Search results for "Ice sheet"
showing 10 items of 36 documents
Effect of the Ordovician paleogeography on the (in)stability of the climate.
2014
The Ordovician Period (485–443 Ma) is characterized by abundant evidence for continental-sized ice sheets. Modeling studies published so far require a sharp CO2 drawdown to initiate this glaciation. They mostly used non-dynamic slab mixed-layer ocean models. Here, we use a general circulation model with coupled components for ocean, atmosphere, and sea ice to examine the response of Ordovician climate to changes in CO2 and paleogeography. We conduct experiments for a wide range of CO2 (from 16 to 2 times the preindustrial atmospheric CO2 level (PAL)) and for two continental configurations (at 470 and at 450 Ma) mimicking the Middle and the Late Ordovician conditions. We find that the temper…
The Last Deglaciation of the Southeastern Sector of Scandinavian Ice Sheet
2006
The Scandinavian Ice Sheet (SIS) was an important component of the global ice sheet system during the last glaciation, but the timing of its growth to or retreat from its maximum extent remains poorly known. We used 115 cosmogenic beryllium-10 ages and 70 radiocarbon ages to constrain the timing of three substantial ice-margin fluctuations of the SIS between 25,000 and 12,000 years before the present. The age of initial deglaciation indicates that the SIS may have contributed to an abrupt rise in global sea level. Subsequent ice-margin fluctuations identify opposite mass-balance responses to North Atlantic climate change, indicating differing ice-sheet sensitivities to mean climate state.
Seismites resulting from high-frequency, high-magnitude earthquakes in Latvia caused by Late Glacial glacio-isostatic uplift
2016
Abstract Geologically extremely rapid changes in altitude by glacial rebound of the Earth crust after retreat of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet at the end of the last Weichselian glaciation influenced the palaeogeography of northern Europe. The uplift of the Earth crust apparently was not gradual, but shock-wise, as the uplift was accompanied by frequent, high-magnitude earthquakes. This can be deduced from strongly deformed layers which are interpreted as seismites. Such seismites have been described from several countries around the Baltic Sea, including Sweden, Germany and Poland. Now similarly deformed layers that must also be interpreted as seismites, have been discovered also in Latvia, a…
Warming or cooling in the Pragian? Sedimentary record and petrophysical logs across the Lochkovian–Pragian boundary in the Spanish Central Pyrenees
2016
Abstract High-resolution petrophysical correlation methods were applied, for the first time, to mid-Paleozoic rocks of the Pyrenees. The methods included magnetic susceptibility measurements (MS), gamma-ray spectrometry (GRS), and alignment of MS logs using the dynamic time-warping (DTW) algorithm. Conodont biostratigraphy provided the basic framework necessary for work with the GRS and MS logs. Despite differences in the sediment patterns and accumulation/erosion rates, the logs from two selected sections in the Spanish Central Pyrenees show a striking symmetry that correlates well with the previously published logs from the Barrandian area in the Czech Republic. The high similarity betwee…
Heating glaciers from below
2013
Climate change is affecting the cryosphere from above. Geothermal heat flux from below is also contributing to conditions at the base of Greenland's ice sheet, which sits atop a lithosphere of variable thickness.
A Holocene relative sea-level database for the Baltic Sea
2021
Highlights: • A first standardized and publicly available Holocene relative sea-level database for the Baltic Sea is presented. • The database holds 1099 revised data points with an estimation of vertical and chronological uncertainties. • Negative RSL tendencies prevail over the positive and complex tendencies in the Baltic Sea Basin. • Mid-Holocene RSL highstand occurred around 7.5–6.5 ka BP being consistent with the end of the final melting of the LIS. • The contribution of ice loading in the eastern Baltic Sea Basin is likely overestimated in the ICE-5G and ICE-6G_C models. Abstract: We present a compilation and analysis of 1099 Holocene relative shore-level (RSL) indicators located aro…
Interannual variability of Greenland winter precipitation sources: 2. Effects of North Atlantic Oscillation variability on stable isotopes in precipi…
2008
[1] A new Lagrangian moisture source diagnostic is applied to identify the atmospheric conditions relevant for the fractionation of stable water isotopes during evaporation over the ocean and subsequent transport to Greenland. Northern Hemisphere winter months with positive and negative North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index are studied on the basis of ERA-40 reanalysis data. Diagnosed moisture transport conditions are supplied to a Rayleigh-type isotope fractionation model to derive estimates for the isotopic composition of stable isotopes in winter precipitation on the Greenland plateau for the two NAO phases. Because of changes in atmospheric circulation, moisture source locations for pr…
Interannual variability of Greenland winter precipitation sources: Lagrangian moisture diagnostic and North Atlantic Oscillation influence
2008
[1] We present a new Lagrangian diagnostic for identifying the sources of water vapor for precipitation. Unlike previous studies, the method allows for a quantitative demarcation of evaporative moisture sources. This is achieved by taking into account the temporal sequence of evaporation into and precipitation from an air parcel during transport, as well as information on its proximity to the boundary layer. The moisture source region diagnostic was applied to trace the origin of water vapor for winter precipitation over the Greenland ice sheet for 30 selected months with pronounced positive, negative, and neutral North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index, using the European Centre for Medium-…
Evidence for cryptic glacial refugia from North American mountain sheep mitochondrial DNA
2006
The separation of populations by ice sheets into large refugia can account for much of the genetic diversity found in present day populations. The evolutionary implications of small glacial refugia have not been as thoroughly explored. To examine refugial origins of North American mountain sheep Ovis spp., we analyzed a 604 bp portion of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region from 223 O. dalli and O. canadensis. Major refugia were identified in eastern Beringia and southern North America, and we found evidence for two smaller refugia situated between the Laurentide and Cordilleran glaciers. Our results are the first to demonstrate support for survival of any organism in the latter two…
Sea ice extent and seasonality for the Early Pliocene northern Weddell Sea
2010
Abstract Growth increment analysis coupled with stable isotopic data ( δ 18 O/ δ 13 C) from Early Pliocene (ca 4.7 Ma) Austrochlamys anderssoni from shallow marine sediments of the Cockburn Island Formation, northern Antarctic Peninsula, suggest these bivalves grew through much of the year, even during the coldest parts of winter recorded in the shells. The high frequency fluctuation in growth increment width of A. anderssoni appears to reflect periodic, but year-round, agitation of the water column enhancing benthic food supply from organic detritus. This suggests that Austrochlamys favoured waters that were largely sea ice free. Our data support interpretation of the Cockburn Island Forma…