Methodology:

This data collation was made under the PAGES (Past Global Climate) initiative Antarctica 2k.

PAGES (Past Global Changes) supports research which aims to understand the Earth's past environment in order to obtain better predictions of future climate and environment, and inform strategies for sustainability. We encourage international and interdisciplinary collaborations and seek to promote the involvement of scientists from developing countries in the global paleo-community discourse.

Antarctica and the Southern Ocean play a key role in the global climate system (e.g. Mayewski et al., 2009; Convey et al., 2009). The processes that occur at these high southern latitudes play a pivotal role in global atmospheric and oceanic circulation, oceanic uptake of heat and carbon, and planetary energy balance, through the ice-albedo feedback.

The ability to detect and attribute climate change in the Antarctic and Southern Ocean is dependent upon climate observations; however, this region is the most observation-sparse and record-length-limited part of the globe. There are few systematic observations extending back before the mid-20th century and good coverage is only available since the satellite era (i.e. the last 3-4 decades).

In this context, key questions of the PAGES 2k Network underscore an acute need for good high resolution palaeoclimate data extending out to 2000 years before the present, but also with good coverage through the instrumental period so as to permit proxy calibration. Obtaining well-resolved ice cores over large parts of Antarctica is a challenge, but one that is becoming more tractable with the use of new technology. Antarctica2k seeks to integrate such records with other available proxies in order to address the goals of the 2k Network.

Data quality:

The data are presented as the best available.