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During spring 2017, we conducted research expeditions to the SIGMA-A site, which is located on the northwestern Greenland Ice Sheet. We maintained an automated weather station (AWS) to enable continuous meteorological observations. We extended 1.5-m long poles of the AWS and replaced two aerovane sensors, two thermo-hydrometers and an ultrasonic snow gauge. We also drilled an ice core and recovered a core with a total length of 60.06 m, conducted stratigraphic observations, and measured the density of the ice core. In addition, we conducted snow-pit observations and snow sampling, measured the specific surface area of snow using near-infrared reflectance, performed sunphotometry observations, and measured the spectral albedo. To schedule research activities in the field camp and helicopter pick-up flights, we received weather forecasts from the Meteorological Research Institute of Japan through the Internet using a satellite phone every day. We took a male dog to the field camp to alert us to approaching animals.

In order to understand 1) temporal variations of anthropogenic aerosols from European regions under the Icelandic low with high time resolution, and 2) the snow densification mechanism at the high accumulation dome in Greenland, we drilled a 90.45m ice core in a high accumulation area of the southeastern Greenland Ice Sheet. The drilling site (SE-Dome; 67.18°N, 36.37°W, 3170m a.s.l.) is located 185km north of the town of Tasiilaq in southeastern Greenland. We also conducted borehole temperature measurements. The temperature in the borehole was −20.9°C at a depth of 20m. In addition, we did snow-pit observations, aerosol sampling, snow sampling for chemical and physical analyses and meteorological observation. Air temperature and air pressure were on average −16.8°C and 667hPa during our stay. The aerosol concentration in the top surface 0.1m snow at SE-Dome in the spring of 2015 was lower than those of the other regions in Greenland, likely due to a highland dome of the ice sheet and/or dilution of mass flux by high snow accumulation.

During spring 2014, we drilled an ice core on the northwestern Greenland Ice Sheet, recovering a core of total length 225m. We also conducted stratigraphic observations, measurements of the density of the ice core, near-infrared photography of the ice core, preparation of liquid samples for chemical analysis, and measurements of borehole temperature. The pore close-off depth was 60m, and the temperature in the borehole was −25.6°C at a depth of 10m. In addition, we conducted snow-pit observations, ice-velocity and surface-elevation measurements using the global positioning system (GPS), meteorological observations, and installation of an automated weather station (AWS).

To determine the transport processes of water vapor and aerosols over the northwestern Greenland ice sheet, we undertook a glaciological observation at a coastal site on the northwestern part of the ice sheet and revealed spatial variations in δ 18 O and in the concentrations of chemical substances in surface snow and the snowpack. On the outlet glacier (the Meehan glacier), water vapor and sea salt were transported from the coast. On the inland ice sheet in northwestern Greenland, water vapor, mineral dust, anthropogenic substances such as NO 3 - and SO4 2- , and CH3SO3 - from marine phytoplankton were transported from the west coast of Greenland via the central part of the Greenland ice sheet. 18 O, ion species

Climatic variabilities on millennial and longer time scales with a bipolar seesaw pattern have been documented in paleoclimatic records, but their frequencies, relationships with mean climatic state, and mechanisms remain unclear. Understanding the processes and sensitivities that underlie these changes will underpin better understanding of the climate system and projections of its future change. We investigate the long-term characteristics of climatic variability using a new ice-core record from Dome Fuji, East Antarctica, combined with an existing long record from the Dome C ice core. Antarctic warming events over the past 720,000 years are most frequent when the Antarctic temperature is slightly below average on orbital time scales, equivalent to an intermediate climate during glacial periods, whereas interglacial and fully glaciated climates are unfavourable for a millennial-scale bipolar seesaw. Numerical experiments using a fully coupled atmosphere-ocean general circulation model with freshwater hosing in the northern North Atlantic showed that climate becomes most unstable in intermediate glacial conditions associated with large changes in sea ice and the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. Model sensitivity experiments suggest that the prerequisite for the most frequent climate instability with bipolar seesaw pattern during the late Pleistocene era is associated with reduced atmospheric CO2 concentration via global cooling and sea ice formation in the North Atlantic, in addition to extended Northern Hemisphere ice sheets., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published