Isotopic composition and origin of polar precipitation in present and glacial climate simulations

Martin Werner; Martin Heimann; Georg Hoffmann

doi:10.3402/tellusb.v53i1.16539

Isotopic composition and origin of polar precipitation in present and glacial climate simulations

Tellus B: Chemical and Physical Meteorology

Volume 53 (2001): Issue 1

By: Martin Werner, Martin Heimann and Georg Hoffmann

Open Access

|Jan 2001

Abstract

The Hamburg atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM) ECHAM-4 is used to identify the main source regions of precipitation falling on Greenland and Antarctica. Both water isotopes H₂₁₈O and HDO are explicitly built into the water cycle of the AGCM, and in addition the capability to trace water from different source regions was added to the model. Present and LGM climate simulations show that water from the most important source regions has an isotopic signature similar to the mean isotope values of the total precipitation amount. But water from other source regions (with very different isotopic signatures) contributes an additional, non-negligible part of the total precipitation amount on both Greenland and Antarctica. Analyses of the temperature-isotope-relations for both polar regions reveal a solely bias of the glacial isotope signal on Greenland, which is caused by a strong change in the seasonal deposition of precipitation originating from nearby polar seas and the northern Atlantic. Although the performed simulations under LGM boundary conditions show a decrease of the δ¹⁸O values in precipitation in agreement with ice core measurements, the AGCM fails to reproduce the observed simultaneous decrease of the deuterium excess signal.

