Articles | Volume 14, issue 9
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-1299-2018
© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-1299-2018
© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Wet avalanches: long-term evolution in the Western Alps under climate and human forcing
Laurent Fouinat
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
EDYTEM, University Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, 73376 Le Bourget-du-Lac CEDEX, France
Pierre Sabatier
EDYTEM, University Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, 73376 Le Bourget-du-Lac CEDEX, France
Fernand David
CEREGE, University Aix-Marseille, 13545 Aix-en-Provence, France
Xavier Montet
University of Geneva Department of Radiology and Medical Informatics Genève, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland
Philippe Schoeneich
IUGA, University Grenoble Alpes, 38100 Grenoble, France
Eric Chaumillon
LIENSs University of La Rochelle, 17 000 La Rochelle, France
Jérôme Poulenard
EDYTEM, University Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, 73376 Le Bourget-du-Lac CEDEX, France
Fabien Arnaud
EDYTEM, University Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, 73376 Le Bourget-du-Lac CEDEX, France
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Irene Schimmelpfennig, Joerg M. Schaefer, Jennifer Lamp, Vincent Godard, Roseanne Schwartz, Edouard Bard, Thibaut Tuna, Naki Akçar, Christian Schlüchter, Susan Zimmerman, and ASTER Team
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Small mountain glaciers advance and recede as a response to summer temperature changes. Dating of glacial landforms with cosmogenic nuclides allowed us to reconstruct the advance and retreat history of an Alpine glacier throughout the past ~ 11 000 years, the Holocene. The results contribute knowledge to the debate of Holocene climate evolution, indicating that during most of this warm period, summer temperatures were similar to or warmer than in modern times.
Nicolás E. Young, Alia J. Lesnek, Josh K. Cuzzone, Jason P. Briner, Jessica A. Badgeley, Alexandra Balter-Kennedy, Brandon L. Graham, Allison Cluett, Jennifer L. Lamp, Roseanne Schwartz, Thibaut Tuna, Edouard Bard, Marc W. Caffee, Susan R. H. Zimmerman, and Joerg M. Schaefer
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Retreat of the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) margin is exposing a bedrock landscape that holds clues regarding the timing and extent of past ice-sheet minima. We present cosmogenic nuclide measurements from recently deglaciated bedrock surfaces (the last few decades), combined with a refined chronology of southwestern Greenland deglaciation and model simulations of GrIS change. Results suggest that inland retreat of the southwestern GrIS margin was likely minimal in the middle to late Holocene.
Anne Sofie Søndergaard, Nicolaj Krog Larsen, Olivia Steinemann, Jesper Olsen, Svend Funder, David Lundbek Egholm, and Kurt Henrik Kjær
Clim. Past, 16, 1999–2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-16-1999-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-16-1999-2020, 2020
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We present new results that show how the north Greenland Ice Sheet responded to climate changes over the last 11 700 years. We find that the ice sheet was very sensitive to past climate changes. Combining our findings with recently published studies reveals distinct differences in sensitivity to past climate changes between northwest and north Greenland. This highlights the sensitivity to past and possible future climate changes of two of the most vulnerable areas of the Greenland Ice Sheet.
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Short summary
In the context of a warming climate, mountain environments are especially vulnerable to a change in the risk pattern. Our study focuses on the past evolution of wet avalanches, likely triggered by warmer temperatures destabilizing the snow cover. In the last 3300 years we observed an increase of wet avalanche occurrence related to human activities, intensifying pressure on forest cover, as well as favorable climate conditions such as warmer temperatures coinciding with retreating glacier phases.
In the context of a warming climate, mountain environments are especially vulnerable to a change...