An annually resolved chronology for the Mount Brown South ice cores, East Antarctica

Abstract

Climate reconstructions of the last millennium rely on networks of high-resolution and well-dated proxy records. This study presents age-at-depth data and preliminary results from the new Mount Brown South (MBS) ice cores, collected at an elevation of 2084 m on the boundary of Princess Elizabeth Land and Kaiser Wilhelm II Land in East Antarctica. We show an initial analysis of the site meteorology, mean annual chemical species concentrations and seasonal cycles, including the identification of a seasonal cycle in fluoride concentrations. The annually resolved chronologies were developed from the chemistry data using a site-specific layer-counting methodology that employed seasonally varying trace chemical species and stable water isotopic ratios, combined with alignment to known volcanic horizons. The uncertainty in the determination of annual horizons via layer counting was also quantified. The chronologies developed include the “Main” 295 m record spanning 1137 years (873–2009 CE) and three surface cores spanning the most recent 39–52 years up to the surface age at the time of drilling (austral summer 2017/2018). Mean annual trace chemical concentrations are compared to the Law Dome ice core (located 1130 km east of the Mount Brown South site) and discussed in terms of atmospheric transport. The MBS chronologies presented here – named MBS2023 – will underpin the development of new palaeoclimate records spanning the past millennium from this under-represented region of East Antarctica.