References

Aristarain , A. J. , Jouzel , J. and Pourchet , M . 1986 . Past Antarctic Peninsula climate (1850-1980) from an ice isotope record . Clim. Change 8 , 69 – 86 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Armengaud , A. , Koster , R. D. , Jouzel , J. and Ciais , P . 1998 . Deuterium excess in Greenland snow — analysis with simple and complex models . J. Geophys. Res . 103 , 8947 – 8953 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Barnola , J. M. , Raynaud , D. , Korotkevich , Y. S. and Lorius , C . 1987 . Vostok ice core provides 160,000-year record of atmospheric CO2 . Nature 329 , 408 – 414 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Beer , J. , Siegenthaler , U. , Bonani , G. , Finkel , R. C. , Oeschger , H. , Suter , M. and Wölfli , W . 1988 . Information on past solar activity and geomagnetism from 'Be in the Camp Century ice core . Nature 331 , 675 – 679 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Berger , A. L . 1978 . Long-term variations of daily insolation and Quaternary climatic changes . Journal of Atmospheric Science 35 , 2362 – 2367 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Broecker , W. S . 1996 . Glacial climate in the tropics . Science 272 , 1902 – 1904 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Bromwich , D. H . 1988 . Snowfall in high southern latitudes . Rev. Geophys . 26 , 149 – 168 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Bromwich , D. H. , Robasky , F. M. , Keen , R. A. and Bolzan , J. F . 1993 . Modeled variations of precipitation over Greenland ice sheet . J. Clim . 6 , 1253 – 1268 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Charles , C. D. , Rind , D. H. , Jouzel , J. , Koster , R. D. and Fairbanks , R. G . 1994 . Glacial-interglacial changes in moisture sources for Greenland: influences on the ice core record of climate . Science 263 , 508 – 511 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Ciais , P. , White , J. W. C. , Jouzel , J. and Petit , J. R . 1995 . The origin of present-day Antarctic precipitation from surface snow deuterium excess data . J. Geophys. Res. 100 , 18 , 917-18 , 927 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
CLIMAP Project Members 1981. Seasonal reconstruction of the Earth surface at the last glacial maximum. Geol. Soc. Am. Map and Chart. Ser. MC-36, Boulder, Colorado.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Cuffey , K. M. and Clow , G. D . 1997 . Temperature, accumulation, and ice sheet elevation in cenral Greenland through the last deglacial transition . J. Geophys. Res . 102 , 26 , 383-26 , 396 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Cuffey , K. M. , Clow , G. D. , Alley , R. B. , Stuiver , M. , Waddington , E. D. and Saltus , R. W . 1995 . Large Arctic temperature change at the Wisconsin-holocene glacial transition . Science 270 , 455 – 458 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Cullather , R. I. , Bromwich , D. H. and Vanwoert , M. L . 1998 . Spatial and temporal variability of Antarctic precipitation from atmospheric methods . J. aim . 11 , 334 – 367 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Dahe , Q. , Petit , J. R. , Jouzel , J. and Stievenard , M . 1994 . Distribution of stable isotopes in surface snow along the route of the 1990 International Trans-Antarctica expedition . J. Glaciol . 40 , 107 – 118 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Dahl-Jensen , D. , Mosegaard , K. , Gundestrup , N. S. , Clow , G. D. , Johnsen , S. J. , Hansen , A. W. and Balling , N . 1998 . Past temperature directly from the Greenland ice sheet . Science 282 , 268 – 271 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Dansgaard , W . 1964 . Stable isotopes in precipitation . Tellus 16 , 436 – 468 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Dansgaard , W. , Johnsen , S. J. , Clausen , H. B. , Dahl-Jensen , D. , Gundestrup , N. S. , Hammer , C. U. , Hvid-berg , C. S. , Steffensen , J. P. , Sveinbjörnsdottir , A. E. , Jouzel , J. and Bond , G . 1993 . Evidence for general instability of past climate from a 250-kyr ice-core record . Nature 364 , 218 – 220 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Delaygue , G. , Masson , V. , Jouzel , J. , Koster , R. D. and Healy , R. J . 2000 . The origin of Antarctic precipitation: a modelling approach . Tellus 52B , 19 – 36 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Giovinetto , M. B. and Zwally , H. J . 1997 . Areal distribution of the oxygen-isotope ratio in Antarctica: an assessment based on multivariate models . Ann. Glaciol . 25 , 153 – 158 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Grootes , P. M. , Stuiver , M. , White , J. W. C. , Johnsen , S. J. and Jouzel , J . 1993 . Comparison of oxygen isotope records from the GISP2 and GRIP Greenland ice cores . Nature 366 , 552 – 554 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Guilderson , T. P. , Fairbanks , R. G. and Rubenstone , J. L . 1994 . Tropical temperature variations since 20,000 years ago: modulating interhemispheric climate change . Science 263 , 663 – 665 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Hoffmann , G. , Stievenard , M. , Jouzel , J. , White , J. W. C. and Johnsen , S. J . 1997 . Deuterium excess record from central Greenland (modelling and observations) . In: International Symposium on Isotope techniques in the study of past and current environmental changes in the hydrosphere and the atmosphere (ed. P. Murphy ). I.A.E.A ., Vienna .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Hoffmann , G. , Werner , M. and Heimann , M . 1998 . The water isotope module of the ECHAM atmospheric general circulation model — a study on time scales from days to several years . J. Geophys. Res . 103 , 16 , 871-16 , 896 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Johnsen , S. J. , Dahl-Jensen , D. , Dansgaard , W. and Gundestrup , N. S . 