Acceleration of snow melt in an Antarctic Peninsula ice core during the twentieth century
Over the past 50 years, warming of the Antarctic Peninsula has been accompanied by accelerating glacier mass loss and the retreat and collapse of ice shelves. A key driver of ice loss is summer melting; however, it is not usually possible to specifically reconstruct the summer conditions that are cr...
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
---|---|
Format: | Text |
Language: | English |
Published: |
2013
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010060338 |
id |
ftird:oai:ird.fr:fdi:010060338 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftird:oai:ird.fr:fdi:010060338 2024-09-15T17:43:08+00:00 Acceleration of snow melt in an Antarctic Peninsula ice core during the twentieth century Abram, N. J. Mulvaney, R. Wolff, E. Triest, J. Kipfstuhl, S. Trusel, L. D. /Vimeux, Françoise Fleet, L. Arrowsmith, C. ANTARCTIQUE 2013 https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010060338 EN eng https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010060338 oai:ird.fr:fdi:010060338 Abram N. J., Mulvaney R., Wolff E., Triest J., Kipfstuhl S., Trusel L. D., Vimeux Françoise, Fleet L., Arrowsmith C. Acceleration of snow melt in an Antarctic Peninsula ice core during the twentieth century. 2013, 6 (5), p. 404-411 text 2013 ftird 2024-08-15T05:57:42Z Over the past 50 years, warming of the Antarctic Peninsula has been accompanied by accelerating glacier mass loss and the retreat and collapse of ice shelves. A key driver of ice loss is summer melting; however, it is not usually possible to specifically reconstruct the summer conditions that are critical for determining ice melt in Antarctic. Here we reconstruct changes in ice-melt intensity and mean temperature on the northern Antarctic Peninsula since AD 1000 based on the identification of visible melt layers in the James Ross Island ice core and local mean annual temperature estimates from the deuterium content of the ice. During the past millennium, the coolest conditions and lowest melt occurred from about AD 1410 to 1460, when mean temperature was 1.6 degrees C lower than that of 1981-2000. Since the late 1400s, there has been a nearly tenfold increase in melt intensity from 0.5 to 4.9%. The warming has occurred in progressive phases since about AD 1460, but intensification of melt is nonlinear, and has largely occurred since the mid-twentieth century. Summer melting is now at a level that is unprecedented over the past 1,000 years. We conclude that ice on the Antarctic Peninsula is now particularly susceptible to rapid increases in melting and loss in response to relatively small increases in mean temperature. Text Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctique* ice core Ice Shelves James Ross Island Ross Island IRD (Institute de recherche pour le développement): Horizon |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
IRD (Institute de recherche pour le développement): Horizon |
op_collection_id |
ftird |
language |
English |
description |
Over the past 50 years, warming of the Antarctic Peninsula has been accompanied by accelerating glacier mass loss and the retreat and collapse of ice shelves. A key driver of ice loss is summer melting; however, it is not usually possible to specifically reconstruct the summer conditions that are critical for determining ice melt in Antarctic. Here we reconstruct changes in ice-melt intensity and mean temperature on the northern Antarctic Peninsula since AD 1000 based on the identification of visible melt layers in the James Ross Island ice core and local mean annual temperature estimates from the deuterium content of the ice. During the past millennium, the coolest conditions and lowest melt occurred from about AD 1410 to 1460, when mean temperature was 1.6 degrees C lower than that of 1981-2000. Since the late 1400s, there has been a nearly tenfold increase in melt intensity from 0.5 to 4.9%. The warming has occurred in progressive phases since about AD 1460, but intensification of melt is nonlinear, and has largely occurred since the mid-twentieth century. Summer melting is now at a level that is unprecedented over the past 1,000 years. We conclude that ice on the Antarctic Peninsula is now particularly susceptible to rapid increases in melting and loss in response to relatively small increases in mean temperature. |
format |
Text |
author |
Abram, N. J. Mulvaney, R. Wolff, E. Triest, J. Kipfstuhl, S. Trusel, L. D. /Vimeux, Françoise Fleet, L. Arrowsmith, C. |
spellingShingle |
Abram, N. J. Mulvaney, R. Wolff, E. Triest, J. Kipfstuhl, S. Trusel, L. D. /Vimeux, Françoise Fleet, L. Arrowsmith, C. Acceleration of snow melt in an Antarctic Peninsula ice core during the twentieth century |
author_facet |
Abram, N. J. Mulvaney, R. Wolff, E. Triest, J. Kipfstuhl, S. Trusel, L. D. /Vimeux, Françoise Fleet, L. Arrowsmith, C. |
author_sort |
Abram, N. J. |
title |
Acceleration of snow melt in an Antarctic Peninsula ice core during the twentieth century |
title_short |
Acceleration of snow melt in an Antarctic Peninsula ice core during the twentieth century |
title_full |
Acceleration of snow melt in an Antarctic Peninsula ice core during the twentieth century |
title_fullStr |
Acceleration of snow melt in an Antarctic Peninsula ice core during the twentieth century |
title_full_unstemmed |
Acceleration of snow melt in an Antarctic Peninsula ice core during the twentieth century |
title_sort |
acceleration of snow melt in an antarctic peninsula ice core during the twentieth century |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010060338 |
op_coverage |
ANTARCTIQUE |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctique* ice core Ice Shelves James Ross Island Ross Island |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctique* ice core Ice Shelves James Ross Island Ross Island |
op_relation |
https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010060338 oai:ird.fr:fdi:010060338 Abram N. J., Mulvaney R., Wolff E., Triest J., Kipfstuhl S., Trusel L. D., Vimeux Françoise, Fleet L., Arrowsmith C. Acceleration of snow melt in an Antarctic Peninsula ice core during the twentieth century. 2013, 6 (5), p. 404-411 |
_version_ |
1810489989492899840 |