We present a 2700-year annually resolved chronology and snow accumulation history for the Roosevelt Island Climate Evolution (RICE) ice core, Ross Ice Shelf, West Antarctica. The core adds information on past accumulation changes in an otherwise poorly constrained sector of Antarctica. The timescale was constructed by identifying annual cycles in high-resolution impurity records, and it constitutes the top part of the Roosevelt Island Ice Core Chronology 2017 (RICE17). Validation by volcanic and methane matching to the WD2014 chronology from the WAIS Divide ice core shows that the two timescales are in excellent agreement. In a companion paper, gas matching to WAIS Divide is used to extend the timescale for the deeper part of the core in which annual layers cannot be identified. Based on the annually resolved timescale, we produced a record of past snow accumulation at Roosevelt Island. The accumulation history shows that Roosevelt Island experienced slightly increasing accumulation rates between 700 BCE and 1300 CE, with an average accumulation of 0.25±0.02 m water equivalent (w.e.) per year. Since 1300 CE, trends in the accumulation rate have been consistently negative, with an acceleration in the rate of decline after the mid-17th century. The current accumulation rate at Roosevelt Island is 0.210±0.002 m w.e. yr⁻¹ (average since 1965 CE, ±2σ), and it is rapidly declining with a trend corresponding to 0.8 mm yr⁻². The decline observed since the mid-1960s is 8 times faster than the long-term decreasing trend taking place over the previous centuries, with decadal mean accumulation rates consistently being below average. Previous research has shown a strong link between Roosevelt Island accumulation rates and the location and intensity of the Amundsen Sea Low, which has a significant impact on regional sea-ice extent. The decrease in accumulation rates at Roosevelt Island may therefore be explained in terms of a recent strengthening of the ASL and the expansion of sea ice in the eastern Ross Sea. The start of the rapid decrease in RICE accumulation rates observed in 1965 CE may thus mark the onset of significant increases in regional sea-ice extent.

High-resolution, well-dated climate archives provide an opportunity to investigate the dynamic interactions of climate patterns relevant for future projections. Here, we present data from a new, annually dated ice core record from the eastern Ross Sea, named the Roosevelt Island Climate Evolution (RICE) ice core. Comparison of this record with climate reanalysis data for the 1979–2012 interval shows that RICE reliably captures temperature and snow precipitation variability in the region. Trends over the past 2700 years in RICE are shown to be distinct from those in West Antarctica and the western Ross Sea captured by other ice cores. For most of this interval, the eastern Ross Sea was warming (or showing isotopic enrichment for other reasons), with increased snow accumulation and perhaps decreased sea ice concentration. However, West Antarctica cooled and the western Ross Sea showed no significant isotope temperature trend. This pattern here is referred to as the Ross Sea Dipole. Notably, during the Little Ice Age, West Antarctica and the western Ross Sea experienced colder than average temperatures, while the eastern Ross Sea underwent a period of warming or increased isotopic enrichment. From the 17th century onwards, this dipole relationship changed. All three regions show current warming, with snow accumulation declining in West Antarctica and the eastern Ross Sea but increasing in the western Ross Sea. We interpret this pattern as reflecting an increase in sea ice in the eastern Ross Sea with perhaps the establishment of a modern Roosevelt Island polynya as a local moisture source for RICE.

Emissions and long-range transport of toxic metals and metalloids pose a global threat to ecosystems and human health. Global industrialization occurring from the late nineteenth century releases large quantities of pollutants into the Earth's atmosphere. Despite international efforts to mitigate emissions, accumulation of metals is still observed in the most remote regions of the planet. New baseline studies are needed to determine (i) natural background concentration of pollutants, (ii) contributions of anthropogenic emissions, and (iii) potential remobilization of previously deposited metals. Constructing such records requires distinguishing source strength from transport efficiency to the recording site and accounting for local depositional effects. Here we investigate the sensitivity and representation of Southern Hemisphere atmospheric concentrations of heavy metals (Fe, Al, Mn, Pb, Tl, and As) in the Roosevelt Island Climate Evolution (RICE) ice core, a new coastal Antarctic ice core site. Concentration variability with precipitation is explored in daily surface snow samples collected over 70 days, while seasonal deposition is investigated through snow pit sampling. We find that snow sample concentrations increase with particular snow precipitation types (rime and fog) and enhanced meridional atmospheric transport to the site. Snow pit heavy metals peak in summer and also show variable intraannual peaks. Seasonal airmass modeling based on ERA Interim reanalysis data indicates a synoptic shift during the spring and summer months. We conclude that modern heavy metal concentrations are influenced by transport efficiency and scavenging behavior; and thus, time series records from RICE have the potential to provide representative data of regional changes in heavy metals.

