Variability of sea-ice extent in Baffin Bay over the last millennium

Abstract

Comparison of an ice core glaciochemical time-series developed from the Penny Ice Cap (PIC), Baffin Island and monthly sea-ice extent reveals a statistically significant inverse relationship between changes in Baffin Bay spring sea-ice extent and Penny Ice Cap sea-salt concentrations for the period 1901-1990 AD. Empirical orthogonal function analysis demonstrates the joint behavior between changes in PIC sea-salt concentrations, sea-ice extent, and changes in North Atlantic atmospheric circulation. Our results suggest that sea-salt concentrations in snow preserved on the PIC reflect local to regional springtime sea-ice coverage. The PIC sea-salt record/sea-ice relationship is further supported by decadal and century scale comparison with other paleoclimate records of eastern Arctic climate change over the last 700 years. Our sea-salt record suggests that, while the turn of the century was characterized by generally milder sea-ice conditions in Baffin Bay, the last few decades of sea-ice extent lie within Little Ice Age variability and correspond to instrumental records of lower temperatures in the Eastern Canadian Arctic over the past three decades.