Articles | Volume 17, issue 10
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-4381-2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-4381-2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
18 Oct 2023
Research article |
| 18 Oct 2023
| 18 Oct 2023
Late Holocene glacier and climate fluctuations in the Mackenzie and Selwyn mountain ranges, northwestern Canada
Department of Geography, Earth, and Environmental Science, University of Northern British Columbia, Prince George, V2M 5Z9, Canada
Brian Menounos
Department of Geography, Earth, and Environmental Science, University of Northern British Columbia, Prince George, V2M 5Z9, Canada
Hakai Institute, Campbell River, V9W 2C7, Canada
Brent M. Goehring
Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545, USA
Gerald Osborn
Department of Geoscience, University of Calgary, Calgary, T2N 1N4, Canada
Ben M. Pelto
Department of Geography, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, V6T 1Z4, Canada
Christopher M. Darvill
Department of Geography, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
Joerg M. Schaefer
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, Palisades, NY 10964, USA
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We use a method called cosmogenic nuclide dating on bedrock surfaces and moraine boulders to determine the relative length of time an alpine glacier was larger or smaller than its current extent over the past 15 000 years. We also discuss several important limitations to this method. This method gives information on the duration of past ice advances and is useful in areas without other materials that can be dated.
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We explored surface exposure dating with two nuclides to date two sets of moraines from the Yukon Territory and explain the reasoning for the observed ages. Results suggest multiple processes, including preservation of nuclides from a prior exposure period, and later erosion of the moraines is required to explain the data. Our results only allow for the older moraines to date to Marine Isotope Stage 3 or 4 and the younger moraines to date to the very earliest Holocene.
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We date sedimentary deposits showing that the southeastern Laurentide Ice Sheet was at or near its southernmost extent from ~ 26 000 to 21 000 years ago, when sea levels were at their lowest, with climate records indicating glacial conditions. Slow deglaciation began ~ 22 000 years ago, shown by a rise in modeled local summer temperatures, but significant deglaciation in the region did not begin until ~ 18 000 years ago, when atmospheric CO2 began to rise, marking the end of the last ice age.
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Andrew G. Jones, Shaun A. Marcott, Andrew L. Gorin, Tori M. Kennedy, Jeremy D. Shakun, Brent M. Goehring, Brian Menounos, Douglas H. Clark, Matias Romero, and Marc W. Caffee
The Cryosphere, 17, 5459–5475, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-5459-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-5459-2023, 2023
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Mountain glaciers today are fractions of their sizes 140 years ago, but how do these sizes compare to the past 11,000 years? We find that four glaciers in the United States and Canada have reversed a long-term trend of growth and retreated to positions last occupied thousands of years ago. Notably, each glacier occupies a unique position relative to its long-term history. We hypothesize that unequal modern retreat has caused the glaciers to be out of sync relative to their Holocene histories.
Brandon L. Graham, Jason P. Briner, Nicolás E. Young, Allie Balter-Kennedy, Michele Koppes, Joerg M. Schaefer, Kristin Poinar, and Elizabeth K. Thomas
The Cryosphere, 17, 4535–4547, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-4535-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-4535-2023, 2023
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Allie Balter-Kennedy, Joerg M. Schaefer, Roseanne Schwartz, Jennifer L. Lamp, Laura Penrose, Jennifer Middleton, Jean Hanley, Bouchaïb Tibari, Pierre-Henri Blard, Gisela Winckler, Alan J. Hidy, and Greg Balco
Geochronology, 5, 301–321, https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-5-301-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-5-301-2023, 2023
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Michael J. Bentley, James A. Smith, Stewart S. R. Jamieson, Margaret R. Lindeman, Brice R. Rea, Angelika Humbert, Timothy P. Lane, Christopher M. Darvill, Jeremy M. Lloyd, Fiamma Straneo, Veit Helm, and David H. Roberts
The Cryosphere, 17, 1821–1837, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1821-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1821-2023, 2023
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Sara E. Darychuk, Joseph M. Shea, Brian Menounos, Anna Chesnokova, Georg Jost, and Frank Weber
The Cryosphere, 17, 1457–1473, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1457-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1457-2023, 2023
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James A. Smith, Louise Callard, Michael J. Bentley, Stewart S. R. Jamieson, Maria Luisa Sánchez-Montes, Timothy P. Lane, Jeremy M. Lloyd, Erin L. McClymont, Christopher M. Darvill, Brice R. Rea, Colm O'Cofaigh, Pauline Gulliver, Werner Ehrmann, Richard S. Jones, and David H. Roberts
The Cryosphere, 17, 1247–1270, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1247-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1247-2023, 2023
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The Greenland Ice Sheet is melting at an accelerating rate. To understand the significance of these changes we reconstruct the history of one of its fringing ice shelves, known as 79° N ice shelf. We show that the ice shelf disappeared 8500 years ago, following a period of enhanced warming. An important implication of our study is that 79° N ice shelf is susceptible to collapse when atmospheric and ocean temperatures are ~2°C warmer than present, which could occur by the middle of this century.
