Sea Ice dynamics at the Western Antarctic Peninsula during the industrial era: a multi-proxy intercomparison study

Abstract

Abstract. In the last decades, changing climate conditions have had a severe impact on sea ice at the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP), an area rapidly transforming under global warming. To study the development of spring sea ice and environmental conditions in the pre-satellite era we investigated three short marine sediment cores for their biomarker inventory with particular focus on the sea ice proxy IPSO25 and micropaleontological proxies. The core sites in the Bransfield Strait are located in shelf to deep basin areas characterized by a complex oceanographic frontal system, coastal influence and sensitivity to large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns. We analyzed geochemical bulk parameters, biomarkers (highly branched isoprenoids, glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers, sterols), and diatom abundances and diversity over the past 200 years (210Pb dating), and compared them to observational data, sedimentary and ice core climate archives as well as results from numerical models. Based on biomarkers we could identify four different stratigraphic units with (1) stable conditions and moderate sea ice cover before 1860, (2) low to moderate sea ice cover between 1860 and 1930, (3) high seasonal variability and changes in sea ice regimes from 1930 to 1990 and (4) a shift to increasing sea ice cover despite anthropogenic warming since 1990. Although IPSO25 concentrations correspond quite well with satellite sea ice observations for the past 40 years, we note discrepancies between the biomarker-based sea ice estimates and the long-term model output for the past 200 years, ice core records and reconstructed atmospheric circulation patterns such as El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and Southern Annular Mode (SAM). We propose that the sea ice biomarker proxies IPSO25 and PIPSO25 are not linearly related to sea ice cover and, additionally, each core site reflects specific, local environmental conditions. High IPSO25 and PIPSO25 values may not be directly interpreted as referring to high spring sea ice cover because variable sea ice conditions and enhanced nutrient supply may affect the production of both the sea-ice associated and phytoplankton-derived (open marine, pelagic) biomarker lipids. For a more meaningful interpretation we recommend to carefully consider individually biomarker records to distinguish between cold, sea ice favoring and warm, sea ice diminishing environmental conditions.