Articles | Volume 13, issue 11
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-13-1527-2017
© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-13-1527-2017
© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Research article
| 
16 Nov 2017
Research article |
| 16 Nov 2017
Episodic Neoglacial expansion and rapid 20th century retreat of a small ice cap on Baffin Island, Arctic Canada, and modeled temperature change
Simon L. Pendleton
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
INSTAAR and Department of Geological Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0450, USA
Gifford H. Miller
INSTAAR and Department of Geological Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0450, USA
Robert A. Anderson
INSTAAR and Department of Geological Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0450, USA
Sarah E. Crump
INSTAAR and Department of Geological Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0450, USA
Yafang Zhong
Space Science and Engineering Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA
Alexandra Jahn
INSTAAR and Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0450, USA
Áslaug Geirsdottir
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Iceland, Askja, Sturlugata 7, 101 Reykjavik, Iceland
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David J. Harning, Christopher R. Florian, Áslaug Geirsdóttir, Thor Thordarson, Gifford H. Miller, Yarrow Axford, and Sædís Ólafsdóttir
Clim. Past Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-2024-26, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-2024-26, 2024
Preprint under review for CP
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Questions remain about the past climate in Iceland, including the relative impacts of natural and human factors on vegetation change and soil erosion. We present a sub-centennial scale record of landscape and algal productivity from a lake in north Iceland. Along with high-resolution age constraint that covers the last ~12000 years, our record provides an environmental template for the region and novel insight into the sensitivity of the Icelandic ecosystem to natural and human impacts.
Naomi E. Ochwat, Ted A. Scambos, Alison F. Banwell, Robert S. Anderson, Michelle L. Maclennan, Ghislain Picard, Julia A. Shates, Sebastian Marinsek, Liliana Margonari, Martin Truffer, and Erin C. Pettit
The Cryosphere, 18, 1709–1731, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1709-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1709-2024, 2024
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On the Antarctic Peninsula, there is a small bay that had sea ice fastened to the shoreline (
fast ice) for over a decade. The fast ice stabilized the glaciers that fed into the ocean. In January 2022, the fast ice broke away. Using satellite data we found that this was because of low sea ice concentrations and a high long-period ocean wave swell. We find that the glaciers have responded to this event by thinning, speeding up, and retreating by breaking off lots of icebergs at remarkable rates.
Marika M. Holland, Cecile Hannay, John Fasullo, Alexandra Jahn, Jennifer E. Kay, Michael Mills, Isla R. Simpson, William Wieder, Peter Lawrence, Erik Kluzek, and David Bailey
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 1585–1602, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-1585-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-1585-2024, 2024
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Climate evolves in response to changing forcings, as prescribed in simulations. Models and forcings are updated over time to reflect new understanding. This makes it difficult to attribute simulation differences to either model or forcing changes. Here we present new simulations which enable the separation of model structure and forcing influence between two widely used simulation sets. Results indicate a strong influence of aerosol emission uncertainty on historical climate.
David Harning, Jonathan Raberg, Jamie McFarlin, Yarrow Axford, Christopher Florian, Kristín Ólafsdóttir, Sebastian Kopf, Julio Sepúlveda, Gifford Miller, and Áslaug Geirsdóttir
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2024-1, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2024-1, 2024
Preprint under review for HESS
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As human-induced global warming progresses, changes to Arctic precipitation are expected, but predictions are limited by an incomplete understanding of past changes in the hydrological system. Here, we measured water isotopes, a common tool to reconstruct past precipitation, from lakes and soils across Iceland. These data will allow robust reconstruction of past precipitation changes in Iceland in future studies.
Gifford H. Miller, Simon L. Pendleton, Alexandra Jahn, Yafang Zhong, John T. Andrews, Scott J. Lehman, Jason P. Briner, Jonathan H. Raberg, Helga Bueltmann, Martha Raynolds, Áslaug Geirsdóttir, and John R. Southon
Clim. Past, 19, 2341–2360, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-2341-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-2341-2023, 2023
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Receding Arctic ice caps reveal moss killed by earlier ice expansions; 186 moss kill dates from 71 ice caps cluster at 250–450, 850–1000 and 1240–1500 CE and continued expanding 1500–1880 CE, as recorded by regions of sparse vegetation cover, when ice caps covered > 11 000 km2 but < 100 km2 at present. The 1880 CE state approached conditions expected during the start of an ice age; climate models suggest this was only reversed by anthropogenic alterations to the planetary energy balance.
