Glacier response to North Atlantic climate variability during the Holocene
Small glaciers and ice caps respond rapidly to climate variations, and records of their past extent provide information on the natural envelope of past climate variability. Millennial-scale trends in Holocene glacier size are well documented and correspond with changes in Northern Hemisphere summer...
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ftcolumbiauniv:oai:academiccommons.columbia.edu:10.7916/D8251HX2 2023-05-15T16:21:10+02:00 Glacier response to North Atlantic climate variability during the Holocene Balascio, Nicholas L. D'Andrea, William Joseph Bradley, R. S. 2015 https://doi.org/10.7916/D8251HX2 English eng European Geosciences Union https://doi.org/10.7916/D8251HX2 Glaciers--Measurement Glaciers--Climatic factors Holocene Geologic Period Articles 2015 ftcolumbiauniv https://doi.org/10.7916/D8251HX2 2019-04-04T08:13:56Z Small glaciers and ice caps respond rapidly to climate variations, and records of their past extent provide information on the natural envelope of past climate variability. Millennial-scale trends in Holocene glacier size are well documented and correspond with changes in Northern Hemisphere summer insolation. However, there is only sparse and fragmentary evidence for higher-frequency variations in glacier size because in many Northern Hemisphere regions glacier advances of the past few hundred years were the most extensive and destroyed the geomorphic evidence of ice growth and retreat during the past several thousand years. Thus, most glacier records have been of limited use for investigating centennial-scale climate forcing and feedback mechanisms. Here we report a continuous record of glacier activity for the last 9.5 ka from southeast Greenland derived from high-resolution measurements on a proglacial lake sediment sequence. Physical and geochemical parameters show that the glaciers responded to previously documented Northern Hemisphere climatic excursions, including the "8.2 ka" cooling event, the Holocene Thermal Maximum, Neoglacial cooling, and 20th century warming. In addition, the sediments indicate centennial-scale oscillations in glacier size during the late Holocene. Beginning at 4.1 ka, a series of abrupt glacier advances occurred, each lasting ~100 years and followed by a period of retreat, that were superimposed on a gradual trend toward larger glacier size. Thus, while declining summer insolation caused long-term cooling and glacier expansion during the late Holocene, climate system dynamics resulted in repeated episodes of glacier expansion and retreat on multi-decadal to centennial timescales. These episodes coincided with ice rafting events in the North Atlantic Ocean and periods of regional ice cap expansion, which confirms their regional significance and indicates that considerable glacier activity on these timescales is a normal feature of the cryosphere. The data provide a longer-term perspective on the rate of 20th century glacier retreat and indicate that recent anthropogenic-driven warming has already impacted the regional cryosphere in a manner outside the natural range of Holocene variability. Article in Journal/Newspaper glacier Greenland Ice cap North Atlantic Columbia University: Academic Commons Greenland |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Columbia University: Academic Commons |
op_collection_id |
ftcolumbiauniv |
language |
English |
topic |
Glaciers--Measurement Glaciers--Climatic factors Holocene Geologic Period |
spellingShingle |
Glaciers--Measurement Glaciers--Climatic factors Holocene Geologic Period Balascio, Nicholas L. D'Andrea, William Joseph Bradley, R. S. Glacier response to North Atlantic climate variability during the Holocene |
topic_facet |
Glaciers--Measurement Glaciers--Climatic factors Holocene Geologic Period |
description |
Small glaciers and ice caps respond rapidly to climate variations, and records of their past extent provide information on the natural envelope of past climate variability. Millennial-scale trends in Holocene glacier size are well documented and correspond with changes in Northern Hemisphere summer insolation. However, there is only sparse and fragmentary evidence for higher-frequency variations in glacier size because in many Northern Hemisphere regions glacier advances of the past few hundred years were the most extensive and destroyed the geomorphic evidence of ice growth and retreat during the past several thousand years. Thus, most glacier records have been of limited use for investigating centennial-scale climate forcing and feedback mechanisms. Here we report a continuous record of glacier activity for the last 9.5 ka from southeast Greenland derived from high-resolution measurements on a proglacial lake sediment sequence. Physical and geochemical parameters show that the glaciers responded to previously documented Northern Hemisphere climatic excursions, including the "8.2 ka" cooling event, the Holocene Thermal Maximum, Neoglacial cooling, and 20th century warming. In addition, the sediments indicate centennial-scale oscillations in glacier size during the late Holocene. Beginning at 4.1 ka, a series of abrupt glacier advances occurred, each lasting ~100 years and followed by a period of retreat, that were superimposed on a gradual trend toward larger glacier size. Thus, while declining summer insolation caused long-term cooling and glacier expansion during the late Holocene, climate system dynamics resulted in repeated episodes of glacier expansion and retreat on multi-decadal to centennial timescales. These episodes coincided with ice rafting events in the North Atlantic Ocean and periods of regional ice cap expansion, which confirms their regional significance and indicates that considerable glacier activity on these timescales is a normal feature of the cryosphere. The data provide a longer-term perspective on the rate of 20th century glacier retreat and indicate that recent anthropogenic-driven warming has already impacted the regional cryosphere in a manner outside the natural range of Holocene variability. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Balascio, Nicholas L. D'Andrea, William Joseph Bradley, R. S. |
author_facet |
Balascio, Nicholas L. D'Andrea, William Joseph Bradley, R. S. |
author_sort |
Balascio, Nicholas L. |
title |
Glacier response to North Atlantic climate variability during the Holocene |
title_short |
Glacier response to North Atlantic climate variability during the Holocene |
title_full |
Glacier response to North Atlantic climate variability during the Holocene |
title_fullStr |
Glacier response to North Atlantic climate variability during the Holocene |
title_full_unstemmed |
Glacier response to North Atlantic climate variability during the Holocene |
title_sort |
glacier response to north atlantic climate variability during the holocene |
publisher |
European Geosciences Union |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.7916/D8251HX2 |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
glacier Greenland Ice cap North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
glacier Greenland Ice cap North Atlantic |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.7916/D8251HX2 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.7916/D8251HX2 |
_version_ |
1766009183982845952 |