Summary

We present here data of mineral dust variability retrieved from an ice core of the central West Antarctic, spanning the last five decades. Main evidence provided by the geochemical analysis is that northerly air mass incursions to the coring site, tracked by insoluble dust microparticles, have declined over the past 50 yr. This result contrasts with dust records from ice cores reported to the coastal West Antarctic that show increases since mid-20th century. We attribute this difference to regional climatic changes due to the ozone depletion and its implications to westerly winds. We found that the diameters of insoluble microparticles in the central West Antarctica ice core are significantly correlated with cyclone depth (energy) and wind intensity around Antarctica.

Authors:Cataldo M. Evangelista H. Simões J.C. Godoi R.H.M. Simmonds I. Hollanda M.H. Wainer I. Aquino F. Van Grieken R. Published in: 2013 Category 1: Peer-reviewed literature Program area: Climate Processes and Change
Read publication at dx.doi.org
Cataldo M., Evangelista H., Simões J.C., Godoi R.H.M., Simmonds I., Hollanda M.H., Wainer I., Aquino F., Van Grieken R. (2013) Mineral dust variability in central West Antarctica associated with ozone depletio, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 13. 2165-2175; doi:10.5194/acp-13-2165-2013;

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