Rb. Alley et al., CHANGES IN CONTINENTAL AND SEA-SALT ATMOSPHERIC LOADINGS IN CENTRAL GREENLAND DURING THE MOST RECENT DEGLACIATION - MODEL-BASED ESTIMATES, Journal of Glaciology, 41(139), 1995, pp. 503-514
By fitting a very simple atmospheric impurity model to high-resolution
data on ice accumulation and contaminant fluxes in the GISP2 ice core
, we have estimated changes in the atmospheric concentrations of solub
le major ions, insoluble particulates and Be-10 during the transition
from glacial to Holocene conditions. For many species, changes in conc
entration in the ice typically overestimate atmospheric changes, and c
hanges in flux to the ice typically underestimate atmospheric changes,
because times of increased atmospheric contaminant loading are also t
imes of reduced,snowfall. The model interpolates between the flux and
concentration records by explicitly allowing for wet- and dry-depositi
on processes. Compared to the warm Preboreal that followed, we estimat
e that the atmosphere over Greenland sampled by snow accumulated durin
g the Younger Dryas cold event contained on average four-seven times t
he insoluble particulates and nearly seven times the soluble calcium d
erived from continental sources. and about three times the sea salt bu
t only slightly more cosmogenic Be-10.