Understanding drivers of glacier-length variability over the last millennium
Changes in glacier length reflect the integrated response to local fluctuations in temperature and precipitation resulting from both external forcing (e.g., volcanic eruptions or anthropogenic CO 2 ) and internal climate variability. In order to interpret the climate history reflected in the glacier...
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1645-2021 https://doaj.org/article/a3d08d39040940fca7e4a060663d0fa2 |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:a3d08d39040940fca7e4a060663d0fa2 2023-05-15T18:32:25+02:00 Understanding drivers of glacier-length variability over the last millennium A. Huston N. Siler G. H. Roe E. Pettit N. J. Steiger 2021-04-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1645-2021 https://doaj.org/article/a3d08d39040940fca7e4a060663d0fa2 EN eng Copernicus Publications https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/1645/2021/tc-15-1645-2021.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-15-1645-2021 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://doaj.org/article/a3d08d39040940fca7e4a060663d0fa2 The Cryosphere, Vol 15, Pp 1645-1662 (2021) Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 article 2021 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1645-2021 2022-12-31T15:05:56Z Changes in glacier length reflect the integrated response to local fluctuations in temperature and precipitation resulting from both external forcing (e.g., volcanic eruptions or anthropogenic CO 2 ) and internal climate variability. In order to interpret the climate history reflected in the glacier moraine record, the influence of both sources of climate variability must therefore be considered. Here we study the last millennium of glacier-length variability across the globe using a simple dynamic glacier model, which we force with temperature and precipitation time series from a 13-member ensemble of simulations from a global climate model. The ensemble allows us to quantify the contributions to glacier-length variability from external forcing (given by the ensemble mean) and internal variability (given by the ensemble spread). Within this framework, we find that internal variability is the predominant source of length fluctuations for glaciers with a shorter response time (less than a few decades). However, for glaciers with longer response timescales (more than a few decades) external forcing has a greater influence than internal variability. We further find that external forcing also dominates when the response of glaciers from widely separated regions is averaged. Single-forcing simulations indicate that, for this climate model, most of the forced response over the last millennium, pre-anthropogenic warming, has been driven by global-scale temperature change associated with volcanic aerosols. Article in Journal/Newspaper The Cryosphere Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles The Cryosphere 15 3 1645 1662 |
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 A. Huston N. Siler G. H. Roe E. Pettit N. J. Steiger Understanding drivers of glacier-length variability over the last millennium |
topic_facet |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 |
description |
Changes in glacier length reflect the integrated response to local fluctuations in temperature and precipitation resulting from both external forcing (e.g., volcanic eruptions or anthropogenic CO 2 ) and internal climate variability. In order to interpret the climate history reflected in the glacier moraine record, the influence of both sources of climate variability must therefore be considered. Here we study the last millennium of glacier-length variability across the globe using a simple dynamic glacier model, which we force with temperature and precipitation time series from a 13-member ensemble of simulations from a global climate model. The ensemble allows us to quantify the contributions to glacier-length variability from external forcing (given by the ensemble mean) and internal variability (given by the ensemble spread). Within this framework, we find that internal variability is the predominant source of length fluctuations for glaciers with a shorter response time (less than a few decades). However, for glaciers with longer response timescales (more than a few decades) external forcing has a greater influence than internal variability. We further find that external forcing also dominates when the response of glaciers from widely separated regions is averaged. Single-forcing simulations indicate that, for this climate model, most of the forced response over the last millennium, pre-anthropogenic warming, has been driven by global-scale temperature change associated with volcanic aerosols. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
A. Huston N. Siler G. H. Roe E. Pettit N. J. Steiger |
author_facet |
A. Huston N. Siler G. H. Roe E. Pettit N. J. Steiger |
author_sort |
A. Huston |
title |
Understanding drivers of glacier-length variability over the last millennium |
title_short |
Understanding drivers of glacier-length variability over the last millennium |
title_full |
Understanding drivers of glacier-length variability over the last millennium |
title_fullStr |
Understanding drivers of glacier-length variability over the last millennium |
title_full_unstemmed |
Understanding drivers of glacier-length variability over the last millennium |
title_sort |
understanding drivers of glacier-length variability over the last millennium |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1645-2021 https://doaj.org/article/a3d08d39040940fca7e4a060663d0fa2 |
genre |
The Cryosphere |
genre_facet |
The Cryosphere |
op_source |
The Cryosphere, Vol 15, Pp 1645-1662 (2021) |
op_relation |
https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/1645/2021/tc-15-1645-2021.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-15-1645-2021 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://doaj.org/article/a3d08d39040940fca7e4a060663d0fa2 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1645-2021 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
15 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
1645 |
op_container_end_page |
1662 |
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1766216539413938176 |