Jason P. Briner, Caleb K. Walcott, Joerg M. Schaefer, Nicolás E. Young, Joseph A. MacGregor, Kristin Poinar, Benjamin A. Keisling, Sridhar Anandakrishnan, Mary R. Albert, Tanner Kuhl, and Grant Boeckmann
The Cryosphere, 16, 3933–3948, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3933-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3933-2022, 2022
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The 7.4 m of sea level equivalent stored as Greenland ice is getting smaller every year. The uncertain trajectory of ice loss could be better understood with knowledge of the ice sheet's response to past climate change. Within the bedrock below the present-day ice sheet is an archive of past ice-sheet history. We analyze all available data from Greenland to create maps showing where on the ice sheet scientists can drill, using currently available drills, to obtain sub-ice materials.
Christophe Kinnard, Olivier Larouche, Michael N. Demuth, and Brian Menounos
The Cryosphere, 16, 3071–3099, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3071-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3071-2022, 2022
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This study implements a physically based, distributed glacier mass balance model in a context of sparse direct observations. Carefully constraining model parameters with ancillary data allowed for accurately reconstructing the mass balance of Saskatchewan Glacier over a 37-year period. We show that the mass balance sensitivity to warming is dominated by increased melting and that changes in glacier albedo and air humidity are the leading causes of increased glacier melt under warming scenarios.
Brent M. Goehring, Brian Menounos, Gerald Osborn, Adam Hawkins, and Brent Ward
Geochronology, 4, 311–322, https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-4-311-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-4-311-2022, 2022
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We explored surface exposure dating with two nuclides to date two sets of moraines from the Yukon Territory and explain the reasoning for the observed ages. Results suggest multiple processes, including preservation of nuclides from a prior exposure period, and later erosion of the moraines is required to explain the data. Our results only allow for the older moraines to date to Marine Isotope Stage 3 or 4 and the younger moraines to date to the very earliest Holocene.
Irene Schimmelpfennig, Joerg M. Schaefer, Jennifer Lamp, Vincent Godard, Roseanne Schwartz, Edouard Bard, Thibaut Tuna, Naki Akçar, Christian Schlüchter, Susan Zimmerman, and ASTER Team
Clim. Past, 18, 23–44, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-23-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-23-2022, 2022
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Small mountain glaciers advance and recede as a response to summer temperature changes. Dating of glacial landforms with cosmogenic nuclides allowed us to reconstruct the advance and retreat history of an Alpine glacier throughout the past ~ 11 000 years, the Holocene. The results contribute knowledge to the debate of Holocene climate evolution, indicating that during most of this warm period, summer temperatures were similar to or warmer than in modern times.
Sandra M. Braumann, Joerg M. Schaefer, Stephanie M. Neuhuber, Christopher Lüthgens, Alan J. Hidy, and Markus Fiebig
Clim. Past, 17, 2451–2479, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-2451-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-2451-2021, 2021
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Glacier reconstructions provide insights into past climatic conditions and elucidate processes and feedbacks that modulate the climate system both in the past and present. We investigate the transition from the last glacial to the current interglacial and generate beryllium-10 moraine chronologies in glaciated catchments of the eastern European Alps. We find that rapid warming was superimposed by centennial-scale cold phases that appear to have influenced large parts of the Northern Hemisphere.
Andrew J. Christ, Paul R. Bierman, Jennifer L. Lamp, Joerg M. Schaefer, and Gisela Winckler
Geochronology, 3, 505–523, https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-3-505-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-3-505-2021, 2021
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Cosmogenic nuclide surface exposure dating is commonly used to constrain the timing of past glacier extents. However, Antarctic exposure age datasets are often scattered and difficult to interpret. We compile new and existing exposure ages of a glacial deposit with independently known age constraints and identify surface processes that increase or reduce the likelihood of exposure age scatter. Then we present new data for a previously unmapped and undated older deposit from the same region.
