NOAA/WDS Paleoclimatology - Komsomolskaia, Antarctica Surface Air Temperature Reconstruction during the last 15,000 years

STUDY NOTES: This dataset was contributed as part of the Temperature-12k project (https://doi.org/10.25921/4RY2-G808). Data were contributed to the project from the original data generators, who are listed in the Investigator field of this template file. Additional notes regarding the use of these data in the Temperature-12k project can be found in the LiPD file listed as an Online_Resource of this template file.
ABSTRACT SUPPLIED BY ORIGINATOR: In the interpretation of the Antarctic deep ice-core data, little attention has been given to the Holocene part of the records. As far as translation of the stable isotope content in terms of temperature is concerned, this can be understood because expected temperature changes may be obscured by isotopic noise of various origins and because no 14C dating has yet been available for this type of sequence. In this article, we focus on the Dome C and Vostok cores and on a new 850-m long ice core drilled out at Komsomolskaïa by the Soviet Antarctic Expeditions. These three sites are located in East Antarctica, on the Antarctic plateau, in a region essentially undisturbed by ice-flow conditions, so that their detailed intercomparison may allow us to identify the climatically significant isotopic signal. Our results compare well with the proximal records of Southern Hemisphere high latitudes and support the existence of a warmer “climatic optimum” between 10 and 6 ka y BP. Maximum temperatures are reached just at the end of the last deglaciation, which confirms previous observations at high latitudes, in contrast with later dates for the Atlantic and hypsithermal optima in Europe and North America.