ommen T.D. Moy A.D. Vance T. Goodwin I.D. Published in: 2011 Category 3: Verbal presentation Program area: Ice, Ocean, Atmosphere and Climate
Read publication at iugg2011.com
Curran M.A.J., van Ommen T.D., Moy A.D., Vance T., Goodwin I.D. (2011) Understanding sources of sea salts to Coastal Antarctica, XXV International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG) Conference, Melbourne, Australia, 28 June-7 July, 2011 .; http://www.iugg2011.com/;

Related projects

Aurora Basin North Ice Core Drilling 08/09: Past and Present Climate CURRAN, Dr Mark Casey, Australia (or home country)
East Antarctic and Circum-Antarctic climate history in Queen Mary Land : An Australian contribution to ITASE GOODWIN, A/Prof. Ian Commonwealth Bay, George V Land, Eastern Wilkes Land, Wilkes Land Coast, Wilkes Land Plateau, Casey, Other, Australia (or home country)
The relationship between climatic/environmental signals from high resolution snow pit studies and meteorological conditions CURRAN, Dr Mark Casey, Law Dome
Ice core paleoclimatology VAN OMMEN, Dr Tasman (Tas) Casey, Australia (or home country)
on