340-yr winter temperature reconstruction, Chevalier Bay, Melville Island, Canadian High Arctic

Here, we present a well-calibrated quantitative temperature and snowfall record for the extended winter season (NDJFM) from Chevalier Bay (Melville Island, NWT, Canadian Arctic) back to CE 1670. The coastal embayment has a large catchment influenced by nival terrestrial processes, which leads to high sedimentation rates and annual sedimentary structures (varves). Using detailed microstratigraphic analysis supported by µ-XRF data, we separated the nival sedimentary units (spring snowmelt) from the rainfall units (summer) and identified subaqueous slumps. We used the thickness of the nival units to calibrate and predict winter temperature (r = 0.71, pc < 0.01, 5-yr filter) and snowfall (r = 0.65, pc < 0.01, 5-yr filter) for the western Canadian High back to CE 1670. […]