Nicolò Ardenghi, David John Harning, Jonathan Henrik Raberg, Brooke René Holman, Thorvaldur Thordarson, Áslaug Geirsdóttir, Gifford H. Miller, and Julio Sepúlveda
Clim. Past Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-2023-74, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-2023-74, 2023
Revised manuscript accepted for CP
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Analysing a sediment record from Stóra Viðarvatn (NE Iceland), we reveal how natural factors and human activities influenced environmental changes (erosion, wildfires) over the last 11,000 years. We found increased fire activity around 3,000 and 1,500 years ago, predating human settlement, likely driven by natural factors like precipitation shifts. Declining summer temperatures increased erosion vulnerability, exacerbated by farming and animal husbandry, which in turn may have reduced wildfires.
Bjorn Stevens, Stefan Adami, Tariq Ali, Hartwig Anzt, Zafer Aslan, Sabine Attinger, Jaana Bäck, Johanna Baehr, Peter Bauer, Natacha Bernier, Bob Bishop, Hendryk Bockelmann, Sandrine Bony, Veronique Bouchet, Guy Brasseur, David N. Bresch, Sean Breyer, Gilbert Brunet, Pier Luigi Buttigieg, Junji Cao, Christelle Castet, Yafang Cheng, Ayantika Dey Choudhury, Deborah Coen, Susanne Crewell, Atish Dabholkar, Qing Dai, Francisco Doblas-Reyes, Dale Durran, Ayoub El Gaidi, Charlie Ewen, Eleftheria Exarchou, Veronika Eyring, Florencia Falkinhoff, David Farrell, Piers M. Forster, Ariane Frassoni, Claudia Frauen, Oliver Fuhrer, Shahzad Gani, Edwin Gerber, Debra Goldfarb, Jens Grieger, Nicolas Gruber, Wilco Hazeleger, Rolf Herken, Chris Hewitt, Torsten Hoefler, Huang-Hsiung Hsu, Daniela Jacob, Alexandra Jahn, Christian Jakob, Thomas Jung, Christopher Kadow, In-Sik Kang, Sarah Kang, Karthik Kashinath, Katharina Kleinen-von Königslöw, Daniel Klocke, Uta Kloenne, Milan Klöwer, Chihiro Kodama, Stefan Kollet, Tobias Kölling, Jenni Kontkanen, Steve Kopp, Michal Koran, Markku Kulmala, Hanna Lappalainen, Fakhria Latifi, Bryan Lawrence, June Yi Lee, Quentin Lejeun, Christian Lessig, Chao Li, Thomas Lippert, Jürg Luterbacher, Pekka Manninen, Jochem Marotzke, Satoshi Matsouoka, Charlotte Merchant, Peter Messmer, Gero Michel, Kristel Michielsen, Tomoki Miyakawa, Jens Müller, Ramsha Munir, Sandeep Narayanasetti, Ousmane Ndiaye, Carlos Nobre, Achim Oberg, Riko Oki, Tuba Özkan-Haller, Tim Palmer, Stan Posey, Andreas Prein, Odessa Primus, Mike Pritchard, Julie Pullen, Dian Putrasahan, Johannes Quaas, Krishnan Raghavan, Venkatachalam Ramaswamy, Markus Rapp, Florian Rauser, Markus Reichstein, Aromar Revi, Sonakshi Saluja, Masaki Satoh, Vera Schemann, Sebastian Schemm, Christina Schnadt Poberaj, Thomas Schulthess, Cath Senior, Jagadish Shukla, Manmeet Singh, Julia Slingo, Adam Sobel, Silvina Solman, Jenna Spitzer, Detlef Stammer, Philip Stier, Thomas Stocker, Sarah Strock, Hang Su, Petteri Taalas, John Taylor, Susann Tegtmeier, Georg Teutsch, Adrian Tompkins, Uwe Ulbrich, Pier-Luigi Vidale, Chien-Ming Wu, Hao Xu, Najibullah Zaki, Laure Zanna, Tianjun Zhou, and Florian Ziemen
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2023-376, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2023-376, 2023
Revised manuscript accepted for ESSD
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To manage Earth in the Anthropocene, new tools, new institutions, and new forms of international cooperation will be required. Earth Virtualization Engines are proposed as international federation of centers of excellence to empower all people to respond to the immense and urgent challenges posed by climate change.
