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Mid latitude winter climate variability in the South Indian and southwest Pacific regions since 1300 AD

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Abstract

Mid-latitude winter atmospheric variability in the South Indian Ocean and southwest Pacific Ocean regions of the circum-Antarctic are reconstructed using sea-salt aerosol concentrations measured in the high resolution Law Dome (DSS) ice core from East Antarctica. The sea-salt aerosol concentration data, as sodium (Na), were measured at approximately monthly resolution spanning the past 700 years. Analyses of covariations between Na concentrations in Law Dome ice, and mean sea-level pressure (MSLP) and wind field data were conducted to define the mid-latitude and sub-Antarctic atmospheric circulation patterns associated with variations in Na delivery. High Na concentrations in Law Dome snow are associated with increased meridional aerosol transport from mid-latitude sources. The seasonal average Na concentration for early winter (May, June, July (MJJ)) is strongly correlated to the mid-latitude MSLP field in the South Indian and southwest Pacific Oceans, and southern Australian regions. In addition, the average MJJ Na concentrations display a strong association with the stationary Rossby wave number 3 circulation, and are anti-correlated to the Southern Annular Mode (SAM) index of climate variability: high (low) Na concentrations occurring during negative (positive) SAM phases. This observed relationship is used to derive a proxy record for early-winter MSLP anomalies and the SAM in the South Indian and southwest Pacific Ocean regions over the period 1300–1995 AD. The proxy SAM index from 1300 to 1995 AD shows pronounced decadal-scale variability throughout. The period after 1500 AD is marked by a tendency toward slower variations and a weakly-positive mean SAM (enhanced westerlies in the 50° to 65°S zone) compared to the early part of the record.

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Acknowledgements

The results presented here are the culmination of extensive ice-core drilling fieldwork and laboratory analyses over the last decade. We acknowledge Anne Palmer for contributions to sampling and analysis of the DSS97 and DSS99 sodium data and integration of the core records. Sodium measurements on the DSS core were made by S. Whitlow and J. Souney at the Climate Change Research Center, Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans and Space, University of New Hampshire. The stable oxygen isotope measurements used to develop the monthly chronology of sea-salt concentration were made at the Glaciology Program, Australian Antarctic Division. Figures 3, 4 and 5 were prepared with images provided by the NOAA-CIRES Climate Diagnostics Center, Boulder, Colorado from their website at http://www.cdc.noaa.gov/. This work was supported by the Australian Government’s Cooperative Research Centres Programme through the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre (ACE CRC).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Geoscience Group, School of Environmental and Life Sciences, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, N.S.W. 2308, Australia

    I. D. Goodwin

  2. Department of the Environment and Heritage, Australian Antarctic Division, and Antarctic Climate & Ecosystems CRC, Private Bag 80, Hobart, Tasmania, Tasmania, 7001, Australia

    T. D. van Ommen & M. A. J. Curran

  3. Climate Change Institute, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469, USA

    P. A. Mayewski

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  1. I. D. Goodwin
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  2. T. D. van Ommen
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  3. M. A. J. Curran
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  4. P. A. Mayewski
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Correspondence to I. D. Goodwin.

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Goodwin, I.D., van Ommen, T.D., Curran, M.A.J. et al. Mid latitude winter climate variability in the South Indian and southwest Pacific regions since 1300 AD. Climate Dynamics 22, 783–794 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-004-0403-3

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