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Climate changes in the Atlantic Sector of Antarctica over The Past 500 Years from Ice-Core and Other Evidence

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Climatic Variations and Forcing Mechanisms of the Last 2000 Years

Part of the book series: NATO ASI Series ((ASII,volume 41))

Abstract

Evidence from ice cores, borehole temperatures, early expeditions and glacier margins is used to identify the major climate trends of the past 500 years in the Antarctic Peninsula region. Apparent conflicts between the different data sources are exposed and causes discussed. Ice-core records from areas influenced by the Weddell Sea appear to be strongly sensitive to ice-edge effects, which can be detected in the profiles of deuterium excess and methane sulphonic acid. The various data now appear to be consistent with a scenario where conditions during the mid-19th century to 1940’s period was fairly cool until the onset of the recent extensive warming in the post-1940’s period. The coldest period of the past 300 years appears to have occurred around 1760–1780, associated with strong disturbances in the atmospheric circulation in the Weddell Sea region. This may be contemporaneous with a rather stronger cold anomaly previously observed at Law Dome and suggested for ice cores recovered elsewhere in East Antarctica.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. British Antarctic Survey, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 OET, UK

    D A Peel, R Mulvaney & E C Pasteur

  2. Isotope Geosciences Laboratory, Kingsley Dunham Centre, Keyworth, Nottingham, NG12 5GG, UK

    C Chenery

Authors
  1. D A Peel
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  2. R Mulvaney
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  3. E C Pasteur
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  4. C Chenery
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Climatic Research Unit, University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, UK

    Philip D. Jones

  2. Department of Geosciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 01003-5820, MA, USA

    Raymond S. Bradley

  3. Laboratoire de Modélisation du Climat et de l’Environnment, Orme des Merisiers, C E Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, F-91191, France

    Jean Jouzel

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© 1996 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Peel, D.A., Mulvaney, R., Pasteur, E.C., Chenery, C. (1996). Climate changes in the Atlantic Sector of Antarctica over The Past 500 Years from Ice-Core and Other Evidence. In: Jones, P.D., Bradley, R.S., Jouzel, J. (eds) Climatic Variations and Forcing Mechanisms of the Last 2000 Years. NATO ASI Series, vol 41. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-61113-1_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-61113-1_12

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-64700-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-61113-1

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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