Calibration of Arctic ice core bromine enrichment records for past sea ice reconstructions
Bromine in ice cores has been proposed as a qualitative sea ice proxy to produce sea ice reconstructions for the polar regions. Here we report the first statistical validation of this proxy with satellite sea ice observations by combining bromine enrichment (with respect to seawater, Br<sub>enr</sub>) records from three Greenlandic ice cores (SIGMA-A, NU and RECAP) with satellite sea ice imagery, over three decades. We find that during the 1984-2016 satellite-era, ice core Br<sub>enr</sub> values are significantly correlated with first-year sea ice formed in the Baffin Bay and Labrador Sea supporting that the gas-phase bromine enrichment processes, preferentially occurring over the sea ice surface, are the main driver for the Br<sub>enr</sub> signal in ice cores. Moreover, in assessing Br<sub>enr</sub>'s capability to record historical sea ice variability, we compare 20th-century Arctic Sea ice historical and proxy records with our reconstructions, based on an autoregressive-moving-average (ARMA) model, finding overall good agreement. While further enhancements are warranted, including site-specific calibrations and a comprehensive investigation into bromine transport-related concerns, this study presents a new method to quantitatively reconstruct past seasonal sea ice variability through bromine enrichment in ice cores.
Authors
- Niccolò Maffezzoli (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8649-9185)
- Gianluca Pappaccogli (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8002-6136)
- Paul Vallelonga (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1055-7235)
- Carlos Alberto Cuevas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9251-5460)
- Alfonso Saiz‐Lopez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0060-1581)
- Cristiano Varin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5591-5705)
- Sumito Matoba (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2214-4649)
- François Burgay (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2657-6900)
- Yoshinori Iizuka (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7241-6062)
- Carlo Barbante (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4177-2288)
- Federico Scoto (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2498-3227)
- Nathan Chellman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1117-1046)
- Andrea Spolaor (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8635-9193)
- Matthew Osman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5636-698X)
- Alessandro Gagliardi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3309-0236)
- Joseph R. McConnell
Institutions
- Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung (DE)
- University of Salento (IT)
- Ca' Foscari University of Venice (IT)
- The University of Western Australia (AU)
- Hokkaido University (JP)
- University of Cambridge (GB)
- National Research Council (RO)
- National Research Council (IT)
- Desert Research Institute (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- The Science of The Total Environment
- Published
- 2024-10-22
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.177063
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- Arctic and Antarctic ice dynamics
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.75
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- European Commission
- Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
- Office of Polar Programs
- Division of Polar Programs