David Harning, Thor Thordarson, Áslaug Geirsdóttir, Gifford Miller, and Christopher Florian
Geochronology Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-2022-26, https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-2022-26, 2022
Preprint withdrawn
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Volcanic ash layers are a common tool to synchronize records of past climate, and their estimated age relies on external dating methods. Here, we show that the chemical composition of the well-known, 12000 year-old Vedde Ash is indistinguishable with several other ash layers in Iceland that are ~1000 years younger. Therefore, chemical composition alone cannot be used to identify the Vedde Ash in sedimentary records.
Abigail Smith, Alexandra Jahn, Clara Burgard, and Dirk Notz
The Cryosphere, 16, 3235–3248, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3235-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3235-2022, 2022
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The timing of Arctic sea ice melt each year is an important metric for assessing how sea ice in climate models compares to satellite observations. Here, we utilize a new tool for creating more direct comparisons between climate model projections and satellite observations of Arctic sea ice, such that the melt onset dates are defined the same way. This tool allows us to identify climate model biases more clearly and gain more information about what the satellites are observing.
Benjamin Lehmann, Robert S. Anderson, Xavier Bodin, Diego Cusicanqui, Pierre G. Valla, and Julien Carcaillet
Earth Surf. Dynam., 10, 605–633, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-10-605-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-10-605-2022, 2022
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Rock glaciers are some of the most frequently occurring landforms containing ice in mountain environments. Here, we use field observations, analysis of aerial and satellite images, and dating methods to investigate the activity of the rock glacier of the Vallon de la Route in the French Alps. Our results suggest that the rock glacier is characterized by two major episodes of activity and that the rock glacier system promotes the maintenance of mountain erosion.
Kelly Kochanski, Gregory Tucker, and Robert Anderson
The Cryosphere Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2021-205, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2021-205, 2021
Manuscript not accepted for further review
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Falling snow does not life flat. When blown by the wind, it forms elaborate structures, like dunes. Where these dunes form, they change the way heat flows through the snow. This can accelerate sea ice melt and climate change. Here, we use both field observations obtained during blizzards in Colorado and simulations performed with a state-of-the-art model, to quantify the impact of snow dunes on Arctic heat flows.
Jonathan H. Raberg, David J. Harning, Sarah E. Crump, Greg de Wet, Aria Blumm, Sebastian Kopf, Áslaug Geirsdóttir, Gifford H. Miller, and Julio Sepúlveda
Biogeosciences, 18, 3579–3603, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-3579-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-3579-2021, 2021
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BrGDGT lipids are a proxy for temperature in lake sediments, but other parameters like pH can influence them, and seasonality can affect the temperatures they record. We find a warm-season bias at 43 new high-latitude sites. We also present a new method that deconvolves the effects of temperature, pH, and conductivity and generate global calibrations for these variables. Our study provides new paleoclimate tools, insight into brGDGTs at the biochemical level, and a new method for future study.
David J. Harning, Anne E. Jennings, Denizcan Köseoğlu, Simon T. Belt, Áslaug Geirsdóttir, and Julio Sepúlveda
Clim. Past, 17, 379–396, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-379-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-379-2021, 2021
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Today, the waters north of Iceland are characterized by high productivity that supports a diverse food web. However, it is not known how this may change and impact Iceland's economy with future climate change. Therefore, we explored how the local productivity has changed in the past 8000 years through fossil and biogeochemical indicators preserved in Icelandic marine mud. We show that this productivity relies on the mixing of Atlantic and Arctic waters, which migrate north under warming.
Leif S. Anderson, William H. Armstrong, Robert S. Anderson, and Pascal Buri
The Cryosphere, 15, 265–282, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-265-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-265-2021, 2021
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Many glaciers are thinning rapidly beneath debris cover (loose rock) that reduces melt, including Kennicott Glacier in Alaska. This contradiction has been explained by melt hotspots, such as ice cliffs, scattered within the debris cover. However, at Kennicott Glacier declining ice flow explains the rapid thinning. Through this study, Kennicott Glacier is now the first glacier in Alaska, and the largest glacier globally, where melt across its debris-covered tongue has been rigorously quantified.
