Annual and sub-annual average methanesulphonic acid (MSA) concentration for the upper 42m (spanning 1979-2004) of the Gomez ice core, Antarctic Peninsula
GB/NERC/BAS/PDC/02220
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Summary
Abstract:
This dataset contains annual and seasonal average methanesulphonic acid (MSA) concentrations from the Gomez ice core from the southwest Antarctic Peninsula (-73.99 deg N, -70.6115 deg E). The core was drilled in January 2007, and transported to the British Antarctic Survey for analysis of major anions (via discrete ion chromatography) in the same year. In 2024, the MSA measurements were collated into annual and seasonal (summer) averages for the purpose of palaeoclimate proxy evaluation, as part of the PhD projects of R. M. Smith and Z. C. Weich. The data presented here relate to the upper 42 m of the core (1979-80 to 2003-4), which overlaps with the satellite era.
The original drilling and data collection was funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) through grants OPP-0538427 and OPP-9904294. MSA annual averages were collated in 2024 as part of the PhD projects of R. M. Smith and Z. C. Weich, supported by respective NERC grant numbers NE/S007164/1 and NE/S007504/1.
Keywords:
Gomez, MSA, ice cores, palaeoclimate proxies, sea ice
Citation
Smith, R.M., Weich, Z.C., & Thomas, E.R. (2026). Annual and sub-annual average methanesulphonic acid (MSA) concentration for the upper 42m (spanning 1979-2004) of the Gomez ice core, Antarctic Peninsula (Version 1.0) [Data set]. NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/64133f48-b358-418a-ad24-4718668cb2fe
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Constraints
| Access Constraints: | This dataset is under embargo until publication of the associated manuscript. |
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| Use Constraints: | This data is governed by the NERC data policy http://www.nerc.ac.uk/research/sites/data/policy/ and supplied under Open Government Licence v.3 http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/ |
Basic Information
| Creation Date: | 2026-06-09 |
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| Dataset Progress: | Complete |
| Dataset Language: | English |
| ISO Topic Categories: |
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| Parameters: |
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| Personnel: | |
| Name | UK PDC |
| Role(s) | Metadata Author |
| Organisation | British Antarctic Survey |
| Name | Roseanne M Smith |
| Role(s) | Investigator, Technical Contact |
| Organisation | British Antarctic Survey |
| Name | Zelna C Weich |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | British Antarctic Survey |
| Name | Elizabeth R Thomas |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | British Antarctic Survey |
| Parent Dataset: | N/A |
Additional Information
| Reference: | Associated publication: as Smith, R. M., Weich, Z. C., Giorio, C., Allen, C. S. and Thomas, E. R. (2026). Reassessing methanesulfonic acid as a sea ice proxy: an example from the Weddell Sea sector. Geophysical Research Letters [submitted] References: Thomas, E. R., Marshall, G. J., and McConnell, J. R. (2008). A doubling in snow accumulation in the western Antarctic Peninsula since 1850. Geophysical Research Letters, 35(L01706). https://doi.org/10.1029/2007GL032529 Hersbach, H., Bell, B., Berrisford, P., Hirahara, S., Horanyi, A., Munoz-Sabater, J., Nicolas, J., Peubey, C., Radu, R., Schepers, D., Simmons, A., Soci, C., Abdalla, S., Abellan, X., Balsamo, G., Bechtold, P., Biavati, G., Bidlot, J., Bonavita, M., ... Thepaut, J. N. (2020). The ERA5 global reanalysis. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 146(730), 1999-2049. https://doi.org/10.1002/QJ.3803 |
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| Quality: | Annual layer counting of seasonal peaks yielded a dating uncertainty of less than 1 year in this upper core section. | |
| Lineage/Methodology: | The Gomez core was drilled in January 2007 using an electromechanical drill to a depth of 136m, and transported to the British Antarctic Survey (UK) (see Thomas et al., 2008). Samples were cut into 30 mm discrete sections and analysed for major anions via ion chromatography at the British Antarctic Survey, UK. The core was dated by annual layer counting of seasonal hydrogen peroxide and non-sea salt sulphate peaks. For the upper 42 m of the core, there is an annual average accumulation rate of 0.98 metres water equivalent per year (i.e. on average, the equivalent of 0.98 m of liquid water was added to the ice sheet at the drilling site each year through snowfall). Annual averages of MSA were collated in 2024, and use a winter-winter year (July-June) boundary to preserve summer MSA peaks. For the sub-annual record, MSA_summer_average, monthly ERA5 reanalysis data (Hersbach et al., 2020) were used to estimate the portion of annual (July-June) snowfall deposited between November-April. This year-specific fraction (ranging between 27-57 percent, mean 40.8 percent) served as an upper-percentile threshold to extract the highest MSA values from each year into the separate MSA_summer_average timeseries. |
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Locality
| Temporal Coverage: | |
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| Start Date | 2007-01-01 |
| End Date | 2007-01-31 |
| Paleo Temporal Coverage: | |
| Paleo Start Date | 1979 |
| Paleo End Date | 2004 |
| Chronostratigraphic Unit | N/A |
| Spatial Coverage: | |
| Latitude | |
| Southernmost | -73.99 |
| Northernmost | -73.99 |
| Longitude | |
| Westernmost | -70.6115 |
| Easternmost | -70.6115 |
| Altitude | |
| Min Altitude | N/A |
| Max Altitude | 1400m |
| Depth | |
| Min Depth | N/A |
| Max Depth | N/A |
| Location: | |
| Location | Antarctica |
| Detailed Location | Southwest Antarctic Peninsula |
Instrumentation
| Data Collection: | Discrete samples were analysed for major anions, including MSA, inside a class-100 cleanroom using a Dionex IC-2000 anion chromatograph with a 4 mm column and flow rate of 0.5ml/min. |
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Storage
| Data Storage: | One single csv file (5 KB), containing an annual and seasonal record of average MSA concentration, between years 1979-80 and 2003-4 (25 years). All values are reported as parts per billion (ppb). |
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