Stable isotope records for the past 2000 years from ice cores in central Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica
Ice coring on the plateau of the inland ice of Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica, took place in the period 1998 through 2006. The central ice core is the EDML ice core (75.0017 S, 0.0678 E, 2882 m a.s.l.) drilled adjacent to the German Kohnen station in the frame of the European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica (EPICA). It covers more than 150 kyrs in time and can also serve as a reference core for the complete Holocene. In this paper the focus is on the past 2 kyrs of 18-O data. During the EPICA period several firn-core studies were performed, resulting in stacked data sets for the past 50 years (reference horizon Agung 1963), 200 years (reference horizon Tambora 1815) and 2000 years (4 cores). The paper compares the 18-O records, which are converted to temperature with the local isotope-temperature relationship as well as accumulation rates. None of the cores shows an increase of the 18-O content indicating a stable temperature regime during the past 2 kyrs. However, decadal and centennial variations are detectable. Thus, a slight increase of 18-O content in the 20th century can be observed. It peaks around 1985 AD and does not continue afterwards. The cores are used to construct stacked isotope/ temperature records for central Dronning Maud Land.