Abigail Smith, Alexandra Jahn, and Muyin Wang
The Cryosphere, 14, 2977–2997, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-2977-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-2977-2020, 2020
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The annual cycle of Arctic sea ice can be used to gain more information about how climate model simulations of sea ice compare to observations. In some models, the September sea ice area agrees with observations for the wrong reasons because biases in the timing of seasonal transitions compensate for other unrealistic sea ice characteristics. This research was done to provide new process-based metrics of Arctic sea ice using satellite observations, the CESM Large Ensemble, and CMIP6 models.
Leif S. Anderson, William H. Armstrong, Robert S. Anderson, and Pascal Buri
The Cryosphere Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2019-178, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2019-178, 2019
Preprint withdrawn
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Thick rock cover (or debris) disturbs the melt of many Alaskan glaciers. Yet the effect of debris on glacier thinning in Alaska has been overlooked. In three companion papers we assess the role of debris and ice flow on the thinning of Kennicott Glacier. In Part C we describe feedbacks contributing to rapid thinning under thick debris. Changes in debris thickness downglacier on Kennicott Glacier are manifested in the pattern of glacier thinning, ice dynamics, melt, and glacier surface features.
Leif S. Anderson, Robert S. Anderson, Pascal Buri, and William H. Armstrong
The Cryosphere Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2019-174, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2019-174, 2019
Preprint withdrawn
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Thick rock cover (or debris) disturbs the melt of many Alaskan glaciers. Yet the effect of debris on glacier thinning in Alaska has been overlooked. In three companion papers we assess the role of debris and ice flow on the thinning of Kennicott Glacier. In Part A, we report measurements from the glacier surface. We measured surface debris thickness, melt under debris, and the rate of ice cliff backwasting. These data allow for further studies linking debris to glacier shrinkage in Alaska.
Kelly Kochanski, Robert S. Anderson, and Gregory E. Tucker
The Cryosphere, 13, 1267–1281, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1267-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1267-2019, 2019
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Wind-blown snow does not lie flat. It forms dunes, ripples, and anvil-shaped sastrugi. These features ornament much of the snow on Earth and change the snow's effects on polar climates, but they have rarely been studied. We spent three winters watching snow move through the Colorado Front Range and present our findings here, including the first time-lapse videos of snow dune and sastrugi growth.
Áslaug Geirsdóttir, Gifford H. Miller, John T. Andrews, David J. Harning, Leif S. Anderson, Christopher Florian, Darren J. Larsen, and Thor Thordarson
Clim. Past, 15, 25–40, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-25-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-25-2019, 2019
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Compositing climate proxies in sediment from seven Iceland lakes documents abrupt summer cooling between 4.5 and 4.0 ka, statistically indistinguishable from 4.2 ka. Although the decline in summer insolation was an important factor, a combination of superposed changes in ocean circulation and explosive Icelandic volcanism were likely responsible for the abrupt perturbation recorded by our proxies. Lake and catchment proxies recovered to a colder equilibrium state following the perturbation.
Abigail Smith and Alexandra Jahn
The Cryosphere, 13, 1–20, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1-2019, 2019
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Here we assessed how natural climate variations and different definitions impact the diagnosed and projected Arctic sea ice melt season length using model simulations. Irrespective of the definition or natural variability, the sea ice melt season is projected to lengthen, potentially by as much as 4–5 months by 2100 under the business as usual scenario. We also find that different definitions have a bigger impact on melt onset, while natural variations have a bigger impact on freeze onset.
Benjamin M. Sanderson, Yangyang Xu, Claudia Tebaldi, Michael Wehner, Brian O'Neill, Alexandra Jahn, Angeline G. Pendergrass, Flavio Lehner, Warren G. Strand, Lei Lin, Reto Knutti, and Jean Francois Lamarque
Earth Syst. Dynam., 8, 827–847, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-8-827-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-8-827-2017, 2017
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We present the results of a set of climate simulations designed to simulate futures in which the Earth's temperature is stabilized at the levels referred to in the 2015 Paris Agreement. We consider the necessary future emissions reductions and the aspects of extreme weather which differ significantly between the 2 and 1.5 °C climate in the simulations.
