Interpretation of ice core trace gas records depends on an accurate understanding of the processes that smooth the atmospheric signal in the firn. Much work has been done to understand the processes affecting air transport in the open pores of the firn, but a paucity of data from air trapped in bubbles in the firn-ice transition region has limited the ability to constrain the effect of bubble closure processes. Here we present high-resolution measurements of firn density, methane concentrations, nitrogen isotopes, and total air content that show layering in the firn-ice transition region at the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) Divide ice core site. Using the notion that bubble trapping is a stochastic process, we derive a new parameterization for closed porosity that incorporates the effects of layering in a steady state firn modeling approach. We include the process of bubble trapping into an open-porosity firn air transport model and obtain a good fit to the firn core data. We find that layering broadens the depth range over which bubbles are trapped, widens the modeled gas age distribution of air in closed bubbles, reduces the mean gas age of air in closed bubbles, and introduces stratigraphic irregularities in the gas age scale that have a peak-to-peak variability of~10 years at WAIS Divide. For a more complete understanding of gas occlusion and its impact on ice core records, we suggest that this experiment be repeated at sites climatically different from WAIS Divide, for example, on the East Antarctic plateau.

Abstract. We present the first high-resolution (sub-annual) dust particle data set from West Antarctica, developed from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) Divide deep ice core (79.468 • S, 112.086 • W), and use it to reconstruct changes in atmospheric circulation over the past 2400 years. We find a background dust flux of ∼ 4 mg m −2 year −1 and a mode particle size of 5-8 µm diameter. Through comparing the WAIS Divide record with other Antarctic ice core particle records, we observe that coastal and lower-elevation sites have higher dust fluxes and coarser particle size distributions (PSDs) than sites on the East Antarctic plateau, suggesting input from local dust sources at these lower-elevation sites. In order to explore the use of the WAIS Divide dust PSD as a proxy for past atmospheric circulation, we make quantitative comparisons between both mid-latitude zonal wind speed and West Antarctic meridional wind speed and the dust size record, finding significant positive interannual relationships. We find that the dust PSD is related to midlatitude zonal wind speed via cyclonic activity in the Amundsen Sea region. Using our PSD record, and through comparison with spatially distributed climate reconstructions from the Southern Hemisphere (SH) middle and high latitudes, we infer that the SH westerlies occupied a more southerly position from circa 1050 to 1400 CE (Common Era), coinciding with the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA). Subsequently, at ca. 1430 CE, the wind belt shifted equatorward, where it remained until the mid-to-late twentieth century. We find covariability between reconstructions of El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the mid-latitude westerly winds in the eastern Pacific, suggesting that centennial-scale circulation changes in this region are strongly influenced by the tropical Pacific. Further, we observe increased coarse particle deposition over the past 50 years, consistent with observations that the SH westerlies have been shifting southward and intensifying in recent decades.

We describe a microcontroller-based ice core melting and data logging system allowing simultaneous depth coregistration of a continuous flow analysis (CFA) system (for microparticle and conductivity measurement) and a discrete sample analysis system (for geochemistry and microparticles), both supplied from the same melted ice core section. This hybrid melting system employs an ice parcel tracking algorithm which calculates real-time sample transport through all portions of the meltwater handling system, enabling accurate (1 mm) depth coregistration of all measurements. Signal dispersion is analyzed using residence time theory, experimental results of tracer injection tests and antiparallel melting of replicate cores to rigorously quantify the signal dispersion in our system. Our dispersion-limited resolution is 1.0 cm in ice and ~2 cm in firn. We experimentally observe the peak lead phenomenon, where signal dispersion causes the measured CFA peak associated with a given event to be depth assigned ~1 cm shallower than the true event depth. Dispersion effects on resolution and signal depth assignment are discussed in detail. Our results have implications for comparisons of chemistry and physical properties data recorded using multiple instruments and for deconvolution methods of enhancing CFA depth resolution.

The mechanical properties of polycrystalline ice I h have been observed to change under an applied hydrostatic pressure comparable to that present near the bottom of kilometer-thick ice sheets. To help determine the cause of these changes, we conducted confined creep testing of laboratory-prepared