Aromatic acids in a Eurasian Arctic ice core: a 2600-year proxy record of biomass burning


Contact
Diedrich.Fritzsche [ at ] awi.de

Abstract

Wildfires and their emissions have significant impacts on ecosystems, climate, atmospheric chemistry, and carbon cycling. Well-dated proxy records are needed to study the long-term climatic controls on biomass burning and the associated climate feedbacks. There is a particular lack of information about long-term biomass burning variations in Siberia, the largest forested area in the Northern Hemisphere. In this study we report analyses of aromatic acids (vanillic and para-hydroxybenzoic acids) over the past 2600 years in the Eurasian Arctic Akademii Nauk ice core. These compounds are aerosol-borne, semi-volatile organic compounds derived from lignin combustion. The analyses were made using ion chromatography with electrospray mass spectrometric detection. The levels of these aromatic acids ranged from below the detection limit (0.01 to 0.05 ppb; 1 ppb D1000 ng L-1) to about 1 ppb, with roughly 30% of the samples above the detection limit. In the preindustrial late Holocene, highly elevated aromatic acid levels are observed during three distinct periods (650–300 BCE, 340–660 CE, and 1460–1660 CE). The timing of the two most recent periods coincides with the episodic pulsing of ice-rafted debris in the North Atlantic known as Bond events and a weakened Asian monsoon, suggesting a link between fires and large-scale climate variability on millennial timescales. Aromatic acid levels also are elevated during the onset of the industrial period from 1780 to 1860 CE, but with a different ratio of vanillic and para-hydroxybenzoic acid than is observed during the preindustrial period. This study provides the first millennial-scale record of aromatic acids. This study clearly demonstrates that coherent aromatic acid signals are recorded in polar ice cores that can be used as proxies for past trends in biomass burning.



Item Type
Article
Authors
Divisions
Primary Division
Programs
Primary Topic
Publication Status
Published
Eprint ID
44408
DOI 10.5194/cp-13-395-2017

Cite as
Grieman, M. M. , Aydin, M. , Fritzsche, D. , McConnell, J. R. , Opel, T. , Sigl, M. and Saltzmann, E. S. (2017): Aromatic acids in a Eurasian Arctic ice core: a 2600-year proxy record of biomass burning , Climate of the Past, 13 , pp. 395-410 . doi: 10.5194/cp-13-395-2017


Download
[thumbnail of Grieman_2017_CP.pdf]
Preview
PDF
Grieman_2017_CP.pdf

Download (2MB) | Preview
Cite this document as:

Share
Add to AnyAdd to TwitterAdd to FacebookAdd to LinkedinAdd to PinterestAdd to Email


Citation

Geographical region

Research Platforms
N/A

Campaigns
Arctic Land Expeditions > RU-Land_1999-2001_SevernayaZemlya


Actions
Edit Item Edit Item