Synoptic climate change as a driver of late Quaternary glaciations in the mid-latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere
The relative timing of late Quaternary glacial advances in mid-latitude (40–55° S) mountain belts of the Southern Hemisphere (SH) has become a critical focus in the debate on global climate teleconnections. On the basis of glacial data from New Zealand (NZ) and southern South America it has been arg...
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University of Canterbury. Geological Sciences.
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ftunivcanter:oai:ir.canterbury.ac.nz:10092/346 2023-05-15T13:49:25+02:00 Synoptic climate change as a driver of late Quaternary glaciations in the mid-latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere Rother, H. Shulmeister, J. 2006 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/10092/346 en eng University of Canterbury. Geological Sciences. Rother, H., Shulmeister, J. (2006) Synoptic climate change as a driver of late Quaternary glaciations in the mid-latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere. Climate of the Past, 2, pp. 11-19. http://hdl.handle.net/10092/346 https://hdl.handle.net/10092/17651 paleoclimate glacial geology Fields of Research::260000 Earth Sciences::260100 Geology::260115 Glaciology Fields of Research::260000 Earth Sciences::260600 Atmospheric Sciences::260602 Climatology (incl. palaeoclimatology) Journal Article 2006 ftunivcanter 2022-09-08T13:34:59Z The relative timing of late Quaternary glacial advances in mid-latitude (40–55° S) mountain belts of the Southern Hemisphere (SH) has become a critical focus in the debate on global climate teleconnections. On the basis of glacial data from New Zealand (NZ) and southern South America it has been argued that interhemispheric synchrony or asynchrony of Quaternary glacial events is due to Northern Hemisphere (NH) forcing of SH climate through either the ocean or atmosphere systems. Here we present a glacial snow-mass balance model that demonstrates that large scale glaciation in the temperate and hyperhumid Southern Alps of New Zealand can be generated with moderate cooling. This is because the rapid conversion of precipitation from rainfall to snowfall drives massive ice accumulation at small thermal changes (1-4°C). Our model is consistent with recent paleo-environmental reconstructions showing that glacial advances in New Zealand during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and the Last Glacial Interglacial Transition (LGIT) occurred under very moderate cooling. We suggest that such moderate cooling could be generated by changes in synoptic climatology, specifically through enhanced regional flow of moist westerly air masses. Our results imply that NH climate forcing may not have been the exclusive driver of Quaternary glaciations in New Zealand and that synoptic style climate variations are a better explanation for at least some late Quaternary glacial events, in particular during the LGIT (e.g. Younger Dryas and/or Antarctic Cold Reversal). Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic University of Canterbury, Christchurch: UC Research Repository Antarctic New Zealand |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Canterbury, Christchurch: UC Research Repository |
op_collection_id |
ftunivcanter |
language |
English |
topic |
paleoclimate glacial geology Fields of Research::260000 Earth Sciences::260100 Geology::260115 Glaciology Fields of Research::260000 Earth Sciences::260600 Atmospheric Sciences::260602 Climatology (incl. palaeoclimatology) |
spellingShingle |
paleoclimate glacial geology Fields of Research::260000 Earth Sciences::260100 Geology::260115 Glaciology Fields of Research::260000 Earth Sciences::260600 Atmospheric Sciences::260602 Climatology (incl. palaeoclimatology) Rother, H. Shulmeister, J. Synoptic climate change as a driver of late Quaternary glaciations in the mid-latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere |
topic_facet |
paleoclimate glacial geology Fields of Research::260000 Earth Sciences::260100 Geology::260115 Glaciology Fields of Research::260000 Earth Sciences::260600 Atmospheric Sciences::260602 Climatology (incl. palaeoclimatology) |
description |
The relative timing of late Quaternary glacial advances in mid-latitude (40–55° S) mountain belts of the Southern Hemisphere (SH) has become a critical focus in the debate on global climate teleconnections. On the basis of glacial data from New Zealand (NZ) and southern South America it has been argued that interhemispheric synchrony or asynchrony of Quaternary glacial events is due to Northern Hemisphere (NH) forcing of SH climate through either the ocean or atmosphere systems. Here we present a glacial snow-mass balance model that demonstrates that large scale glaciation in the temperate and hyperhumid Southern Alps of New Zealand can be generated with moderate cooling. This is because the rapid conversion of precipitation from rainfall to snowfall drives massive ice accumulation at small thermal changes (1-4°C). Our model is consistent with recent paleo-environmental reconstructions showing that glacial advances in New Zealand during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and the Last Glacial Interglacial Transition (LGIT) occurred under very moderate cooling. We suggest that such moderate cooling could be generated by changes in synoptic climatology, specifically through enhanced regional flow of moist westerly air masses. Our results imply that NH climate forcing may not have been the exclusive driver of Quaternary glaciations in New Zealand and that synoptic style climate variations are a better explanation for at least some late Quaternary glacial events, in particular during the LGIT (e.g. Younger Dryas and/or Antarctic Cold Reversal). |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Rother, H. Shulmeister, J. |
author_facet |
Rother, H. Shulmeister, J. |
author_sort |
Rother, H. |
title |
Synoptic climate change as a driver of late Quaternary glaciations in the mid-latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere |
title_short |
Synoptic climate change as a driver of late Quaternary glaciations in the mid-latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere |
title_full |
Synoptic climate change as a driver of late Quaternary glaciations in the mid-latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere |
title_fullStr |
Synoptic climate change as a driver of late Quaternary glaciations in the mid-latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere |
title_full_unstemmed |
Synoptic climate change as a driver of late Quaternary glaciations in the mid-latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere |
title_sort |
synoptic climate change as a driver of late quaternary glaciations in the mid-latitudes of the southern hemisphere |
publisher |
University of Canterbury. Geological Sciences. |
publishDate |
2006 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10092/346 |
geographic |
Antarctic New Zealand |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic New Zealand |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic |
op_relation |
Rother, H., Shulmeister, J. (2006) Synoptic climate change as a driver of late Quaternary glaciations in the mid-latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere. Climate of the Past, 2, pp. 11-19. http://hdl.handle.net/10092/346 |
op_rights |
https://hdl.handle.net/10092/17651 |
_version_ |
1766251338947100672 |