A mild Little Ice Age and unprecedented warmth in an 1800 year record from Svalbard
The Arctic region is subject to a great amplitude of climate variability and is currently undergoing large-scale changes due in part to anthropogenic global warming. Accurate projections of future change depend on anticipating the response of the Arctic climate system to forcing, and understanding h...
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ftunivmassamh:oai:works.bepress.com:raymond_bradley-1159 2023-05-15T14:48:20+02:00 A mild Little Ice Age and unprecedented warmth in an 1800 year record from Svalbard D'Andrea, William J Bradley, Raymond S Vaillencourt, David Balascio, Nicholas L Werner, Al Roof, Steve Retelle, Michael J 2012-01-01T08:00:00Z application/pdf https://works.bepress.com/raymond_bradley/80 https://works.bepress.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1159&context=raymond_bradley unknown SelectedWorks https://works.bepress.com/raymond_bradley/80 https://works.bepress.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1159&context=raymond_bradley Raymond S Bradley Little Ice Age lake sediments Svalbard biogeochemistry Climate Sedimentology text 2012 ftunivmassamh 2022-01-09T20:35:11Z The Arctic region is subject to a great amplitude of climate variability and is currently undergoing large-scale changes due in part to anthropogenic global warming. Accurate projections of future change depend on anticipating the response of the Arctic climate system to forcing, and understanding how the response to human forcing will interact with natural climate variations. The Svalbard Archipelago occupies an important location for studying patterns and causes of Arctic climate variability; however, available paleoclimate records from Svalbard are of restricted use due to limitations of existing climate proxies. Here we present a sub-decadal- to multidecadal-scale record of summer temperature for the past 1800 yr from lake sediments of Kongressvatnet on West Spitsbergen, Svalbard, based on the fi rst instrumental calibration of the alkenone paleothermometer. The age model for the High Arctic lake sediments is based on 210Pb, plutonium activity, and the first application of tephrochronology to lake sediments in this region. We fi nd that the summer warmth of the past 50 yr recorded in both the instrumental and alkenone records was unmatched in West Spitsbergen in the course of the past 1800 yr, including during the Medieval Climate Anomaly, and that summers during the Little Ice Age (LIA) of the 18th and 19th centuries on Svalbard were not particularly cold, even though glaciers occupied their maximum Holocene extent. Our results suggest that increased wintertime precipitation, rather than cold temperatures, was responsible for LIA glaciations on Svalbard and that increased heat transport into the Arctic via the West Spitsbergen Current began ca. A.D. 1600. Text Arctic Global warming Svalbard Spitsbergen University of Massachusetts: ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Age Lake ENVELOPE(-97.607,-97.607,56.000,56.000) Arctic Arctic Lake ENVELOPE(-130.826,-130.826,57.231,57.231) Kongressvatnet ENVELOPE(13.931,13.931,78.022,78.022) Svalbard Svalbard Archipelago |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Massachusetts: ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst |
op_collection_id |
ftunivmassamh |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Little Ice Age lake sediments Svalbard biogeochemistry Climate Sedimentology |
spellingShingle |
Little Ice Age lake sediments Svalbard biogeochemistry Climate Sedimentology D'Andrea, William J Bradley, Raymond S Vaillencourt, David Balascio, Nicholas L Werner, Al Roof, Steve Retelle, Michael J A mild Little Ice Age and unprecedented warmth in an 1800 year record from Svalbard |
topic_facet |
Little Ice Age lake sediments Svalbard biogeochemistry Climate Sedimentology |
description |
The Arctic region is subject to a great amplitude of climate variability and is currently undergoing large-scale changes due in part to anthropogenic global warming. Accurate projections of future change depend on anticipating the response of the Arctic climate system to forcing, and understanding how the response to human forcing will interact with natural climate variations. The Svalbard Archipelago occupies an important location for studying patterns and causes of Arctic climate variability; however, available paleoclimate records from Svalbard are of restricted use due to limitations of existing climate proxies. Here we present a sub-decadal- to multidecadal-scale record of summer temperature for the past 1800 yr from lake sediments of Kongressvatnet on West Spitsbergen, Svalbard, based on the fi rst instrumental calibration of the alkenone paleothermometer. The age model for the High Arctic lake sediments is based on 210Pb, plutonium activity, and the first application of tephrochronology to lake sediments in this region. We fi nd that the summer warmth of the past 50 yr recorded in both the instrumental and alkenone records was unmatched in West Spitsbergen in the course of the past 1800 yr, including during the Medieval Climate Anomaly, and that summers during the Little Ice Age (LIA) of the 18th and 19th centuries on Svalbard were not particularly cold, even though glaciers occupied their maximum Holocene extent. Our results suggest that increased wintertime precipitation, rather than cold temperatures, was responsible for LIA glaciations on Svalbard and that increased heat transport into the Arctic via the West Spitsbergen Current began ca. A.D. 1600. |
format |
Text |
author |
D'Andrea, William J Bradley, Raymond S Vaillencourt, David Balascio, Nicholas L Werner, Al Roof, Steve Retelle, Michael J |
author_facet |
D'Andrea, William J Bradley, Raymond S Vaillencourt, David Balascio, Nicholas L Werner, Al Roof, Steve Retelle, Michael J |
author_sort |
D'Andrea, William J |
title |
A mild Little Ice Age and unprecedented warmth in an 1800 year record from Svalbard |
title_short |
A mild Little Ice Age and unprecedented warmth in an 1800 year record from Svalbard |
title_full |
A mild Little Ice Age and unprecedented warmth in an 1800 year record from Svalbard |
title_fullStr |
A mild Little Ice Age and unprecedented warmth in an 1800 year record from Svalbard |
title_full_unstemmed |
A mild Little Ice Age and unprecedented warmth in an 1800 year record from Svalbard |
title_sort |
mild little ice age and unprecedented warmth in an 1800 year record from svalbard |
publisher |
SelectedWorks |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
https://works.bepress.com/raymond_bradley/80 https://works.bepress.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1159&context=raymond_bradley |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-97.607,-97.607,56.000,56.000) ENVELOPE(-130.826,-130.826,57.231,57.231) ENVELOPE(13.931,13.931,78.022,78.022) |
geographic |
Age Lake Arctic Arctic Lake Kongressvatnet Svalbard Svalbard Archipelago |
geographic_facet |
Age Lake Arctic Arctic Lake Kongressvatnet Svalbard Svalbard Archipelago |
genre |
Arctic Global warming Svalbard Spitsbergen |
genre_facet |
Arctic Global warming Svalbard Spitsbergen |
op_source |
Raymond S Bradley |
op_relation |
https://works.bepress.com/raymond_bradley/80 https://works.bepress.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1159&context=raymond_bradley |
_version_ |
1766319424357269504 |