Here we present an experimental setup for water stable isotope (δ¹⁸O and δD) continuous-flow measurements and provide metrics defining the performance of the setup during a major ice core measurement campaign (Roosevelt Island Climate Evolution; RICE). We also use the metrics to compare alternate systems. Our setup is the first continuous-flow laser spectroscopy system that is using off-axis integrated cavity output spectroscopy (OA-ICOS; analyzer manufactured by Los Gatos Research, LGR) in combination with an evaporation unit to continuously analyze water samples from an ice core. A Water Vapor Isotope Standard Source (WVISS) calibration unit, manufactured by LGR, was modified to (1) enable measurements on several water standards, (2) increase the temporal resolution by reducing the response time and (3) reduce the influence from memory effects. While this setup was designed for the continuous-flow analysis (CFA) of ice cores, it can also continuously analyze other liquid or vapor sources. The custom setups provide a shorter response time (~ 54 and 18 s for 2013 and 2014 setup, respectively) compared to the original WVISS unit (~ 62 s), which is an improvement in measurement resolution. Another improvement compared to the original WVISS is that the custom setups have a reduced memory effect. Stability tests comparing the custom and WVISS setups were performed and Allan deviations (σ_Allan) were calculated to determine precision at different averaging times. For the custom 2013 setup the precision after integration times of 10³ s is 0.060 and 0.070 ‰ for δ¹⁸O and δD, respectively. The corresponding σ_Allan values for the custom 2014 setup are 0.030, 0.060 and 0.043 ‰ for δ¹⁸O, δD and δ¹⁷O, respectively. For the WVISS setup the precision is 0.035, 0.070 and 0.042 ‰ after 10³ s for δ¹⁸O, δD and δ¹⁷O, respectively. Both the custom setups and WVISS setup are influenced by instrumental drift with δ¹⁸O being more drift sensitive than δD. The σ_Allan values for δ¹⁸O are 0.30 and 0.18 ‰ for the custom 2013 and WVISS setup, respectively, after averaging times of 10⁴ s (2.78 h). Using response time tests and stability tests, we show that the custom setups are more responsive (shorter response time), whereas the University of Copenhagen (UC) setup is more stable. More broadly, comparisons of different setups address the challenge of integrating vaporizer/spectrometer isotope measurement systems into a CFA campaign with many other analytical instruments.

In this study, we present the age scales for three Antarctic Peninsula (AP) ice cores: Palmer, Rendezvous, and Jurassic. The three cores are all intermediate-depth cores, in the 133–141 m depth range. Non-sea-salt sulfate ([nssSO₄²⁻]) and hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) display marked seasonal variability suitable for annual-layer counting. The Palmer ice core covers 390 years, 1621–2011 C.E., and is one of the oldest AP cores. Rendezvous and Jurassic are lower elevation high-snow accumulation sites and therefore cover shorter intervals, 1843–2011 C.E. and 1874–2011 C.E., respectively. The age scales show good agreement with known volcanic age horizons. The three chronologies’ start and end dates of volcanic events are compared to the volcanic events in the published WAIS Divide core. The age difference for the Palmer age scale is ±6 months, Rendezvous ±9 months, and Jurassic ±7 months. Our results demonstrate the advantage of dating several cores from the same region at the same time. Additional confidence can be gained in the age scales by evaluating and finding synchronicity of [nssSO₄²⁻] peaks amongst the sites.