Sifan Gu, Zhengyu Liu, Alexandra Jahn, Johannes Rempfer, Jiaxu Zhang, and Fortunat Joos
Geosci. Model Dev. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-2017-40, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-2017-40, 2017
Revised manuscript not accepted
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This paper is the documentation of the implementation of neodymium (Nd) isotopes in the ocean model of CESM. Our model can simulate both Nd concentration and Nd isotope ratio in good agreement with observations. Our Nd-enabled ocean model makes it possible for direct model-data comparison in paleoceanographic studies, which can help to resolve some uncertainties and controversies in our understanding of past ocean evolution. Therefore, our model provides a useful tool for paleoclimate studies.
Dirk Notz, Alexandra Jahn, Marika Holland, Elizabeth Hunke, François Massonnet, Julienne Stroeve, Bruno Tremblay, and Martin Vancoppenolle
Geosci. Model Dev., 9, 3427–3446, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-3427-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-3427-2016, 2016
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The large-scale evolution of sea ice is both an indicator and a driver of climate changes. Hence, a realistic simulation of sea ice is key for a realistic simulation of the climate system of our planet. To assess and to improve the realism of sea-ice simulations, we present here a new protocol for climate-model output that allows for an in-depth analysis of the simulated evolution of sea ice.
Leif S. Anderson and Robert S. Anderson
The Cryosphere, 10, 1105–1124, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-1105-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-1105-2016, 2016
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Mountains erode and shed rocks down slope. When these rocks (debris) fall on glacier ice they can suppress ice melt. By protecting glaciers from melt, debris can make glaciers extend to lower elevations. Using mathematical models of glaciers and debris deposition, we find that debris can more than double the length of glaciers. The amount of debris deposited on the glacier, which scales with mountain height and steepness, is the most important control on debris-covered glacier length and volume.
A. Jahn, K. Lindsay, X. Giraud, N. Gruber, B. L. Otto-Bliesner, Z. Liu, and E. C. Brady
Geosci. Model Dev., 8, 2419–2434, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-8-2419-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-8-2419-2015, 2015
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Carbon isotopes have been added to the ocean model of the Community Earth System Model version 1 (CESM1). This paper describes the details of how the abiotic 14C tracer and the biotic 13C and 14C tracers were added to the existing ocean model of the CESM. In addition, it shows the first results of the new model features compared to observational data for the 1990s.
K. R. Barnhart, I. Overeem, and R. S. Anderson
The Cryosphere, 8, 1777–1799, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-1777-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-1777-2014, 2014
Related subject area
Subject: Continental Surface Processes | Archive: Terrestrial Archives | Timescale: Holocene
Holocene environmental and climate evolution of central west Patagonia as reconstructed from lacustrine sediments of Meseta Chile Chico (46.5° S, Chile)
Moss kill dates and modeled summer temperature track episodic snowline lowering and ice cap expansion in Arctic Canada through the Common Era
Missing sea level rise in southeastern Greenland during and since the Little Ice Age
Reconstructing burnt area during the Holocene: an Iberian case study
Expression of the “4.2 ka event” in the southern Rocky Mountains, USA
Arctic glaciers and ice caps through the Holocene:a circumpolar synthesis of lake-based reconstructions
Stalagmite carbon isotopes suggest deglacial increase in soil respiration in western Europe driven by temperature change
Climate-driven desertification and its implications for the ancient Silk Road trade
Diatom-oxygen isotope record from high-altitude Lake Petit (2200 m a.s.l.) in the Mediterranean Alps: shedding light on a climatic pulse at 4.2 ka
Climate trends in northern Ontario and Québec from borehole temperature profiles
Interactions between climate change and human activities during the early to mid-Holocene in the eastern Mediterranean basins
Laurentide Ice Sheet basal temperatures during the last glacial cycle as inferred from borehole data
Evidence of a prolonged drought ca. 4200 yr BP correlated with prehistoric settlement abandonment from the Gueldaman GLD1 Cave, Northern Algeria
Glacier response to North Atlantic climate variability during the Holocene
Climatic variability and human impact during the last 2000 years in western Mesoamerica: evidence of late Classic (AD 600–900) and Little Ice Age drought events
Twelve thousand years of dust: the Holocene global dust cycle constrained by natural archives
Numerical studies on the Impact of the Last Glacial Cycle on recent borehole temperature profiles: implications for terrestrial energy balance
