2019-20 Honours project - Identifying atmospheric processes favouring the formation of physical features in the Mount Brown South ice core

Ice cores from Mount Brown South (MBS), East Antarctica, were drilled to help understand the past atmospheric circulation variability in the southern Indian Ocean and southwest Pacific Ocean. There are visible bubble-free layers occurring frequently multiple times a year, and the origin of these features is still unknown. This project aims to determine whether the bubble-free layers in the MBS ice core can be related to atmospheric processes. ERA-5 data, including surface (skin) temperature, 2 metre air temperature, wind at 10 metre height, the mean surface downward short-wave radiation flux and snowfall, is used to assess the target climate variables from 1979 to 2017 at the ice core sites.

为探究南印度洋与西南太平洋的古大气环流变化特征，科研人员在东南极布朗南山（Mount Brown South, MBS）钻取了冰芯。该冰芯中存在每年多次频繁出现的可见无气泡层理，其形成成因目前尚未明确。本研究旨在探明MBS冰芯中的无气泡层理是否与大气过程存在关联。本研究借助1979年至2017年冰芯钻取点位的ERA-5再分析数据对目标气候变量进行评估，该数据集涵盖地表（表皮）温度、2米高度气温、10米高度风速、平均地表向下短波辐射通量以及降雪量。