The Roosevelt Island Climate Evolution (RICE) ice core: climate and ice dynamics of the Ross Sea, West Antarctica

Abstract:

Ice cores drilled in Antarctica have proven to be remarkable archives of past climate, but most have been recovered from the remote Antarctic interior. In contrast, little is known about the climate history of coastal ice domes despite their relevance to ocean-ice interaction and sea level rise. The Roosevelt Island Climate Evolution project (RICE) recovered a 763 m ice core in 2013 from Roosevelt Island, West Antarctica. Located at the edge of the Ross Ice Shelf and grounded below sea level, Roosevelt Island is sensitive to oceanic forcing and may provide new information about potential drivers of abrupt interhemispheric climate connections and its location is ideal for exploring the retreat of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) from its glacial maximum through the Ross Sea. Here we present a continuous chronology for the RICE Ice Core covering the last 40,000 years with additional evidence of ice dating to at least 80,000 years near the bottom of the core. Both the depth-age relationship and reconstructed profile of annual layer thicknesses can be used to infer changes in climate and the glacial history of the East Ross Sea Embayment. The most striking feature of the record occurred during the Antarctic Cold Reversal. At this time a combination of data including thin annual layers, abrupt lowering of δ¹⁵N of N₂ and δ⁴⁰Ar in trapped air, and strongly depleted δD of ice suggest either a pronounced change in cyclonic activity and regional storm tracks and/or adjustment in the configuration of the Ross Ice Sheet during this period of rapid climate change and sea level rise.