Western Greenland ice sheet retreat history reveals elevated precipitation during the Holocene thermal maximum
We investigate changing precipitation patterns in the Kangerlussuaq region of western central Greenland during the Holocene thermal maximum (HTM), using a new chronology of ice sheet terminus position through the Holocene and a novel inverse modeling approach based on the unscented transform (UT). T...
Published in: | The Cryosphere |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Copernicus Publications
2020
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1121-2020 https://doaj.org/article/103294d2f6954125b1bd4b0466044b6c |
id |
ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:103294d2f6954125b1bd4b0466044b6c |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:103294d2f6954125b1bd4b0466044b6c 2023-05-15T16:27:26+02:00 Western Greenland ice sheet retreat history reveals elevated precipitation during the Holocene thermal maximum J. Downs J. Johnson J. Briner N. Young A. Lesnek J. Cuzzone 2020-03-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1121-2020 https://doaj.org/article/103294d2f6954125b1bd4b0466044b6c EN eng Copernicus Publications https://www.the-cryosphere.net/14/1121/2020/tc-14-1121-2020.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-14-1121-2020 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://doaj.org/article/103294d2f6954125b1bd4b0466044b6c The Cryosphere, Vol 14, Pp 1121-1137 (2020) Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 article 2020 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1121-2020 2022-12-31T12:14:15Z We investigate changing precipitation patterns in the Kangerlussuaq region of western central Greenland during the Holocene thermal maximum (HTM), using a new chronology of ice sheet terminus position through the Holocene and a novel inverse modeling approach based on the unscented transform (UT). The UT is applied to estimate changes in annual precipitation in order to reduce the misfit between modeled and observed terminus positions. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the UT for time-dependent data assimilation, highlighting its low computational cost and trivial parallel implementation. Our results indicate that Holocene warming coincided with elevated precipitation, without which modeled retreat in the Kangerlussuaq region is more rapid than suggested by observations. Less conclusive is whether high temperatures during the HTM were specifically associated with a transient increase in precipitation, as the results depend on the assumed temperature history. Our results highlight the important role that changing precipitation patterns had in controlling ice sheet extent during the Holocene. Article in Journal/Newspaper Greenland Ice Sheet Kangerlussuaq The Cryosphere Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Greenland Kangerlussuaq ENVELOPE(-55.633,-55.633,72.633,72.633) The Cryosphere 14 3 1121 1137 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 |
spellingShingle |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 J. Downs J. Johnson J. Briner N. Young A. Lesnek J. Cuzzone Western Greenland ice sheet retreat history reveals elevated precipitation during the Holocene thermal maximum |
topic_facet |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 |
description |
We investigate changing precipitation patterns in the Kangerlussuaq region of western central Greenland during the Holocene thermal maximum (HTM), using a new chronology of ice sheet terminus position through the Holocene and a novel inverse modeling approach based on the unscented transform (UT). The UT is applied to estimate changes in annual precipitation in order to reduce the misfit between modeled and observed terminus positions. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the UT for time-dependent data assimilation, highlighting its low computational cost and trivial parallel implementation. Our results indicate that Holocene warming coincided with elevated precipitation, without which modeled retreat in the Kangerlussuaq region is more rapid than suggested by observations. Less conclusive is whether high temperatures during the HTM were specifically associated with a transient increase in precipitation, as the results depend on the assumed temperature history. Our results highlight the important role that changing precipitation patterns had in controlling ice sheet extent during the Holocene. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
J. Downs J. Johnson J. Briner N. Young A. Lesnek J. Cuzzone |
author_facet |
J. Downs J. Johnson J. Briner N. Young A. Lesnek J. Cuzzone |
author_sort |
J. Downs |
title |
Western Greenland ice sheet retreat history reveals elevated precipitation during the Holocene thermal maximum |
title_short |
Western Greenland ice sheet retreat history reveals elevated precipitation during the Holocene thermal maximum |
title_full |
Western Greenland ice sheet retreat history reveals elevated precipitation during the Holocene thermal maximum |
title_fullStr |
Western Greenland ice sheet retreat history reveals elevated precipitation during the Holocene thermal maximum |
title_full_unstemmed |
Western Greenland ice sheet retreat history reveals elevated precipitation during the Holocene thermal maximum |
title_sort |
western greenland ice sheet retreat history reveals elevated precipitation during the holocene thermal maximum |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1121-2020 https://doaj.org/article/103294d2f6954125b1bd4b0466044b6c |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-55.633,-55.633,72.633,72.633) |
geographic |
Greenland Kangerlussuaq |
geographic_facet |
Greenland Kangerlussuaq |
genre |
Greenland Ice Sheet Kangerlussuaq The Cryosphere |
genre_facet |
Greenland Ice Sheet Kangerlussuaq The Cryosphere |
op_source |
The Cryosphere, Vol 14, Pp 1121-1137 (2020) |
op_relation |
https://www.the-cryosphere.net/14/1121/2020/tc-14-1121-2020.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-14-1121-2020 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://doaj.org/article/103294d2f6954125b1bd4b0466044b6c |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1121-2020 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
14 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
1121 |
op_container_end_page |
1137 |
_version_ |
1766016607264440320 |