Dhiraj Pradhananga, John W. Pomeroy, Caroline Aubry-Wake, D. Scott Munro, Joseph Shea, Michael N. Demuth, Nammy Hang Kirat, Brian Menounos, and Kriti Mukherjee
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 2875–2894, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-2875-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-2875-2021, 2021
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This paper presents hydrological, meteorological, glaciological and geospatial data of Peyto Glacier Basin in the Canadian Rockies. They include high-resolution DEMs derived from air photos and lidar surveys and long-term hydrological and glaciological model forcing datasets derived from bias-corrected reanalysis products. These data are crucial for studying climate change and variability in the basin and understanding the hydrological responses of the basin to both glacier and climate change.
Vincent Vionnet, Christopher B. Marsh, Brian Menounos, Simon Gascoin, Nicholas E. Wayand, Joseph Shea, Kriti Mukherjee, and John W. Pomeroy
The Cryosphere, 15, 743–769, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-743-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-743-2021, 2021
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Mountain snow cover provides critical supplies of fresh water to downstream users. Its accurate prediction requires inclusion of often-ignored processes. A multi-scale modelling strategy is presented that efficiently accounts for snow redistribution. Model accuracy is assessed via airborne lidar and optical satellite imagery. With redistribution the model captures the elevation–snow depth relation. Redistribution processes are required to reproduce spatial variability, such as around ridges.
Nicolás E. Young, Alia J. Lesnek, Josh K. Cuzzone, Jason P. Briner, Jessica A. Badgeley, Alexandra Balter-Kennedy, Brandon L. Graham, Allison Cluett, Jennifer L. Lamp, Roseanne Schwartz, Thibaut Tuna, Edouard Bard, Marc W. Caffee, Susan R. H. Zimmerman, and Joerg M. Schaefer
Clim. Past, 17, 419–450, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-419-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-419-2021, 2021
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Retreat of the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) margin is exposing a bedrock landscape that holds clues regarding the timing and extent of past ice-sheet minima. We present cosmogenic nuclide measurements from recently deglaciated bedrock surfaces (the last few decades), combined with a refined chronology of southwestern Greenland deglaciation and model simulations of GrIS change. Results suggest that inland retreat of the southwestern GrIS margin was likely minimal in the middle to late Holocene.
Ben M. Pelto, Brian Menounos, and Shawn J. Marshall
The Cryosphere, 13, 1709–1727, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1709-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1709-2019, 2019
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Changes in glacier mass are the direct response to meteorological conditions during the accumulation and melt seasons. We derived multi-year, seasonal mass balance from airborne laser scanning surveys and compared them to field measurements for six glaciers in the Columbia and Rocky Mountains, Canada. Our method can accurately measure seasonal changes in glacier mass and can be easily adapted to derive seasonal mass change for entire mountain ranges.
Noel Fitzpatrick, Valentina Radić, and Brian Menounos
The Cryosphere, 13, 1051–1071, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1051-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1051-2019, 2019
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Measurements of surface roughness are rare on glaciers, despite being an important control for heat exchange with the atmosphere and surface melt. In this study, roughness values were determined through measurements at multiple locations and seasons and found to vary across glacier surfaces and to differ from commonly assumed values in melt models. Two new methods that remotely determine roughness from digital elevation models returned good performance and may facilitate improved melt modelling.
Maxwell T. Cunningham, Colin P. Stark, Michael R. Kaplan, and Joerg M. Schaefer
Earth Surf. Dynam., 7, 147–169, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-7-147-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-7-147-2019, 2019
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Glacial erosion is known to limit the height of midlatitude mountain ranges affected by substantial glaciation during cold periods. Our study examines this phenomenon in the tropics. A new form of hypsometric analysis, along with other evidence, of 10 tropical ranges reveals widespread signs of a perched glacial base level at the ELA. Although glacial influence is moderate to weak in these environments, the evidence suggests that glacial erosion acts to limit the height of tropical ranges.
Mekdes Ayalew Tessema, Valentina Radić, Brian Menounos, and Noel Fitzpatrick
The Cryosphere Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2018-154, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2018-154, 2018
Preprint withdrawn
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To force physics-based models of glacier melt, meteorological variables and energy fluxes are needed at or in vicinity of the glaciers in question. In the absence of observations detailing these variables, the required forcing is commonly derived by downscaling the coarse-resolution output from global climate models (GCMs). This study investigates how the downscaled fields from GCMs can successfully resolve the local processes driving surface melting at three glaciers in British Columbia.
