that is analyzed by dual-inlet isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS). We describe a new laser spectroscopy instrument for highprecision 17 O measurements. The new instrument uses cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS) with laser-currenttuned cavity resonance to achieve reduced measurement drift compared with previous-generation instruments. Liquid water and water-vapor samples can be analyzed with a better than 8 per meg precision for 17 O using integration times of less than 30 min. Calibration with respect to accepted water standards demonstrates that both the precision and the accuracy of 17 O are competitive with conventional IRMS methods. The new instrument also achieves simultaneous analysis of δ 18 O, δ 17 O and δD with precision of < 0.03 ‰, < 0.02 and < 0.2 ‰, respectively, based on repeated calibrated measurements.

No abstract

The last glacial period exhibited abrupt Dansgaard-Oeschger climatic oscillations, evidence of which is preserved in a variety of Northern Hemisphere palaeoclimate archives. Ice cores show that Antarctica cooled during the warm phases of the Greenland Dansgaard-Oeschger cycle and vice versa, suggesting an interhemispheric redistribution of heat through a mechanism called the bipolar seesaw. Variations in the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) strength are thought to have been important, but much uncertainty remains regarding the dynamics and trigger of these abrupt events. Key information is contained in the relative phasing of hemispheric climate variations, yet the large, poorly constrained difference between gas age and ice age and the relatively low resolution of methane records from Antarctic ice cores have so far precluded methane-based synchronization at the required sub-centennial precision. Here we use a recently drilled high-accumulation Antarctic ice core to show that, on average, abrupt Greenland warming leads the corresponding Antarctic cooling onset by 218 ± 92 years (2σ) for Dansgaard-Oeschger events, including the Bølling event; Greenland cooling leads the corresponding onset of Antarctic warming by 208 ± 96 years. Our results demonstrate a north-to-south directionality of the abrupt climatic signal, which is propagated to the Southern Hemisphere high latitudes by oceanic rather than atmospheric processes. The similar interpolar phasing of warming and cooling transitions suggests that the transfer time of the climatic signal is independent of the AMOC background state. Our findings confirm a central role for ocean circulation in the bipolar seesaw and provide clear criteria for assessing hypotheses and model simulations of Dansgaard-Oeschger dynamics.

Changes in atmospheric circulation over the past five decades have enhanced the wind-driven inflow of warm ocean water onto the Antarctic continental shelf, where it melts ice shelves from below 1-3 . Atmospheric circulation changes have also caused rapid warming 4 over the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, and contributed to declining sea-ice cover in the adjacent Amundsen-Bellingshausen seas 5 . It is unknown whether these changes are part of a longer-term trend. Here, we use waterisotope (δ 18 O) data from an array of ice-core records to place recent West Antarctic climate changes in the context of the past two millennia. We find that the δ 18 O of West Antarctic precipitation has increased significantly in the past 50 years, in parallel with the trend in temperature, and was probably more elevated during the 1990s than at any other time during the past 200 years. However, δ 18 O anomalies comparable to those of recent decades occur about 1% of the time over the past 2,000 years. General circulation model simulations suggest that recent trends in δ 18 O and climate in West Antarctica cannot be distinguished from decadal variability that originates in the tropics. We conclude that the uncertain trajectory of tropical climate variability represents a significant source of uncertainty in projections of West Antarctic climate and ice-sheet change.The West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS), which is grounded largely below sea level, is potentially unstable. Mass loss from the WAIS is contributing to present sea-level rise, owing to the widespread thinning of ice shelves and the acceleration of the large outlet glaciers that drain the ice sheet into the ocean 1 . Contemporaneous with the loss of mass from the WAIS, air temperatures over the WAIS have increased significantly in the past 50 years 4,6,7 .Climate and ice-sheet changes in West Antarctica are closely linked with one another by changes in regional atmospheric circulation 8 . Observations beneath the floating ice shelf of Pine Island Glacier, a major drainage system for the flow of the WAIS into the Amundsen Sea, show that the primary cause of ice-shelf thinning is the presence of warm Circumpolar Deep Water on

The data generated here and compiled from previous studies provide a substantial volume of evidence to evaluate the various normalization techniques currently used for triple oxygen isotope measurements. We recommend that reported δ(17) O and (17)O(excess) values be normalized to the VSMOW-SLAP scale, using a definition of SLAP such that its (17)O(excess) is exactly zero.

No abstract

The cause of warming in the Southern Hemisphere during the most recent deglaciation remains a matter of debate. Hypotheses for a Northern Hemisphere trigger, through oceanic redistributions of heat, are based in part on the abrupt onset of warming seen in East Antarctic ice cores and dated to 18,000 years ago, which is several thousand years after high-latitude Northern Hemisphere summer insolation intensity began increasing from its minimum, approximately 24,000 years ago. An alternative explanation is that local solar insolation changes cause the Southern Hemisphere to warm independently. Here we present results from a new, annually resolved ice-core record from West Antarctica that reconciles these two views. The records show that 18,000 years ago snow accumulation in West Antarctica began increasing, coincident with increasing carbon dioxide concentrations, warming in East Antarctica and cooling in the Northern Hemisphere associated with an abrupt decrease in Atlantic meridional overturning circulation. However, significant warming in West Antarctica began at least 2,000 years earlier. Circum-Antarctic sea-ice decline, driven by increasing local insolation, is the likely cause of this warming. The marine-influenced West Antarctic records suggest a more active role for the Southern Ocean in the onset of deglaciation than is inferred from ice cores in the East Antarctic interior, which are largely isolated from sea-ice changes.

No abstract