PERICLIMv1.0: a model deriving palaeo-air temperatures from thaw depth in past permafrost regions

• Published in: Geoscientific Model Development
• Main Authors: T. Uxa, M. Křížek, F. Hrbáček
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Copernicus Publications 2021
• Subjects: Geology; QE1-996.5; Active layer thickness; permafrost; wedge*
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-1865-2021; https://doaj.org/article/8a0100da839a45779cb49ad06297900e

Periglacial features, such as various kinds of patterned ground, cryoturbations, frost wedges, solifluction structures, and blockfields, are among the most common relics of cold climate periods, which repetitively occurred throughout the Quaternary. As such, they are widespread archives of past environmental conditions. Climate controls on the development of most periglacial features, however, remain poorly known, and thus empirical palaeo-climate reconstructions based on them have limited validity. This study presents and evaluates a simple new inverse modelling scheme called PERICLIMv1.0 (PERIglacial CLIMate) that derives palaeo-air temperature characteristics related to the palaeo-active-layer thickness, which can be recognized using many relict periglacial features found in past permafrost regions. The evaluation against modern temperature records showed that the model reproduces air temperature characteristics with average errors ≤1.3 ∘ C . The past mean annual air temperature modelled experimentally for two sites in the Czech Republic hosting relict cryoturbation structures was between <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M3" display="inline" overflow="scroll" dspmath="mathml"><mrow><mo>-</mo><mn mathvariant="normal">7.0</mn><mo>±</mo><mn mathvariant="normal">1.9</mn></mrow></math> <svg:svg xmlns:svg="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="52pt" height="10pt" class="svg-formula" dspmath="mathimg" md5hash="a73d94d6529884b0ef9c6e34a21b2cc9"><svg:image xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="gmd-14-1865-2021-ie00001.svg" width="52pt" height="10pt" src="gmd-14-1865-2021-ie00001.png"/></svg:svg> and <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M4" display="inline" overflow="scroll" dspmath="mathml"><mrow><mo>-</mo><mn mathvariant="normal">3.2</mn><mo>±</mo><mn mathvariant="normal">1.5</mn></mrow></math> <svg:svg ...