Relative sea-level change in Greenland during the last 700 years and ice sheet response to the Little Ice Age.
This paper presents new evidence regarding relative sea-level (RSL) changes and vertical land motions at three sites in Greenland since 1300 A.D., a time interval that spans the later part of the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA) and the Little Ice Age (LIA). We observe RSL rise at two sites in central...
Published in: | Earth and Planetary Science Letters |
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2012
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Online Access: | http://dro.dur.ac.uk/11086/ http://dro.dur.ac.uk/11086/1/11086.pdf https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2011.06.027 |
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ftunivdurham:oai:dro.dur.ac.uk.OAI2:11086 2023-05-15T16:23:50+02:00 Relative sea-level change in Greenland during the last 700 years and ice sheet response to the Little Ice Age. Long, A.J. Woodroffe, S.A. Milne, G. A. Bryant, C.L. Simpson, M.J.R. Wake, L.M. 2012-01-01 application/pdf http://dro.dur.ac.uk/11086/ http://dro.dur.ac.uk/11086/1/11086.pdf https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2011.06.027 unknown Elsevier dro:11086 issn:0012-821X doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2011.06.027 http://dro.dur.ac.uk/11086/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2011.06.027 http://dro.dur.ac.uk/11086/1/11086.pdf NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Earth and planetary science letters. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Earth and planetary science letters, 315-316, 2012, 10.1016/j.epsl.2011.06.027 Earth and planetary science letters, 2012, Vol.315-316, pp.76-85 [Peer Reviewed Journal] Neoglacial Relative sea level Crustal motions Greenland Ice Sheet Little Ice Age North Atlantic Oscillation Article PeerReviewed 2012 ftunivdurham https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2011.06.027 2020-05-28T22:29:52Z This paper presents new evidence regarding relative sea-level (RSL) changes and vertical land motions at three sites in Greenland since 1300 A.D., a time interval that spans the later part of the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA) and the Little Ice Age (LIA). We observe RSL rise at two sites in central west Greenland from c. − 0.80 ± 0.20 m at c. 1300 A.D. to c. − 0.20 m ± 0.25 m at c. 1600 A.D., after which RSL slowed and then stabilised. At a third site in south Greenland, we observe RSL rise from c. − 1.40 ± 0.20 m at c. 1400 A.D. until c. 1750 A.D., after which RSL slowed and was stable during at least the latter part of the 20th century. The c. 1600 A.D. RSL slow-down seen at the two former sites is surprising because it occurs during the LIA when one might expect the ice sheet to be gaining mass and causing RSL to rise. We interpret this RSL slowdown to indicate a period of enhanced regional mass loss from central west Greenland since c. 1600 A.D. and propose two hypotheses for this loss: first, a reduction in precipitation during cold and dry conditions and second, higher air temperatures and increased peripheral surface melt of the ice sheet from this date onwards. The latter hypothesis is compatible with a well-established temperature seesaw between western Greenland and northern Europe and, potentially, a previously identified shift from a positive to generally more negative NAO conditions around 1400 to 1600 A.D. Our study shows how RSL data from Greenland can provide constraints on the timing of ice sheet fluctuations in the last millennium and challenges the notion that during cold periods in northern Europe the ice sheet in west Greenland gained mass. Article in Journal/Newspaper Greenland Ice Sheet North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation Durham University: Durham Research Online Greenland Earth and Planetary Science Letters 315-316 76 85 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Durham University: Durham Research Online |
op_collection_id |
ftunivdurham |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Neoglacial Relative sea level Crustal motions Greenland Ice Sheet Little Ice Age North Atlantic Oscillation |
spellingShingle |
Neoglacial Relative sea level Crustal motions Greenland Ice Sheet Little Ice Age North Atlantic Oscillation Long, A.J. Woodroffe, S.A. Milne, G. A. Bryant, C.L. Simpson, M.J.R. Wake, L.M. Relative sea-level change in Greenland during the last 700 years and ice sheet response to the Little Ice Age. |
topic_facet |
Neoglacial Relative sea level Crustal motions Greenland Ice Sheet Little Ice Age North Atlantic Oscillation |
description |
This paper presents new evidence regarding relative sea-level (RSL) changes and vertical land motions at three sites in Greenland since 1300 A.D., a time interval that spans the later part of the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA) and the Little Ice Age (LIA). We observe RSL rise at two sites in central west Greenland from c. − 0.80 ± 0.20 m at c. 1300 A.D. to c. − 0.20 m ± 0.25 m at c. 1600 A.D., after which RSL slowed and then stabilised. At a third site in south Greenland, we observe RSL rise from c. − 1.40 ± 0.20 m at c. 1400 A.D. until c. 1750 A.D., after which RSL slowed and was stable during at least the latter part of the 20th century. The c. 1600 A.D. RSL slow-down seen at the two former sites is surprising because it occurs during the LIA when one might expect the ice sheet to be gaining mass and causing RSL to rise. We interpret this RSL slowdown to indicate a period of enhanced regional mass loss from central west Greenland since c. 1600 A.D. and propose two hypotheses for this loss: first, a reduction in precipitation during cold and dry conditions and second, higher air temperatures and increased peripheral surface melt of the ice sheet from this date onwards. The latter hypothesis is compatible with a well-established temperature seesaw between western Greenland and northern Europe and, potentially, a previously identified shift from a positive to generally more negative NAO conditions around 1400 to 1600 A.D. Our study shows how RSL data from Greenland can provide constraints on the timing of ice sheet fluctuations in the last millennium and challenges the notion that during cold periods in northern Europe the ice sheet in west Greenland gained mass. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Long, A.J. Woodroffe, S.A. Milne, G. A. Bryant, C.L. Simpson, M.J.R. Wake, L.M. |
author_facet |
Long, A.J. Woodroffe, S.A. Milne, G. A. Bryant, C.L. Simpson, M.J.R. Wake, L.M. |
author_sort |
Long, A.J. |
title |
Relative sea-level change in Greenland during the last 700 years and ice sheet response to the Little Ice Age. |
title_short |
Relative sea-level change in Greenland during the last 700 years and ice sheet response to the Little Ice Age. |
title_full |
Relative sea-level change in Greenland during the last 700 years and ice sheet response to the Little Ice Age. |
title_fullStr |
Relative sea-level change in Greenland during the last 700 years and ice sheet response to the Little Ice Age. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Relative sea-level change in Greenland during the last 700 years and ice sheet response to the Little Ice Age. |
title_sort |
relative sea-level change in greenland during the last 700 years and ice sheet response to the little ice age. |
publisher |
Elsevier |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
http://dro.dur.ac.uk/11086/ http://dro.dur.ac.uk/11086/1/11086.pdf https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2011.06.027 |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
Greenland Ice Sheet North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation |
genre_facet |
Greenland Ice Sheet North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation |
op_source |
Earth and planetary science letters, 2012, Vol.315-316, pp.76-85 [Peer Reviewed Journal] |
op_relation |
dro:11086 issn:0012-821X doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2011.06.027 http://dro.dur.ac.uk/11086/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2011.06.027 http://dro.dur.ac.uk/11086/1/11086.pdf |
op_rights |
NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Earth and planetary science letters. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Earth and planetary science letters, 315-316, 2012, 10.1016/j.epsl.2011.06.027 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2011.06.027 |
container_title |
Earth and Planetary Science Letters |
container_volume |
315-316 |
container_start_page |
76 |
op_container_end_page |
85 |
_version_ |
1766012153801736192 |