Valentina Radić, Brian Menounos, Joseph Shea, Noel Fitzpatrick, Mekdes A. Tessema, and Stephen J. Déry
The Cryosphere, 11, 2897–2918, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2897-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2897-2017, 2017
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Our overall goal is to improve the numerical modeling of glacier melt in order to better predict the future of glaciers in Western Canada and worldwide.
Most commonly used models rely on simplifications of processes that dictate melting at a glacier surface, in particular turbulent processes of heat exchange. We compared modeled against directly measured turbulent heat fluxes at a valley glacier in British Columbia, Canada, and found that more improvements are needed in all the tested models.
Joshua M. Maurer, Summer B. Rupper, and Joerg M. Schaefer
The Cryosphere, 10, 2203–2215, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-2203-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-2203-2016, 2016
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Here we utilize declassified spy satellite imagery to quantify ice volume loss of glaciers in the eastern Himalayas over approximately the last three decades. Clean-ice and debris-covered glaciers show similar magnitudes of ice loss, while calving glaciers are contributing a disproportionately large amount to total ice loss. Results highlight important physical processes affecting the ice mass budget and associated water resources in the Himalayas.
Shaun R. Eaves, Andrew N. Mackintosh, Brian M. Anderson, Alice M. Doughty, Dougal B. Townsend, Chris E. Conway, Gisela Winckler, Joerg M. Schaefer, Graham S. Leonard, and Andrew T. Calvert
Clim. Past, 12, 943–960, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-943-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-943-2016, 2016
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Geological evidence for past changes in glacier length provides a useful source of information about pre-historic climate change. We have used glacier modelling to show that air temperature reductions of −5 to −7 °C, relative to present, are required to simulate the glacial extent in the North Island, New Zealand, during the last ice age (approx. 20000 years ago). Our results provide data to assess climate model simulations, with the aim of determining the drivers of past natural climate change.
M. J. Beedle, B. Menounos, and R. Wheate
The Cryosphere, 9, 65–80, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-65-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-65-2015, 2015
J. M. Shea, B. Menounos, R. D. Moore, and C. Tennant
The Cryosphere, 7, 667–680, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-667-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-667-2013, 2013
C. Tennant, B. Menounos, R. Wheate, and J. J. Clague
The Cryosphere, 6, 1541–1552, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-6-1541-2012, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-6-1541-2012, 2012
Related subject area
Discipline: Glaciers | Subject: Paleo-Glaciology (including Former Ice Reconstructions)
Impact of glacial isostatic adjustment on zones of potential grounding line stability in the Ross Sea Embayment (Antarctica) since the Last Glacial Maximum
Brief communication: Identification of 140 000-year-old blue ice in the Grove Mountains, East Antarctica, by krypton-81 dating
Timing and climatic-driven mechanisms of glacier advances in Bhutanese Himalaya during the Little Ice Age
The Holocene dynamics of Ryder Glacier and ice tongue in north Greenland
Holocene thinning of Darwin and Hatherton glaciers, Antarctica, and implications for grounding-line retreat in the Ross Sea
Understanding drivers of glacier-length variability over the last millennium
Central Himalayan tree-ring isotopes reveal increasing regional heterogeneity and enhancement in ice mass loss since the 1960s
Modelling last glacial cycle ice dynamics in the Alps
Modelling the late Holocene and future evolution of Monacobreen, northern Spitsbergen
Samuel T. Kodama, Tamara Pico, Alexander A. Robel, John Erich Christian, Natalya Gomez, Casey Vigilia, Evelyn Powell, Jessica Gagliardi, Slawek Tulaczyk, and Terrence Blackburn
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3465, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3465, 2024
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Glacial isostatic adjustment (gravitational, rotational, and solid Earth responses to changes in ice load) slows the retreat of marine-terminating ice sheets. However, the models that reveal this interaction use coarse resolution bathymetry, missing potential impacts of small length scale topographic highs. We pair a high-resolution bathymetry model with a simple model of grounding line stability to predict zones of potential grounding line stability in the Ross Sea over the past deglaciation.
Zhengyi Hu, Wei Jiang, Yuzhen Yan, Yan Huang, Xueyuan Tang, Lin Li, Florian Ritterbusch, Guo-Min Yang, Zheng-Tian Lu, and Guitao Shi
The Cryosphere, 18, 1647–1652, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1647-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1647-2024, 2024
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The age of the surface blue ice in the Grove Mountains area is dated to be about 140 000 years, and one meteorite found here is 260 000 years old. It is inferred that the Grove Mountains blue-ice area holds considerable potential for paleoclimate studies.
