Absence of a Medieval Climate Anomaly, Little Ice Age and twentieth century warming in Skarvsnes, Lützow Holm Bay, East Antarctica
Abstract Palaeoclimate changes, such as the Medieval Climate Anomaly and the Little Ice Age, are well-defined in the Northern Hemisphere during the past 2000 years. In contrast, these anomalies appear to be either absent, or less well-defined, in high-latitude regions of the Southern Hemisphere. Her...
Published in: | Antarctic Science |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
2014
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0954102014000029 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0954102014000029 |
id |
crcambridgeupr:10.1017/s0954102014000029 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
crcambridgeupr:10.1017/s0954102014000029 2024-09-15T17:43:07+00:00 Absence of a Medieval Climate Anomaly, Little Ice Age and twentieth century warming in Skarvsnes, Lützow Holm Bay, East Antarctica Tavernier, Ines Verleyen, Elie Hodgson, Dominic A. Heirman, Katrien Roberts, Stephen J. Imura, Satoshi Kudoh, Sakae Sabbe, Koen De Batist, Marc Vyverman, Wim 2014 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0954102014000029 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0954102014000029 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms Antarctic Science volume 26, issue 5, page 585-598 ISSN 0954-1020 1365-2079 journal-article 2014 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/s0954102014000029 2024-08-07T04:04:08Z Abstract Palaeoclimate changes, such as the Medieval Climate Anomaly and the Little Ice Age, are well-defined in the Northern Hemisphere during the past 2000 years. In contrast, these anomalies appear to be either absent, or less well-defined, in high-latitude regions of the Southern Hemisphere. Here, we inferred environmental changes during the past two millennia from proxies in a sediment core from Mago Ike, an East Antarctic lake in Skarvsnes (Lützow Holm Bay). Variations in lake primary production were inferred from fossil pigments, sedimentological and geochemical proxies and combined with absolute diatom counts to infer past diatom productivity and community changes. Three distinct stratigraphic zones were recognized, resulting from a shift from marine to lacustrine conditions with a clear transition zone in between. The presence of open-water marine diatoms indicates a coastal zone seasonally free of sea ice between c. 2120–1500 cal yr bp . Subsequently, the lake became isolated from the ocean due to isostatic uplift. Freshwater conditions were established from c. 1120 cal yr bp onwards after which the proxies are considered highly sensitive to temperature changes. There is no evidence for a Medieval Climate Anomaly, Little Ice Age or twentieth century warming in our lake sediment record suggesting that studies that have imposed Northern Hemisphere climate anomalies onto Southern Hemisphere palaeoclimate records should be treated with caution. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Science Antarctica East Antarctica Sea ice Cambridge University Press Antarctic Science 26 5 585 598 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Cambridge University Press |
op_collection_id |
crcambridgeupr |
language |
English |
description |
Abstract Palaeoclimate changes, such as the Medieval Climate Anomaly and the Little Ice Age, are well-defined in the Northern Hemisphere during the past 2000 years. In contrast, these anomalies appear to be either absent, or less well-defined, in high-latitude regions of the Southern Hemisphere. Here, we inferred environmental changes during the past two millennia from proxies in a sediment core from Mago Ike, an East Antarctic lake in Skarvsnes (Lützow Holm Bay). Variations in lake primary production were inferred from fossil pigments, sedimentological and geochemical proxies and combined with absolute diatom counts to infer past diatom productivity and community changes. Three distinct stratigraphic zones were recognized, resulting from a shift from marine to lacustrine conditions with a clear transition zone in between. The presence of open-water marine diatoms indicates a coastal zone seasonally free of sea ice between c. 2120–1500 cal yr bp . Subsequently, the lake became isolated from the ocean due to isostatic uplift. Freshwater conditions were established from c. 1120 cal yr bp onwards after which the proxies are considered highly sensitive to temperature changes. There is no evidence for a Medieval Climate Anomaly, Little Ice Age or twentieth century warming in our lake sediment record suggesting that studies that have imposed Northern Hemisphere climate anomalies onto Southern Hemisphere palaeoclimate records should be treated with caution. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Tavernier, Ines Verleyen, Elie Hodgson, Dominic A. Heirman, Katrien Roberts, Stephen J. Imura, Satoshi Kudoh, Sakae Sabbe, Koen De Batist, Marc Vyverman, Wim |
spellingShingle |
Tavernier, Ines Verleyen, Elie Hodgson, Dominic A. Heirman, Katrien Roberts, Stephen J. Imura, Satoshi Kudoh, Sakae Sabbe, Koen De Batist, Marc Vyverman, Wim Absence of a Medieval Climate Anomaly, Little Ice Age and twentieth century warming in Skarvsnes, Lützow Holm Bay, East Antarctica |
author_facet |
Tavernier, Ines Verleyen, Elie Hodgson, Dominic A. Heirman, Katrien Roberts, Stephen J. Imura, Satoshi Kudoh, Sakae Sabbe, Koen De Batist, Marc Vyverman, Wim |
author_sort |
Tavernier, Ines |
title |
Absence of a Medieval Climate Anomaly, Little Ice Age and twentieth century warming in Skarvsnes, Lützow Holm Bay, East Antarctica |
title_short |
Absence of a Medieval Climate Anomaly, Little Ice Age and twentieth century warming in Skarvsnes, Lützow Holm Bay, East Antarctica |
title_full |
Absence of a Medieval Climate Anomaly, Little Ice Age and twentieth century warming in Skarvsnes, Lützow Holm Bay, East Antarctica |
title_fullStr |
Absence of a Medieval Climate Anomaly, Little Ice Age and twentieth century warming in Skarvsnes, Lützow Holm Bay, East Antarctica |
title_full_unstemmed |
Absence of a Medieval Climate Anomaly, Little Ice Age and twentieth century warming in Skarvsnes, Lützow Holm Bay, East Antarctica |
title_sort |
absence of a medieval climate anomaly, little ice age and twentieth century warming in skarvsnes, lützow holm bay, east antarctica |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0954102014000029 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0954102014000029 |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Science Antarctica East Antarctica Sea ice |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Science Antarctica East Antarctica Sea ice |
op_source |
Antarctic Science volume 26, issue 5, page 585-598 ISSN 0954-1020 1365-2079 |
op_rights |
https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/s0954102014000029 |
container_title |
Antarctic Science |
container_volume |
26 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
585 |
op_container_end_page |
598 |
_version_ |
1810489948367749120 |