Holocene climate change, permafrost and cryogenic carbonate formation: insights from a recently deglaciated, high-elevation cave in the Austrian Alps
Late Glacial–Holocene climatic transition record at the Argentinian Andean piedmont between 33 and 34° S
Holocene changes in African vegetation: tradeoff between climate and water availability
Orbital changes, variation in solar activity and increased anthropogenic activities: controls on the Holocene flood frequency in the Lake Ledro area, Northern Italy
Mass-movement and flood-induced deposits in Lake Ledro, southern Alps, Italy: implications for Holocene palaeohydrology and natural hazards
A Late Glacial to Holocene record of environmental change from Lake Dojran (Macedonia, Greece)
Bunker Cave stalagmites: an archive for central European Holocene climate variability
Temperature variability at Dürres Maar, Germany during the Migration Period and at High Medieval Times, inferred from stable carbon isotopes of Sphagnum cellulose
Carolina Franco, Antonio Maldonado, Christian Ohlendorf, A. Catalina Gebhardt, María Eugenia de Porras, Amalia Nuevo-Delaunay, César Méndez, and Bernd Zolitschka
Clim. Past, 20, 817–839, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-817-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-817-2024, 2024
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We present a continuous record of lake sediments spanning the Holocene from central west Patagonia. By examining various indicators like elemental composition and grain size data, we found that, around ~5500 years ago, the way sediments settled in the lake changed. On a regional scale, our results suggest that rainfall, influenced by changes in the Southern Hemisphere Westerly Winds, played a key role in shaping the environment of the region for the past ~10 000 years.
Gifford H. Miller, Simon L. Pendleton, Alexandra Jahn, Yafang Zhong, John T. Andrews, Scott J. Lehman, Jason P. Briner, Jonathan H. Raberg, Helga Bueltmann, Martha Raynolds, Áslaug Geirsdóttir, and John R. Southon
Clim. Past, 19, 2341–2360, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-2341-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-2341-2023, 2023
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Receding Arctic ice caps reveal moss killed by earlier ice expansions; 186 moss kill dates from 71 ice caps cluster at 250–450, 850–1000 and 1240–1500 CE and continued expanding 1500–1880 CE, as recorded by regions of sparse vegetation cover, when ice caps covered > 11 000 km2 but < 100 km2 at present. The 1880 CE state approached conditions expected during the start of an ice age; climate models suggest this was only reversed by anthropogenic alterations to the planetary energy balance.
Sarah A. Woodroffe, Leanne M. Wake, Kristian K. Kjeldsen, Natasha L. M. Barlow, Antony J. Long, and Kurt H. Kjær
Clim. Past, 19, 1585–1606, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-1585-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-1585-2023, 2023
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Salt marsh in SE Greenland records sea level changes over the past 300 years in sediments and microfossils. The pattern is rising sea level until ~ 1880 CE and sea level fall since. This disagrees with modelled sea level, which overpredicts sea level fall by at least 0.5 m. This is the same even when reducing the overall amount of Greenland ice sheet melt and allowing for more time. Fitting the model to the data leaves ~ 3 mm yr−1 of unexplained sea level rise in SE Greenland since ~ 1880 CE.
Yicheng Shen, Luke Sweeney, Mengmeng Liu, Jose Antonio Lopez Saez, Sebastián Pérez-Díaz, Reyes Luelmo-Lautenschlaeger, Graciela Gil-Romera, Dana Hoefer, Gonzalo Jiménez-Moreno, Heike Schneider, I. Colin Prentice, and Sandy P. Harrison
Clim. Past, 18, 1189–1201, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-1189-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-1189-2022, 2022
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We present a method to reconstruct burnt area using a relationship between pollen and charcoal abundances and the calibration of charcoal abundance using modern observations of burnt area. We use this method to reconstruct changes in burnt area over the past 12 000 years from sites in Iberia. We show that regional changes in burnt area reflect known changes in climate, with a high burnt area during warming intervals and low burnt area when the climate was cooler and/or wetter than today.
David T. Liefert and Bryan N. Shuman
Clim. Past, 18, 1109–1124, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-1109-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-1109-2022, 2022
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A large drought potentially occurred roughly 4200 years ago, but its impacts and significance are unclear. We find new evidence in carbonate oxygen isotopes from a mountain lake in southeastern Wyoming, southern Rocky Mountains, of an abrupt reduction in effective moisture (precipitation–evaporation) or snowpack from approximately 4200–4000 years ago. The drought's prominence among a growing number of sites in the North American interior suggests it was a regionally substantial climate event.
