Articles | Volume 15, issue 3
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1645-2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1645-2021
Research article
 | 
01 Apr 2021
Research article |  | 01 Apr 2021

Understanding drivers of glacier-length variability over the last millennium

Alan Huston, Nicholas Siler, Gerard H. Roe, Erin Pettit, and Nathan J. Steiger

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Cited articles

Anderson, L. S., Roe, G. H., and Anderson, R. S.: The effects of interannual climate variability on the moraine record, Geology, 42, 55–58, https://doi.org/10.1130/G34791.1, 2014. a, b, c
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Barth, A. M., Clark, P. U., Clark, J., Roe, G. H., Marcott, S. A., Marshall McCabe, A., Caffee, M. W., He, F., Cuzzone, J. K., and Dunlop, P.: Persistent millennial-scale glacier fluctuations in Ireland between 24 ka and 10 ka, Geology, 46, 151–154, https://doi.org/10.1130/G39796.1, 2018. a
Bitz, C. M. and Battisti, D. S.: Interannual to decadal variability in climate and the glacier mass balance in Washington, Western Canada, and Alaska, J. Climate, 12, 3181–3196, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0442(1999)012<3181:ITDVIC>2.0.CO;2, 1999. a
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Short summary
We simulate the past 1000 years of glacier length variability using a simple glacier model and an ensemble of global climate model simulations. Glaciers with long response times are more likely to record global climate changes caused by events like volcanic eruptions and greenhouse gas emissions, while glaciers with short response times are more likely to record natural variability. This difference stems from differences in the frequency spectra of natural and forced temperature variability.