Tree-ring-based reconstructions of North American glacier mass balance through the Little Ice Age — Contemporary warming transition

Abstract Glacier mass-balance reconstructions provide a means of placing relatively short observational records into a longer-term context. In western North America, mass-balance records span four to five decades and capture a relatively narrow window of glacial behavior over an interval that was do...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:Quaternary Research
Main Authors: Malcomb, Nathan L., Wiles, Gregory C.
Other Authors: Henry J. Copeland Fund for Independent Study, National Geographic Society Education Foundation, National Park Service, National Science Foundation
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2013
Subjects:
glacier
glaciers
Alaska
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.yqres.2012.11.005
http://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S003358941200138X?httpAccept=text/xml
http://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S003358941200138X?httpAccept=text/plain
https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S003358940000329X
id crcambridgeupr:10.1016/j.yqres.2012.11.005
record_format openpolar
spelling crcambridgeupr:10.1016/j.yqres.2012.11.005 2024-09-15T18:07:32+00:00 Tree-ring-based reconstructions of North American glacier mass balance through the Little Ice Age — Contemporary warming transition Malcomb, Nathan L. Wiles, Gregory C. Henry J. Copeland Fund for Independent Study National Geographic Society Education Foundation National Park Service National Science Foundation 2013 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.yqres.2012.11.005 http://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S003358941200138X?httpAccept=text/xml http://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S003358941200138X?httpAccept=text/plain https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S003358940000329X en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms Quaternary Research volume 79, issue 2, page 123-137 ISSN 0033-5894 1096-0287 journal-article 2013 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yqres.2012.11.005 2024-07-17T04:04:37Z Abstract Glacier mass-balance reconstructions provide a means of placing relatively short observational records into a longer-term context. In western North America, mass-balance records span four to five decades and capture a relatively narrow window of glacial behavior over an interval that was dominated by warming and ablation. We use temperature- and moisture-sensitive tree-ring series to reconstruct annual mass balance for six glaciers in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. Mass-balance models rely on the climatic sensitivity of tree-ring chronologies and teleconnection patterns in the North Pacific. The reconstructions extend through the mid to latter portions of the Little Ice Age (LIA) and explore the role of climate variability in forcing mass balance across multiple environmental gradients. Synchronous positive mass-balance intervals coincide with regional moraine building and solar minima, whereas differences in LIA glacier behavior are related to synoptic climate forcing. Secular warming in the late 19th century to present corresponds with the only multi-decadal intervals of negative mass balance in all glacier reconstructions. This suggests that contemporary retreat in western North America is unique with respect to the last several centuries and that regional patterns of glacier variability are now dominated by global climate forcing. Article in Journal/Newspaper glacier glaciers Alaska Cambridge University Press Quaternary Research 79 2 123 137
institution Open Polar
collection Cambridge University Press
op_collection_id crcambridgeupr
language English
description Abstract Glacier mass-balance reconstructions provide a means of placing relatively short observational records into a longer-term context. In western North America, mass-balance records span four to five decades and capture a relatively narrow window of glacial behavior over an interval that was dominated by warming and ablation. We use temperature- and moisture-sensitive tree-ring series to reconstruct annual mass balance for six glaciers in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. Mass-balance models rely on the climatic sensitivity of tree-ring chronologies and teleconnection patterns in the North Pacific. The reconstructions extend through the mid to latter portions of the Little Ice Age (LIA) and explore the role of climate variability in forcing mass balance across multiple environmental gradients. Synchronous positive mass-balance intervals coincide with regional moraine building and solar minima, whereas differences in LIA glacier behavior are related to synoptic climate forcing. Secular warming in the late 19th century to present corresponds with the only multi-decadal intervals of negative mass balance in all glacier reconstructions. This suggests that contemporary retreat in western North America is unique with respect to the last several centuries and that regional patterns of glacier variability are now dominated by global climate forcing.
author2 Henry J. Copeland Fund for Independent Study
National Geographic Society Education Foundation
National Park Service
National Science Foundation
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author Malcomb, Nathan L.
Wiles, Gregory C.
spellingShingle Malcomb, Nathan L.
Wiles, Gregory C.
Tree-ring-based reconstructions of North American glacier mass balance through the Little Ice Age — Contemporary warming transition
author_facet Malcomb, Nathan L.
Wiles, Gregory C.
author_sort Malcomb, Nathan L.
title Tree-ring-based reconstructions of North American glacier mass balance through the Little Ice Age — Contemporary warming transition
title_short Tree-ring-based reconstructions of North American glacier mass balance through the Little Ice Age — Contemporary warming transition
title_full Tree-ring-based reconstructions of North American glacier mass balance through the Little Ice Age — Contemporary warming transition
title_fullStr Tree-ring-based reconstructions of North American glacier mass balance through the Little Ice Age — Contemporary warming transition
title_full_unstemmed Tree-ring-based reconstructions of North American glacier mass balance through the Little Ice Age — Contemporary warming transition
title_sort tree-ring-based reconstructions of north american glacier mass balance through the little ice age — contemporary warming transition
publisher Cambridge University Press (CUP)
publishDate 2013
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.yqres.2012.11.005
http://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S003358941200138X?httpAccept=text/xml
http://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S003358941200138X?httpAccept=text/plain
https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S003358940000329X
genre glacier
glaciers
Alaska
genre_facet glacier
glaciers
Alaska
op_source Quaternary Research
volume 79, issue 2, page 123-137
ISSN 0033-5894 1096-0287
op_rights https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms
op_doi https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yqres.2012.11.005
container_title Quaternary Research
container_volume 79
container_issue 2
container_start_page 123
op_container_end_page 137
_version_ 1810444928220659712

Similar Items