Little Ice Age climate reconstruction from ensemble reanalysis of Alpine glacier fluctuations
Mountain glaciers sample a combination of climate fields – temperature, precipitation and radiation – by accumulation and melting of ice. Flow dynamics acts as a transfer function that maps volume changes to a length response of the glacier terminus. Long histories of terminus positions have been as...
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ftunivzuerich:oai:www.zora.uzh.ch:101706 2024-09-30T14:44:53+00:00 Little Ice Age climate reconstruction from ensemble reanalysis of Alpine glacier fluctuations Lüthi, Martin P 2014 application/pdf https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/101706/ https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/101706/1/2014%20L%C3%BCthiM_tc-8-639-2014%20.pdf https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-101706 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-639-2014 eng eng Copernicus Publications https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/101706/1/2014%20L%C3%BCthiM_tc-8-639-2014%20.pdf doi:10.5167/uzh-101706 doi:10.5194/tc-8-639-2014 urn:issn:1994-0416 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Lüthi, Martin P (2014). Little Ice Age climate reconstruction from ensemble reanalysis of Alpine glacier fluctuations. The Cryosphere, 8(2):639-650. Institute of Geography 910 Geography & travel Earth-Surface Processes Water Science and Technology Journal Article PeerReviewed info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 2014 ftunivzuerich https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-10170610.5194/tc-8-639-2014 2024-09-18T00:49:47Z Mountain glaciers sample a combination of climate fields – temperature, precipitation and radiation – by accumulation and melting of ice. Flow dynamics acts as a transfer function that maps volume changes to a length response of the glacier terminus. Long histories of terminus positions have been assembled for several glaciers in the Alps. Here I analyze terminus position histories from an ensemble of seven glaciers in the Alps with a macroscopic model of glacier dynamics to derive a history of glacier equilibrium line altitude (ELA) for the time span 400–2010 C.E. The resulting climatic reconstruction depends only on records of glacier variations. The reconstructed ELA history is similar to recent reconstructions of Alpine summer temperature and Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) index, but bears little resemblance to reconstructed precipitation variations. Most reconstructed low-ELA periods coincide with large explosive volcano eruptions, hinting at a direct effect of volcanic radiative cooling on mass balance. The glacier advances during the LIA, and the retreat after 1860, can thus be mainly attributed to temperature and volcanic radiative cooling. Article in Journal/Newspaper The Cryosphere University of Zurich (UZH): ZORA (Zurich Open Repository and Archive Ela ENVELOPE(9.642,9.642,63.170,63.170) |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Zurich (UZH): ZORA (Zurich Open Repository and Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftunivzuerich |
language |
English |
topic |
Institute of Geography 910 Geography & travel Earth-Surface Processes Water Science and Technology |
spellingShingle |
Institute of Geography 910 Geography & travel Earth-Surface Processes Water Science and Technology Lüthi, Martin P Little Ice Age climate reconstruction from ensemble reanalysis of Alpine glacier fluctuations |
topic_facet |
Institute of Geography 910 Geography & travel Earth-Surface Processes Water Science and Technology |
description |
Mountain glaciers sample a combination of climate fields – temperature, precipitation and radiation – by accumulation and melting of ice. Flow dynamics acts as a transfer function that maps volume changes to a length response of the glacier terminus. Long histories of terminus positions have been assembled for several glaciers in the Alps. Here I analyze terminus position histories from an ensemble of seven glaciers in the Alps with a macroscopic model of glacier dynamics to derive a history of glacier equilibrium line altitude (ELA) for the time span 400–2010 C.E. The resulting climatic reconstruction depends only on records of glacier variations. The reconstructed ELA history is similar to recent reconstructions of Alpine summer temperature and Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) index, but bears little resemblance to reconstructed precipitation variations. Most reconstructed low-ELA periods coincide with large explosive volcano eruptions, hinting at a direct effect of volcanic radiative cooling on mass balance. The glacier advances during the LIA, and the retreat after 1860, can thus be mainly attributed to temperature and volcanic radiative cooling. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Lüthi, Martin P |
author_facet |
Lüthi, Martin P |
author_sort |
Lüthi, Martin P |
title |
Little Ice Age climate reconstruction from ensemble reanalysis of Alpine glacier fluctuations |
title_short |
Little Ice Age climate reconstruction from ensemble reanalysis of Alpine glacier fluctuations |
title_full |
Little Ice Age climate reconstruction from ensemble reanalysis of Alpine glacier fluctuations |
title_fullStr |
Little Ice Age climate reconstruction from ensemble reanalysis of Alpine glacier fluctuations |
title_full_unstemmed |
Little Ice Age climate reconstruction from ensemble reanalysis of Alpine glacier fluctuations |
title_sort |
little ice age climate reconstruction from ensemble reanalysis of alpine glacier fluctuations |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/101706/ https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/101706/1/2014%20L%C3%BCthiM_tc-8-639-2014%20.pdf https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-101706 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-639-2014 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(9.642,9.642,63.170,63.170) |
geographic |
Ela |
geographic_facet |
Ela |
genre |
The Cryosphere |
genre_facet |
The Cryosphere |
op_source |
Lüthi, Martin P (2014). Little Ice Age climate reconstruction from ensemble reanalysis of Alpine glacier fluctuations. The Cryosphere, 8(2):639-650. |
op_relation |
https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/101706/1/2014%20L%C3%BCthiM_tc-8-639-2014%20.pdf doi:10.5167/uzh-101706 doi:10.5194/tc-8-639-2014 urn:issn:1994-0416 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-10170610.5194/tc-8-639-2014 |
_version_ |
1811645898454728704 |