Open AccessSulfate sources and oxidation chemistry over the past 230 years from sulfur and oxygen isotopes of sulfate in a West Antarctic ice core
Author(s) -
Kunasek S. A.,
Alexander B.,
Steig E. J.,
Sofen E. D.,
Jackson T. L.,
Thiemens M. H.,
McConnell J. R.,
Gleason D. J.,
Amos H. M.
Publication year - 2010
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 - 10.1029/2010jd013846
Subject(s) - sulfate , ice core , sea salt , volcano , sulfur , isotopes of oxygen , sea ice , oceanography , geology , atmospheric sciences , climatology , environmental chemistry , chemistry , geochemistry , aerosol , organic chemistry
The sulfur and oxygen isotopic composition of sulfate in polar ice cores provides information about atmospheric sulfate sources and formation pathways, which have been impacted regionally by human activity over the past several centuries. We present decadal scale mean ice core measurements of Δ 17 O, δ 34 S, Δ 33 S, and Δ 36 S of sulfate over the past 230 years from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) Divide deep ice core drill site (WDC05‐A). The low mean δ 34 S of non–sea‐salt sulfate at WAIS Divide (6.0 ± 0.2‰) relative to East Antarctic coastal and plateau sites may reflect a combination of stronger influence of volcanogenic and/or stratospheric sulfate with low δ 34 S and the influence of frost flowers on the sea‐salt sulfate‐to‐sodium ratio. Δ 33 S and Δ 36 S measurements are all within analytical uncertainty of zero but do not contradict a contribution of stratospheric sources to background sulfate deposition at WAIS Divide. Δ 17 O of non–sea‐salt sulfate shows a small but significant increase between the late 1700s (1.8‰ ± 0.2‰) and late 1800s (2.6‰ ± 0.2‰), but the influence of stratospheric scale volcanic events on Δ 17 O in the early 1800s remains uncertain. An isotope mass balance model shows that the lack of change in Δ 17 O of non–sea‐salt sulfate from the mid‐1800s to early 2000s (2.4‰–2.6‰ ± 0.2‰) is consistent with previous atmospheric chemistry model estimates indicating preindustrial to industrial increases in O 3 as high as 50% and decreases in OH of 20% in the southern polar troposphere, as long as H 2 O 2 concentrations also increase by over 50%.