Reconstructing Younger Dryas ground temperature and snow thickness from cave deposits
The Younger Dryas stadial was characterised by a rapid shift towards cold-climate conditions in the North Atlantic realm during the last deglaciation. While some climate parameters including atmospheric temperature and glacier extent are widely studied, empirical constraints on permafrost temperatur...
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ftunivsussexfig:oai:figshare.com:article/26352193 2024-09-15T17:52:12+00:00 Reconstructing Younger Dryas ground temperature and snow thickness from cave deposits Julian Murton 2024-07-22T00:00:00Z https://figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/Reconstructing_Younger_Dryas_ground_temperature_and_snow_thickness_from_cave_deposits/26352193 unknown 10779/uos.26352193.v1 https://figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/Reconstructing_Younger_Dryas_ground_temperature_and_snow_thickness_from_cave_deposits/26352193 CC BY 4.0 Climate change science Physical geography and environmental geoscience 0406 Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience Paleontology 3702 Climate change science Text Journal contribution 2024 ftunivsussexfig 2024-07-29T14:01:43Z The Younger Dryas stadial was characterised by a rapid shift towards cold-climate conditions in the North Atlantic realm during the last deglaciation. While some climate parameters including atmospheric temperature and glacier extent are widely studied, empirical constraints on permafrost temperature and snow thickness are limited. To address this, we present a regional dataset of cryogenic cave carbonates (CCCs) from three caves in Great Britain that formed at temperatures between ????2 and 0 °C. Our CCC record indicates that these permafrost temperatures persisted for most of the Younger Dryas. By combining ground temperatures with surface temperatures from high-resolution ground-truthed model simulations, we demonstrate that ground temperatures were approximately 6.6 2.3 °C warmer than the mean annual air temperature. Our results suggest that the observed temperature offset between permafrost and the atmosphere can be explained by an average snow thickness between 0.2 and 0.9 m, which persisted for 233 54 d per year. By identifying modern analogues from climate reanalysis data, we demonstrate that the inferred temperature and snow cover characteristics for the British Isles during the Younger Dryas are best explained by extreme temperature seasonality, comparable to continental parts of today’s Arctic Archipelago. Such a climate for the British Isles necessitates a winter sea ice margin at approximately 45°N in the North Atlantic Ocean. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Archipelago Climate change Ice North Atlantic permafrost Sea ice University of Sussex: Figshare |
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Open Polar |
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University of Sussex: Figshare |
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ftunivsussexfig |
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unknown |
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Climate change science Physical geography and environmental geoscience 0406 Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience Paleontology 3702 Climate change science |
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Climate change science Physical geography and environmental geoscience 0406 Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience Paleontology 3702 Climate change science Julian Murton Reconstructing Younger Dryas ground temperature and snow thickness from cave deposits |
topic_facet |
Climate change science Physical geography and environmental geoscience 0406 Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience Paleontology 3702 Climate change science |
description |
The Younger Dryas stadial was characterised by a rapid shift towards cold-climate conditions in the North Atlantic realm during the last deglaciation. While some climate parameters including atmospheric temperature and glacier extent are widely studied, empirical constraints on permafrost temperature and snow thickness are limited. To address this, we present a regional dataset of cryogenic cave carbonates (CCCs) from three caves in Great Britain that formed at temperatures between ????2 and 0 °C. Our CCC record indicates that these permafrost temperatures persisted for most of the Younger Dryas. By combining ground temperatures with surface temperatures from high-resolution ground-truthed model simulations, we demonstrate that ground temperatures were approximately 6.6 2.3 °C warmer than the mean annual air temperature. Our results suggest that the observed temperature offset between permafrost and the atmosphere can be explained by an average snow thickness between 0.2 and 0.9 m, which persisted for 233 54 d per year. By identifying modern analogues from climate reanalysis data, we demonstrate that the inferred temperature and snow cover characteristics for the British Isles during the Younger Dryas are best explained by extreme temperature seasonality, comparable to continental parts of today’s Arctic Archipelago. Such a climate for the British Isles necessitates a winter sea ice margin at approximately 45°N in the North Atlantic Ocean. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Julian Murton |
author_facet |
Julian Murton |
author_sort |
Julian Murton |
title |
Reconstructing Younger Dryas ground temperature and snow thickness from cave deposits |
title_short |
Reconstructing Younger Dryas ground temperature and snow thickness from cave deposits |
title_full |
Reconstructing Younger Dryas ground temperature and snow thickness from cave deposits |
title_fullStr |
Reconstructing Younger Dryas ground temperature and snow thickness from cave deposits |
title_full_unstemmed |
Reconstructing Younger Dryas ground temperature and snow thickness from cave deposits |
title_sort |
reconstructing younger dryas ground temperature and snow thickness from cave deposits |
publishDate |
2024 |
url |
https://figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/Reconstructing_Younger_Dryas_ground_temperature_and_snow_thickness_from_cave_deposits/26352193 |
genre |
Arctic Archipelago Climate change Ice North Atlantic permafrost Sea ice |
genre_facet |
Arctic Archipelago Climate change Ice North Atlantic permafrost Sea ice |
op_relation |
10779/uos.26352193.v1 https://figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/Reconstructing_Younger_Dryas_ground_temperature_and_snow_thickness_from_cave_deposits/26352193 |
op_rights |
CC BY 4.0 |
_version_ |
1810294275331588096 |