Articles | Volume 20, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-91-2024
© Author(s) 2024. 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-20-91-2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
11 Jan 2024
Research article |
| 11 Jan 2024
| 11 Jan 2024
Equilibrium line altitudes of alpine glaciers in Alaska suggest Last Glacial Maximum summer temperature was 2–5 °C lower than during the pre-industrial
Department of Geology, University at Buffalo, 126 Cooke Hall, Buffalo, NY 14260, USA
Jason P. Briner
Department of Geology, University at Buffalo, 126 Cooke Hall, Buffalo, NY 14260, USA
Joseph P. Tulenko
Department of Geology, University at Buffalo, 126 Cooke Hall, Buffalo, NY 14260, USA
Berkeley Geochronology Center, Shires Hall, 2455 Ridge Rd, Berkeley, CA 94709, USA
Stuart M. Evans
Department of Geography, University at Buffalo, 105 Wilkeson Quad, Buffalo, NY 14261, USA
RENEW Institute, University at Buffalo, 112 Cooke Hall, Buffalo, NY 14260, USA
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Jason P. Briner, Caleb K. Walcott, Joerg M. Schaefer, Nicolás E. Young, Joseph A. MacGregor, Kristin Poinar, Benjamin A. Keisling, Sridhar Anandakrishnan, Mary R. Albert, Tanner Kuhl, and Grant Boeckmann
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Joshua K. Cuzzone, Nicole-Jeanne Schlegel, Mathieu Morlighem, Eric Larour, Jason P. Briner, Helene Seroussi, and Lambert Caron
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Related subject area
Subject: Ice Dynamics | Archive: Terrestrial Archives | Timescale: Pleistocene
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Projecting the future evolution of the Greenland Ice Sheet is key. However, it is still under the influence of past climate changes that occurred over thousands of years. This makes calibrating projection models against current knowledge of its past evolution (not yet achieved) important. To help with this, we produced a new Greenland-wide reconstruction of ice sheet extent by gathering all published studies dating its former retreat and by mapping its past margins at the ice sheet scale.
Tancrède P. M. Leger, Andrew S. Hein, Ángel Rodés, Robert G. Bingham, Irene Schimmelpfennig, Derek Fabel, Pablo Tapia, and ASTER Team
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Over the past 800 thousand years, variations in the Earth’s orbit and tilt have caused antiphased solar insolation intensity in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Paradoxically, glacial records suggest that global ice sheets have responded synchronously to major cold glacial and warm interglacial episodes. To address this puzzle, we present a new detailed glacier chronology that estimates the timing of multiple Patagonian ice-sheet waxing and waning cycles over the past 300 thousand years.
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Short summary
Available data suggest that Alaska was not as cold as many of the high-latitude areas of the Northern Hemisphere during the Last Ice Age. These results come from isolated climate records, climate models, and data synthesis projects. We used the extents of mountain glaciers during the Last Ice Age and Little Ice Age to show precipitation gradients across Alaska and provide temperature data from across the whole state. Our findings support a relatively warm Alaska during the Last Ice Age.
Available data suggest that Alaska was not as cold as many of the high-latitude areas of the...