Laura J. Larocca and Yarrow Axford
Clim. Past, 18, 579–606, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-579-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-579-2022, 2022
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This paper synthesizes 66 records of glacier variations over the Holocene from lake archives across seven Arctic regions. We find that summers only moderately warmer than today drove major environmental change across the Arctic in the early Holocene, including the widespread loss of glaciers. In comparison, future projections of Arctic temperature change far exceed estimated early Holocene values in most locations, portending the eventual loss of most of the Arctic's small glaciers.
Franziska A. Lechleitner, Christopher C. Day, Oliver Kost, Micah Wilhelm, Negar Haghipour, Gideon M. Henderson, and Heather M. Stoll
Clim. Past, 17, 1903–1918, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-1903-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-1903-2021, 2021
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Soil respiration is a critical but poorly constrained component of the global carbon cycle. We analyse the effect of changing soil respiration rates on the stable carbon isotope ratio of speleothems from northern Spain covering the last deglaciation. Using geochemical analysis and forward modelling we quantify the processes affecting speleothem stable carbon isotope ratios and extract a signature of increasing soil respiration synchronous with deglacial warming.
Guanghui Dong, Leibin Wang, David Dian Zhang, Fengwen Liu, Yifu Cui, Guoqiang Li, Zhilin Shi, and Fahu Chen
Clim. Past, 17, 1395–1407, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-1395-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-1395-2021, 2021
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A compilation of the results of absolute dating and high-resolution paleoclimatic records from the Xishawo site in the Dunhuang area and historical archives reveals that two desertification events occurred at ~ 800–600 BCE and ~ 1450 CE. The later desertification event was consistent with the immediate fall in tribute trade that occurred in ~ 1450 CE, which indicates that climate change played a potentially important role in explaining the decline of the Ancient Silk Road trade.
Rosine Cartier, Florence Sylvestre, Christine Paillès, Corinne Sonzogni, Martine Couapel, Anne Alexandre, Jean-Charles Mazur, Elodie Brisset, Cécile Miramont, and Frédéric Guiter
Clim. Past, 15, 253–263, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-253-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-253-2019, 2019
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A major environmental change, 4200 years ago, was recorded in the lacustrine sediments of Lake Petit (Mediterranean Alps). The regime shift was described by a modification in erosion processes in the watershed and aquatic species in the lake. This study, based on the analysis of the lake water balance by using oxygen isotopes in diatoms, revealed that these environmental responses were due to a rapid change in precipitation regime, lasting ca. 500 years.
Carolyne Pickler, Hugo Beltrami, and Jean-Claude Mareschal
Clim. Past, 12, 2215–2227, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-2215-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-2215-2016, 2016
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The ground surface temperature histories of the past 500 years were reconstructed at 10 sites in northern Ontario and Quebec. The regions experienced a warming of ~1–2 K for the past 150 years, agreeing with borehole reconstructions for southern Ontario and Quebec and proxy data. Permafrost maps locate the sites in a region of discontinuous permafrost but our reconstructions suggest that the potential for permafrost was minimal to absent over the past 500 years.
Jean-Francois Berger, Laurent Lespez, Catherine Kuzucuoğlu, Arthur Glais, Fuad Hourani, Adrien Barra, and Jean Guilaine
Clim. Past, 12, 1847–1877, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-1847-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-1847-2016, 2016
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This paper focuses on early Holocene rapid climate changes in the Mediterranean zone, which are under-represented in continental archives, and on their impact on prehistoric societies from the eastern to central Mediterranean (central Anatolia, Cyprus, NE and NW Greece). Our study demonstrates the reality of hydrogeomorphological responses to early Holocene RCCs in valleys and alluvial fans and lake–marsh systems. We finally question their socio-economic and geographical adaptation capacities.
C. Pickler, H. Beltrami, and J.-C. Mareschal
Clim. Past, 12, 115–127, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-115-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-115-2016, 2016
J. Ruan, F. Kherbouche, D. Genty, D. Blamart, H. Cheng, F. Dewilde, S. Hachi, R. L. Edwards, E. Régnier, and J.-L. Michelot
Clim. Past, 12, 1–14, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-1-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-1-2016, 2016
N. L. Balascio, W. J. D'Andrea, and R. S. Bradley
Clim. Past, 11, 1587–1598, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-11-1587-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-11-1587-2015, 2015
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Sediment cores were collected from a lake that captures runoff from two glaciers in Greenland. Our analysis of the sediments shows that these glaciers were active over the last 9,000 years and advanced and retreated in response to regional climate changes. The data also provide a long-term perspective on the rate of 20th century glacier retreat and indicate that recent anthropogenic-driven warming has already impacted the regional cryosphere in a manner outside the range of natural variability.
