07 Feb 2007
07 Feb 2007
Summer temperature trend over the past two millennia using air content in Himalayan ice
S. Hou1,2,3, J. Chappellaz1, J. Jouzel2, P. C. Chu4, V. Masson-Delmotte2, D. Qin3, D. Raynaud1, P. A. Mayewski5, V. Y. Lipenkov6, and S. Kang3
S. Hou et al.
S. Hou1,2,3, J. Chappellaz1, J. Jouzel2, P. C. Chu4, V. Masson-Delmotte2, D. Qin3, D. Raynaud1, P. A. Mayewski5, V. Y. Lipenkov6, and S. Kang3
- 1Lab. de Glaciologie et Geophysique de l'Environnement (CNRS-UJF), 54 rue Molière, Domaine Univ., BP 96, 38402 St Martin d'Hères, France
- 2IPSL-Lab. des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement (CEA-CNRS-UVSQ), CE Saclay, Annexe Orme des Merisiers, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
- 3Lab. of Cryosphere and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 260 Donggang West Road, 730000 Lanzhou, China
- 4Naval Ocean-Atmosphere Prediction Lab., Dept. of Oceanography, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA 93943, USA
- 5Climate Change Institute (CCI), Univ. of Maine, Orono, ME 04469, USA
- 6Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, Beringa Street 38, 199397, St. Petersburg, Russia
- 1Lab. de Glaciologie et Geophysique de l'Environnement (CNRS-UJF), 54 rue Molière, Domaine Univ., BP 96, 38402 St Martin d'Hères, France
- 2IPSL-Lab. des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement (CEA-CNRS-UVSQ), CE Saclay, Annexe Orme des Merisiers, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
- 3Lab. of Cryosphere and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 260 Donggang West Road, 730000 Lanzhou, China
- 4Naval Ocean-Atmosphere Prediction Lab., Dept. of Oceanography, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA 93943, USA
- 5Climate Change Institute (CCI), Univ. of Maine, Orono, ME 04469, USA
- 6Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, Beringa Street 38, 199397, St. Petersburg, Russia
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Two Himalayan ice cores display a factor-two decreasing trend of air content over the past two millennia, in contrast to the relatively stable values in Greenland and Antarctica ice cores over the same period. Because the air content can be related with the relative frequency and intensity of melt phenomena, its variations along the Himalayan ice cores provide an indication of summer temperature trend. Our reconstruction point toward an unprecedented warming trend in the 20th century but does not depict the usual trends associated with "Medieval Warm Period" (MWP), or "Little Ice Age" (LIA).
