The first firn core from Peter 1st Island – capturing climate variability across the Bellingshausen Sea

Peter I Island is situated in the Bellingshausen Sea, a region that has experienced considerable climate change in recent decades. Warming sea surface temperatures and reduced sea ice cover have been accompanied by warming surface air temperature, increased snowfall, and accelerated mass loss over the adjacent ice sheet. Here we present data from the first firn core drilled on Peter I Island, spanning the period 2001–2017 CE. The stable water isotope data capture regional changes in surface air temperature and precipitation (snow accumulation) at the site, which are highly correlated with the surrounding Amundsen–Bellingshausen seas and the adjacent Antarctic Peninsula (r > 0.6, p < 0.05). The firn core data, together with the unique in situ data from an automatic weather station, confirm the high skill of the ERA5 reanalysis in capturing daily mean temperature and inter-annual precipitation variability, even over a small sub-Antarctic island. This study demonstrates the suitability of Peter I Island for future deep-ice-core drilling, with the potential to provide a valuable archive to explore ice–ocean–atmosphere interactions over decadal to centennial timescales for this dynamic region.

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