A. Rodríguez-Ramírez, M. Caballero, P. Roy, B. Ortega, G. Vázquez-Castro, and S. Lozano-García
Clim. Past, 11, 1239–1248, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-11-1239-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-11-1239-2015, 2015
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We present results from western Mexico, where very few palaeoclimatic research sites exist. The record has good chronological resolution (ca. 20 years) and clear climatic trends during the last 2ka. The most important signals are: dry conditions during the late Classic (AD 500 to 1000), especially from AD 600 to 800, and low lake levels during the LIA, in two phases that follow Spörer and Maunder solar minima. Drier conditions are related with a lower intensity of the North American monsoon.
S. Albani, N. M. Mahowald, G. Winckler, R. F. Anderson, L. I. Bradtmiller, B. Delmonte, R. François, M. Goman, N. G. Heavens, P. P. Hesse, S. A. Hovan, S. G. Kang, K. E. Kohfeld, H. Lu, V. Maggi, J. A. Mason, P. A. Mayewski, D. McGee, X. Miao, B. L. Otto-Bliesner, A. T. Perry, A. Pourmand, H. M. Roberts, N. Rosenbloom, T. Stevens, and J. Sun
Clim. Past, 11, 869–903, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-11-869-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-11-869-2015, 2015
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We propose an innovative framework to organize paleodust records, formalized in a publicly accessible database, and discuss the emerging properties of the global dust cycle during the Holocene by integrating our analysis with simulations performed with the Community Earth System Model. We show how the size distribution of dust is intrinsically related to the dust mass accumulation rates and that only considering a consistent size range allows for a consistent analysis of the global dust cycle.
H. Beltrami, G. S. Matharoo, L. Tarasov, V. Rath, and J. E. Smerdon
Clim. Past, 10, 1693–1706, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-1693-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-1693-2014, 2014
C. Spötl and H. Cheng
Clim. Past, 10, 1349–1362, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-1349-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-1349-2014, 2014
A. E. Mehl and M. A. Zárate
Clim. Past, 10, 863–875, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-863-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-863-2014, 2014
C. Hély, A.-M. Lézine, and APD contributors
Clim. Past, 10, 681–686, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-681-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-681-2014, 2014
B. Vannière, M. Magny, S. Joannin, A. Simonneau, S. B. Wirth, Y. Hamann, E. Chapron, A. Gilli, M. Desmet, and F. S. Anselmetti
Clim. Past, 9, 1193–1209, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-1193-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-1193-2013, 2013
A. Simonneau, E. Chapron, B. Vannière, S. B. Wirth, A. Gilli, C. Di Giovanni, F. S. Anselmetti, M. Desmet, and M. Magny
Clim. Past, 9, 825–840, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-825-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-825-2013, 2013
A. Francke, B. Wagner, M. J. Leng, and J. Rethemeyer
Clim. Past, 9, 481–498, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-481-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-481-2013, 2013
J. Fohlmeister, A. Schröder-Ritzrau, D. Scholz, C. Spötl, D. F. C. Riechelmann, M. Mudelsee, A. Wackerbarth, A. Gerdes, S. Riechelmann, A. Immenhauser, D. K. Richter, and A. Mangini
Clim. Past, 8, 1751–1764, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-8-1751-2012, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-8-1751-2012, 2012
R. Moschen, N. Kühl, S. Peters, H. Vos, and A. Lücke
Clim. Past, 7, 1011–1026, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-7-1011-2011, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-7-1011-2011, 2011
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Short summary
Recent warming in the high latitudes has prompted the accelerated retreat of ice caps and glaciers, especially in the Canadian Arctic. Here we use the radiocarbon age of preserved plants being exposed by shrinking ice caps that once entombed them. These ages help us to constrain the timing and magnitude of climate change on southern Baffin Island over the past ~ 2000 years. Our results show episodic cooling up until ~ 1900 CE, followed by accelerated warming through present.
Recent warming in the high latitudes has prompted the accelerated retreat of ice caps and...