Weilin Yang, Yingkui Li, Gengnian Liu, and Wenchao Chu
The Cryosphere, 16, 3739–3752, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3739-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3739-2022, 2022
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We simulated the glacier evolutions in Bhutanese Himalaya during the LIA using OGGM. At the regional scale, four compelling glacial substages were reported, and a positive correlation between the number of glacial substages and the glacier slope was found. Based on the surface mass balance analysis, the study also indicated that the regional glacier advances are dominated by the reduction of summer ablation.
Matt O'Regan, Thomas M. Cronin, Brendan Reilly, Aage Kristian Olsen Alstrup, Laura Gemery, Anna Golub, Larry A. Mayer, Mathieu Morlighem, Matthias Moros, Ole L. Munk, Johan Nilsson, Christof Pearce, Henrieka Detlef, Christian Stranne, Flor Vermassen, Gabriel West, and Martin Jakobsson
The Cryosphere, 15, 4073–4097, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4073-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4073-2021, 2021
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Ryder Glacier is a marine-terminating glacier in north Greenland discharging ice into the Lincoln Sea. Here we use marine sediment cores to reconstruct its retreat and advance behavior through the Holocene. We show that while Sherard Osborn Fjord has a physiography conducive to glacier and ice tongue stability, Ryder still retreated more than 40 km inland from its current position by the Middle Holocene. This highlights the sensitivity of north Greenland's marine glaciers to climate change.
Trevor R. Hillebrand, John O. Stone, Michelle Koutnik, Courtney King, Howard Conway, Brenda Hall, Keir Nichols, Brent Goehring, and Mette K. Gillespie
The Cryosphere, 15, 3329–3354, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3329-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3329-2021, 2021
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We present chronologies from Darwin and Hatherton glaciers to better constrain ice sheet retreat during the last deglaciation in the Ross Sector of Antarctica. We use a glacier flowband model and an ensemble of 3D ice sheet model simulations to show that (i) the whole glacier system likely thinned steadily from about 9–3 ka, and (ii) the grounding line likely reached the Darwin–Hatherton Glacier System at about 3 ka, which is ≥3.8 kyr later than was suggested by previous reconstructions.
Alan Huston, Nicholas Siler, Gerard H. Roe, Erin Pettit, and Nathan J. Steiger
The Cryosphere, 15, 1645–1662, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1645-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1645-2021, 2021
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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.
Nilendu Singh, Mayank Shekhar, Jayendra Singh, Anil K. Gupta, Achim Bräuning, Christoph Mayr, and Mohit Singhal
The Cryosphere, 15, 95–112, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-95-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-95-2021, 2021
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Tree-ring isotope records from the central Himalaya provided a basis for previously lacking regional multi-century glacier mass balance (MB) reconstruction. Isotopic and climate coherency analyses specify an eastward-declining influence of the westerlies, an increase in east–west climate heterogeneity, and an increase in ice mass loss since the 1960s. Reasons for this are attributed to anthropogenic climate change, including concurrent alterations in atmospheric circulation patterns.
Julien Seguinot, Susan Ivy-Ochs, Guillaume Jouvet, Matthias Huss, Martin Funk, and Frank Preusser
The Cryosphere, 12, 3265–3285, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-3265-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-3265-2018, 2018
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About 25 000 years ago, Alpine glaciers filled most of the valleys and even extended onto the plains. In this study, with help from traces left by glaciers on the landscape, we use a computer model that contains knowledge of glacier physics based on modern observations of Greenland and Antarctica and laboratory experiments on ice, and one of the fastest computers in the world, to attempt a reconstruction of the evolution of Alpine glaciers through time from 120 000 years ago to today.
Johannes Oerlemans
The Cryosphere, 12, 3001–3015, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-3001-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-3001-2018, 2018
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Monacobreen is a 40 km long surge-type tidewater glacier in northern Spitsbergen. The front is retreating fast. Calculations with a glacier model predict that due to future climate warming this glacier will have lost 20 to 40 % of its volume by the year 2100. Because of the glacier's memory, much of the response will come after 2100, even if the climatic conditions would stabilize.
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Short summary
Our study developed a record of glacier and climate change in the Mackenzie and Selwyn mountains of northwestern Canada over the past several hundred years. We estimate temperature change in this region using several methods and incorporate our glacier record with models of climate change to estimate how glacier volume in our study area has changed over time. Models of future glacier change show that our study area will become largely ice-free by the end of the 21st century.
Our study developed a record of glacier and climate change in the Mackenzie and Selwyn mountains...