1995 . Greenland paleotemperatures derived from GRIP bore hole temperature and ice core isotope profiles . Tellus 47B , 424 – 629 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Johnsen , S. J. , Dansgaard , W. and White , J. W. C . 1989 . The origin of Arctic precipitation under present and glacial conditions . Tellus 41B , 452 – 468 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Joussaume , J. , Sadourny , R. and Jouzel , J . 1984 . A general circulation model of water isotope cycles in the atmosphere . Nature 311 , 24 – 29 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Jouzel , J . 1999 . Calibrating the isotopic paleothermo-meter . Science 286 , 910 – 911 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Jouzel , J. , Alley , R. B. , Cuffey , K. M. , Dansgaard , W. , Grootes , P. M. , Hoffmann , G. , Johnsen , S. J. , Koster , R. D. , Peel , D. , Shuman , C. A. , Stievenard , M. , Stuiver , M. and White , J. W. C . 1997 . Validity of the temperature reconstruction from water isotopes in ice cores . J. Geophys. Res . 102 , 26 , 471 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Jouzel , J. , Lorius , C. , Petit , J. R. , Genthon , C. , Barkov , N. I. , Kotlyakov , V. M. and Petrov , M . 1987 . Vostok ice core: a continuous isotope temperature record over the last climatic cycle (160,000 years) . Nature 329 , 403 – 408 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Kapsner , W. R. , Alley , R. B. , Shuman , C. A. , Anandak-rishnan , S. and Grootes , P. M . 1995 . Dominant influence of atmospheric circulation on snow accumulation in Greenland over the past 18,000 years . Nature 373 , 52 – 54 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Koster , R. D. , Jouzel , J. , Suozzo , R. J. and Russell , G. L . 1992 . Origin of July Antarctic precipitation and its influence on deuterium content: a GCM analysis . Climate Dyn . 7 , 195 – 203 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Krinner , G. , Genthon , C. and Jouzel , J . 1997 . GCM analysis of local influences on ice core delta signals . Geophys. Res. Lett . 24 , 2825 – 2828 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Lorius , C . 1989. Polar ice cores and climate. Climate and geo-sciences (ed. A. L. Berger ). Kluwer Academic Publishers, 77 – 103
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Lorius , C. , Jouzel , J. , Ritz , C. , Merlivat , L. , Barkov , N. I. , Korotkevich , Y. S. and Kotlyakov , V. M . 1985 . A 150,000-year climatic record from Antarctic ice . Nature 316 , 591 – 596 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Lorius , C. , Merlivat , L. , Jouzel , J. and Pourchet , M . 1979 . A 30,000-yr isotope climatic record from Antarctic ice . Nature 280 , 644 – 648 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Merlivat , L. and Jouzel , J . 1979 . Global climatic interpretation of the deuterium-oxygen 18 relationship for precipitation . J. Geophys. Res . 84 , 5029 – 5033 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Ohmura , A. and Reeh , N . 1991 . New precipitation and accumulation maps for Greenland . J. Glaciol . 37 , 140 – 148 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Peltier , W. R . 1994 . Ice age paleotopography . Science 265 , 195 – 201 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Roeckner , E. , Arpe , K. , Bengtsson , L. , Christoph , M. , Claussen , M. , Dfimenil , L. , Esch , M. , Giorgetta , M. , Schlese , U. and Schulzweida , U . 1996. The atmospheric general circulation model Echam-4: model description and simulation of present-day climate. MPI-Report 218. Max-Planck-Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Severinghaus , J. P. , Sowers , T. A. , Brook , E. J. Alley , R. B. and Bender , M. L . 1998 . Timing of abrupt climate change at the end of the younger Dryas interval from thermally fractionated gases in polar ice . Nature 391 , 141 – 146 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Stute , M. , Forster , M. , Frischkorn , H. , Serejo , A. , Clark , J. F. , Schlosser , P. , Broecker , W. S. and Bonani , G . 1995 . Cooling of tropical Brazil (5-degrees-C) during the last glacial maximum . Science 269 , 379 – 383 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
van Lipzig , N. P. M . 1999 . The surface mass balance of the Antarctic ice sheet: a study with a regional atmospheric model. PhD thesis. Faculteit Natuuren Sterrenkunde , Universiteit Utrecht , Utrecht , The Netherlands .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Vimeux , F. , Masson , V. , Jouzel , J. , Stievenard , M. and Petit , J. R . 1999 . Glacial-interglacial changes in ocean surface conditions in the southern hemisphere . Nature 398 , 410 – 413 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Webb , R. S. , Rind , D. H. , Lehman , S. J. , Healy , R. J. and Sigman , D . 1997 . Influence of ocean heat transport on the climate of the last glacial maximum . Nature 385 , 695 – 699 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Weinelt , M. , Sarntheim , M. , Pflaumann , U. , Schulz , H. , Jung , S. and Erlenkeuser , H . 1996 . Ice-free Nordic Seas during the last glacial maximum? Potential sites of deepwater formation . Paleoclimates 1 , 283 – 309 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Werner , M. , Mikolajewicz , U. , Heimann , M. and Hoffmann , G . 2000 . Borehole versus isotope temperatures on Greenland: seasonality does matter . Geophys. Res. Lett . 27 , 723 – 726 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Yang , Q. Z. , Mayewski , P. A. , Twickler , M. S. and Whitlow , S. I . 1997 . Major features of glaciochemistry over the last 110,000 years in the Greenland ice sheet project 2 ice core . J. Geophys. Res . 102 , 23 , 289-23 , 299 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article