Paleoclimatic glacial archives in low-latitude mountains are increasingly affected by melt, causing heavy percolation and removing snow and firn accumulated across months, seasons, or even years. Here we present a proxy system model that explicitly accounts for melt in ice and firn cores. Compared to traditional annual layer counting, the model significantly improved the interpretation and annual dating of the Mt Ortles firn core, in the Italian Alps, which includes the very warm summer of 2003.

We investigate the factors controlling the soil organic carbon (SOC) stability and temperature sensitivity of abandoned prehistoric agricultural terrace soils. Results suggest that the burial of former topsoil due to terracing provided an SOC stabilization mechanism. Both the soil C : N ratio and SOC mineral protection regulate soil SOC temperature sensitivity. However, which mechanism predominantly controls SOC temperature sensitivity depends on the age of the buried terrace soils.