Some comments on climatic reconstructions from ice cores drilled in areas of high melt
Abstract Poor consideration has been given in many Arctic circum-polar ice-core studies to the effect of summer snow melt on chemistry, stable-isotope concentrations and time-scales. Many of these corps are drilled close to the firn line where melt is intense. Some come from below the firn line wher...
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1997
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022143000002847 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022143000002847 |
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crcambridgeupr:10.1017/s0022143000002847 2024-03-03T08:41:48+00:00 Some comments on climatic reconstructions from ice cores drilled in areas of high melt Koerner, Roy M. 1997 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022143000002847 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022143000002847 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) Journal of Glaciology volume 43, issue 143, page 90-97 ISSN 0022-1430 1727-5652 Earth-Surface Processes journal-article 1997 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/s0022143000002847 2024-02-08T08:40:23Z Abstract Poor consideration has been given in many Arctic circum-polar ice-core studies to the effect of summer snow melt on chemistry, stable-isotope concentrations and time-scales. Many of these corps are drilled close to the firn line where melt is intense. Some come from below the firn line where accumulation is solely in the form of super-imposed ice. In all cases, seasonal signals are reduced or removed and, in some, time gaps develop during periods of excessive melting which situate the drill site in the ablation zone. Consequently, cross correlations of assumed synchronous events among the cores are invalid, so that time-scales along the same cores differ between authors by factors of over 2. Many so-called climatic signals are imaginary rather than real. By reference to published analyses of cores from the superimposed ice zone on Devon Ice Cap (Koerner, 1970) and Meighen Ice Cap (Koerner and Paterson, 1974), it is shown how melt affects all the normally well-established ice-core proxies and leads to their misinterpretation. Despite these limitations, the cores can give valuable low-resolution records for all or part of the Holocene. They show that the thermal maximum in the circum-polar Arctic occurred in the early Holocene. This maximum, effected negative balances on all the ice caps and removed the smaller ones. Cooler conditions in the second half of the Holocene have caused the regrowth of these same ice caps. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Ice cap ice core Journal of Glaciology Cambridge University Press Arctic Paterson ENVELOPE(-154.600,-154.600,-78.033,-78.033) Devon Ice Cap ENVELOPE(-82.499,-82.499,75.335,75.335) Journal of Glaciology 43 143 90 97 |
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Open Polar |
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Cambridge University Press |
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crcambridgeupr |
language |
English |
topic |
Earth-Surface Processes |
spellingShingle |
Earth-Surface Processes Koerner, Roy M. Some comments on climatic reconstructions from ice cores drilled in areas of high melt |
topic_facet |
Earth-Surface Processes |
description |
Abstract Poor consideration has been given in many Arctic circum-polar ice-core studies to the effect of summer snow melt on chemistry, stable-isotope concentrations and time-scales. Many of these corps are drilled close to the firn line where melt is intense. Some come from below the firn line where accumulation is solely in the form of super-imposed ice. In all cases, seasonal signals are reduced or removed and, in some, time gaps develop during periods of excessive melting which situate the drill site in the ablation zone. Consequently, cross correlations of assumed synchronous events among the cores are invalid, so that time-scales along the same cores differ between authors by factors of over 2. Many so-called climatic signals are imaginary rather than real. By reference to published analyses of cores from the superimposed ice zone on Devon Ice Cap (Koerner, 1970) and Meighen Ice Cap (Koerner and Paterson, 1974), it is shown how melt affects all the normally well-established ice-core proxies and leads to their misinterpretation. Despite these limitations, the cores can give valuable low-resolution records for all or part of the Holocene. They show that the thermal maximum in the circum-polar Arctic occurred in the early Holocene. This maximum, effected negative balances on all the ice caps and removed the smaller ones. Cooler conditions in the second half of the Holocene have caused the regrowth of these same ice caps. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Koerner, Roy M. |
author_facet |
Koerner, Roy M. |
author_sort |
Koerner, Roy M. |
title |
Some comments on climatic reconstructions from ice cores drilled in areas of high melt |
title_short |
Some comments on climatic reconstructions from ice cores drilled in areas of high melt |
title_full |
Some comments on climatic reconstructions from ice cores drilled in areas of high melt |
title_fullStr |
Some comments on climatic reconstructions from ice cores drilled in areas of high melt |
title_full_unstemmed |
Some comments on climatic reconstructions from ice cores drilled in areas of high melt |
title_sort |
some comments on climatic reconstructions from ice cores drilled in areas of high melt |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
1997 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022143000002847 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022143000002847 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-154.600,-154.600,-78.033,-78.033) ENVELOPE(-82.499,-82.499,75.335,75.335) |
geographic |
Arctic Paterson Devon Ice Cap |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Paterson Devon Ice Cap |
genre |
Arctic Ice cap ice core Journal of Glaciology |
genre_facet |
Arctic Ice cap ice core Journal of Glaciology |
op_source |
Journal of Glaciology volume 43, issue 143, page 90-97 ISSN 0022-1430 1727-5652 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/s0022143000002847 |
container_title |
Journal of Glaciology |
container_volume |
43 |
container_issue |
143 |
container_start_page |
90 |
op_container_end_page |
97 |
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1792497393795596288 |