Modeling climate conditions required for glacier formation in cirques of the Rassepautasjtjakka massif, northern Sweden
Timing of cirque formation and the climate necessary to initiate glaciation are fundamental to the understanding of the landscape of the northern Scandinavian mountains. Empty cirques in the Rassepautasjtjakka massif are located near a glaciated area and thus appear near the glaciation limit. In ord...
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Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research
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ftulundlup:oai:lup.lub.lu.se:0a5914b6-2405-445e-89c8-5d8c5581de88 2023-05-15T14:14:20+02:00 Modeling climate conditions required for glacier formation in cirques of the Rassepautasjtjakka massif, northern Sweden Hock, R Johansson, Margareta Jansson, P Bärring, Lars 2002 https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/340958 eng eng Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/340958 wos:000174856400002 scopus:0036222135 Arctic, Antarctic and Alpine Research; 34(1), pp 3-11 (2002) ISSN: 1938-4246 Physical Geography contributiontojournal/article info:eu-repo/semantics/article text 2002 ftulundlup 2023-02-01T23:32:37Z Timing of cirque formation and the climate necessary to initiate glaciation are fundamental to the understanding of the landscape of the northern Scandinavian mountains. Empty cirques in the Rassepautasjtjakka massif are located near a glaciated area and thus appear near the glaciation limit. In order to investigate the climate conditions necessary for glacier formation in the cirques, we applied a spatially distributed temperature index melt model. After calibration under present climate conditions, the model was run with different combinations of increased initial winter snow cover and lowered summer air temperatures to assess the climate conditions needed for snow to survive summer and hence form a base for glaciation. Results indicate that a significant increase in precipitation or decrease in summer air temperature or a combination of both is necessary to initiate glaciation. Thus current climate conditions are far from favorable for glaciation. If summer temperature is decreased by 4degreesC or winter snow cover is more than doubled, only 10% of cirque areas remain snow covered, which is considered as a minimum condition for glacier formation. According to climate reconstructions such conditions have not occurred during the Holocene suggesting that the cirques have not been glaciated during this period. Consequently glaciation of the cirques must have occurred during other parts of the glacial cycles. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarctic and Alpine Research Arctic Northern Sweden Lund University Publications (LUP) |
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Lund University Publications (LUP) |
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English |
topic |
Physical Geography |
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Physical Geography Hock, R Johansson, Margareta Jansson, P Bärring, Lars Modeling climate conditions required for glacier formation in cirques of the Rassepautasjtjakka massif, northern Sweden |
topic_facet |
Physical Geography |
description |
Timing of cirque formation and the climate necessary to initiate glaciation are fundamental to the understanding of the landscape of the northern Scandinavian mountains. Empty cirques in the Rassepautasjtjakka massif are located near a glaciated area and thus appear near the glaciation limit. In order to investigate the climate conditions necessary for glacier formation in the cirques, we applied a spatially distributed temperature index melt model. After calibration under present climate conditions, the model was run with different combinations of increased initial winter snow cover and lowered summer air temperatures to assess the climate conditions needed for snow to survive summer and hence form a base for glaciation. Results indicate that a significant increase in precipitation or decrease in summer air temperature or a combination of both is necessary to initiate glaciation. Thus current climate conditions are far from favorable for glaciation. If summer temperature is decreased by 4degreesC or winter snow cover is more than doubled, only 10% of cirque areas remain snow covered, which is considered as a minimum condition for glacier formation. According to climate reconstructions such conditions have not occurred during the Holocene suggesting that the cirques have not been glaciated during this period. Consequently glaciation of the cirques must have occurred during other parts of the glacial cycles. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Hock, R Johansson, Margareta Jansson, P Bärring, Lars |
author_facet |
Hock, R Johansson, Margareta Jansson, P Bärring, Lars |
author_sort |
Hock, R |
title |
Modeling climate conditions required for glacier formation in cirques of the Rassepautasjtjakka massif, northern Sweden |
title_short |
Modeling climate conditions required for glacier formation in cirques of the Rassepautasjtjakka massif, northern Sweden |
title_full |
Modeling climate conditions required for glacier formation in cirques of the Rassepautasjtjakka massif, northern Sweden |
title_fullStr |
Modeling climate conditions required for glacier formation in cirques of the Rassepautasjtjakka massif, northern Sweden |
title_full_unstemmed |
Modeling climate conditions required for glacier formation in cirques of the Rassepautasjtjakka massif, northern Sweden |
title_sort |
modeling climate conditions required for glacier formation in cirques of the rassepautasjtjakka massif, northern sweden |
publisher |
Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research |
publishDate |
2002 |
url |
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/340958 |
genre |
Antarctic and Alpine Research Arctic Northern Sweden |
genre_facet |
Antarctic and Alpine Research Arctic Northern Sweden |
op_source |
Arctic, Antarctic and Alpine Research; 34(1), pp 3-11 (2002) ISSN: 1938-4246 |
op_relation |
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/340958 wos:000174856400002 scopus:0036222135 |
_version_ |
1766286853611192320 |