Denali Ice Core Record of North Pacific Sea Surface Temperatures and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation

Abstract:

Ice cores collected from high elevation alpine glaciers in the Alaska Range provide a unique opportunity to investigate changes in the regional climate of southern Alaska and the north Pacific over the past millennium. In this study, we seek to investigate changes in sea surface temperature (SST) in the north-central Pacific Ocean using the deuterium excess (d-excess) record from the Mt. Hunter ice cores collected in Denali National Park, Alaska. A collaborative research team from Dartmouth College and the Universities of Maine and New Hampshire collected two parallel ice cores to bedrock (208 m long) in May-June 2013 from the Mt. Hunter summit plateau (63º N, 151º W, 4,000 m above sea level). The cores were melted on a continuous melter system in the Dartmouth ice core lab and then analyzed for concentrations of major ions and trace elements, as well as stable water isotope ratios. The depth-age scale of the cores was determined using annual layer counting of δ¹⁸O and the concentrations of Mg, NH₄, and Methanesulfonic acid (MSA) obtained by ion chromatography. The depth-age scale was validated using large, well-dated volcanic eruptions and the spike in ¹³⁷Cs concentrations associated with nuclear weapons testing in 1963. Preliminary analyses indicate that the full record spans the past millennium. Analysis of the isotope data set extending back to 1938 using reanalysis data shows a positive correlation (p<0.05) between d-excess at the core site and the north-central Pacific SST. The north-central Pacific region of positive SST-d-excess correlation occurs at one node of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), and thus the Denali cores are sensitive to PDO variability with low (high) d-excess associated with positive (negative) PDO index values. We also note a significant (p<0.05) declining trend in d-excess from 1938-2012, which we hypothesize to represent a rising proportion of Arctic moisture sources influencing Denali as Arctic temperatures and evaporation rates have increased.