Climatic and glaciological information inferred from air-content measurements of a Law Dorme (East Antarctica) ice core

The total air content (V) of ice has been measured along the Dome Summit So uth (DSS) core from Law Dome, East Antarctica. The main features of this re cord are the very well-preserved sub-annual fluctuations of V (down to at l east 900 m depth) and the significant increase of the V values during the l ast deglaciation. The sub-annual variations reflect changes in close-off po rosity, and we interpret the V seasonal peaks as tracers of depth-hear laye rs. For the longer time-scale, the large V fluctuations observed are interp reted in terms of elevation and/or close-off porosity changes under differe nt assumptions. We analyze the possible influence of a different global pre ssure field and/or a change in seasonal temperature and precipitation cycle s during the last glacial period. Our estimates of surface elevation change s derived from the V data are then compared with independent reconstruction s of past elevations.