Evidence of NAO control on subsurface ice accumulation in a 1200 yr old cave-ice sequence, St. Livres ice cave, Switzerland

• Published in: Quaternary Research
• Main Authors: Stoffel, Markus, Luetscher, Marc, Bollschweiler, Michelle, Schlatter, Frédéric
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2009
• Subjects: Norway; Jura; North Atlantic; North Atlantic oscillation
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.yqres.2009.03.002; http://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0033589409000349?httpAccept=text/xml; http://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0033589409000349?httpAccept=text/plain; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0033589400006268

Abstract Mid-latitude ice caves are assumed to be highly sensitive to climatic changes and thus represent a potentially interesting environmental archive. Establishing a precise chronology is, however, a prerequisite for the understanding of processes driving the cave-ice mass balance and thus allows a paleoenvironmental interpretation. At St. Livres ice cave (Jura Mountains, Switzerland), subfossil trees and organic material are abundant in the cave-ice deposit, therefore allowing the dating of individual ice layers. The dendrochronological analysis of 45 subfossil samples of Norway spruce ( Picea abies (L.) Karst.) from the overhanging front of the ice outcrop as well as the dating of seven wood samples with 14 C dating allowed for a reconstruction of the St. Livres cave-ice sequence and for the determination of periods of ice accumulation and ablation. Results suggest a maximal age of 1200 ± 50 14 C yr BP for the observed ice sequence and indicate the presence of four major deposition gaps dated to the 14th, 15th, mid-19th and late 19th century, which can be related with periods of positive North Atlantic Oscillation anomalies (NAO+) over the winter half-year and/or anthropogenic cave-ice abstraction. Similarly, there is evidence that periods of cave-ice accumulation as observed between AD 1877–1900 and AD 1393–1415 would correspond with phases of negative NAO indices. Cave ice represents therefore an original climate archive for the winter half-year and is complementary to other continental proxies recording preferentially summer conditions (e.g., tree rings, varves).