Open AccessIce core chemistry of Vestfonna Ice Cap in Svalbard, Norway
Author(s) -
Matoba Sumito,
Narita Hideki,
Motoyama Hideaki,
Kamiyama Kokichi,
Watanabe Okitsugu
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: atmospheres
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.67
H-Index - 298
eISSN - 2156-2202
pISSN - 0148-0227
DOI - 10.1029/2002jd002205
Subject(s) - ice core , snow , groenlandia , atmospheric sciences , geology , volcano , climatology , cryosphere , advection , physical geography , environmental science , oceanography , sea ice , ice sheet , geomorphology , geography , geochemistry , physics , thermodynamics
Chemical analyses were done on samples from a 2.2‐m deep snow pit and a 211‐m deep ice core that came from the top of the Vestfonna Ice Cap in Nordaustlandet, Svalbard, Norway. The snow pit samples showed that the temperature increased during the winter owing to advection of warm air from the south, and δ 18 O did not show a seasonal cycle. Chronology of the ice core was determined by tritium analysis and comparison to the signal from the volcanic eruption of Laki; the resulting accumulation rate was 0.34–0.35 m water eq. · yr −1 for the last 400 years. The δ 18 O profile in the ice core revealed a warm period from 1920 up to the present in Svalbard. According to nonseasalt (nss) SO 4 2− and NO 3 − concentrations, anthropogenic substances had increased from 1940s but declined from 1970s to the present. The variation of nss SO 4 2− and the increase of NO 3 − can be explained by an increase of SO 2 and NO x emissions from Eurasia. The decline of NO 3 − is assumed to be caused either by a change in the transport process or by a change of NO x emissions from Europe.