Annually Resolved Ice Core Records of Tropical Climate Variability over the Past  1800 Years

Science ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 340 (6135) ◽  
pp. 945-950 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. G. Thompson ◽  
E. Mosley-Thompson ◽  
M. E. Davis ◽  
V. S. Zagorodnov ◽  
I. M. Howat ◽  
...  
2007 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. Solomina ◽  
G. Wiles ◽  
T. Shiraiwa ◽  
R. D'Arrigo

Abstract. Tree ring, ice core and glacial geologic histories for the past several centuries offer an opportunity to characterize climate variability and to identify the key climate parameters forcing glacier expansion in Kamchatka over the past 400 years. A newly developed larch ring-width chronology (AD 1632–2004) is presented that is sensitive to past summer temperature variability. Individual low growth years in the larch record are associated with several known and proposed volcanic events from the Northern Hemisphere. The comparison of ring width minima and those of Melt Feature Index of Ushkovsky ice core helps confirm a 1–3 year dating accuracy~for this ice core series over the late 18th to 20th centuries. Decadal variations of low summer temperatures (tree-ring record) and high annual precipitation (ice core record) are broadly consistent with intervals of positive mass balances measured and estimated at several glaciers in 20th century, and with moraine building. According to the tree-ring data the 1860s–1880s were the longest coldest interval in the last 350 years. The latest part of this period (1880s) coincided with the positive anomaly in accumulation. This coincidence led to a positive mass balance, which is most likely responsible for glacier advances and moraine deposition of the end of 19th-early 20th centuries. As well as in some other high latitude regions (Spitsbergen, Polar Urals, Franz Jozef Land etc.) in Kamchatka these advances marked the last millennium glacial maximum. In full agreement with subsequent summer warming trend, inferred both from instrumental and tree ring data, glacier advances since 1880s have been less extensive. The late 18th century glacier expansion coincides with the inferred summer temperature decrease recorded by the ring width chronology. However, both the advance and the summer temperature decrease were less prominent that in the end of 19th century. Comparisons of the glacier history in Kamchatka with records from Alaska and the Canadian Rockies suggests broadly consistent intervals of glacier expansion and inferred summer cooling during solar irradiance minima.


2012 ◽  
Vol 117 (D15) ◽  
pp. n/a-n/a
Author(s):  
Chaochao Gao ◽  
Alan Robock ◽  
Stephen Self ◽  
Jeffrey B. Witter ◽  
J. P. Steffenson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ice Core ◽  
The Past ◽  

2006 ◽  
Vol 111 (D12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chaochao Gao ◽  
Alan Robock ◽  
Stephen Self ◽  
Jeffrey B. Witter ◽  
J. P. Steffenson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ice Core ◽  
The Past ◽  

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie G. P. Cavitte ◽  
Quentin Dalaiden ◽  
Hugues Goosse ◽  
Jan T. M. Lenaerts ◽  
Elizabeth R. Thomas

Abstract. Ice cores are an important record of the past surface mass balance (SMB) of ice sheets, with SMB mitigating the ice sheets’ sea level impact over the recent decades. For the Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS), SMB is dominated by large-scale atmospheric circulation, which collects warm moist air from further north and releases it in the form of snow as widespread accumulation or focused atmospheric rivers on the continent. This implies that the snow deposited at the surface of the AIS should record strongly coupled SMB and surface air temperature (SAT) variations. Ice cores use δ18O as a proxy for SAT as they do not record SAT directly. Here, using isotope-enabled global climate models and the RACMO2.3 regional climate model, we calculate positive SMB-SAT and δ18O-SMB correlations over ∼90 % of the AIS. The high spatial resolution of the RACMO2.3 model allows us to highlight a number of areas where SMB and SAT are not correlated, and show that wind-driven processes acting locally, such as Foehn and katabatic effects, can overwhelm the large-scale atmospheric input in SMB and SAT responsible for the positive SMB-SAT correlations. We focus in particular on Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica, where the ice promontories clearly show these wind-induced effects. However, using the PAGES2k ice core compilations of SMB and δ18O of Thomas et al. (2017) and Stenni et al. (2017), we obtain a weak correlation, on the order of 0.1, between SMB and δ18O over the past ~150 years. We obtain an equivalently weak correlation between ice core SMB and the SAT reconstruction of Nicolas and Bromwich (2014) over the past ~50 years, although the ice core sites are not spatially co-located with the areas displaying a low SMB-SAT correlation in the models. To resolve the discrepancy between the measured and modeled signals, we show that averaging the ice core records in close spatial proximity increases their SMB-SAT correlation. This increase shows that the weak measured correlation likely results from random noise present in the ice core records, but is not large enough to match the correlation calculated in the models. Our results indicate thus a positive correlation between SAT and SMB in models and ice core reconstructions but with a weaker value in observations that may be due to missing processes in models or some systematic biases in ice core data that are not removed by a simple average.


2006 ◽  
Vol 2 (6) ◽  
pp. 1051-1073 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. Solomina ◽  
G. Wiles ◽  
T. Shiraiwa ◽  
R. D’Arrigo

Abstract. Tree rings, ice cores and glacial geologic histories for the past several centuries offer an opportunity to characterize climate variability and to identify the key climate parameters forcing glacier expansions. A newly developed larch ring-width chronology is presented for Kamchatka that is sensitive to past summer temperature variability. This record provides the basis to compare with other proxy records of inferred temperature and precipitation change from ice core and glacier records, and to characterize climate for the region over the past 400 years. Individual low growth years in the larch record are associated with several known and proposed volcanic events that have been observed in other proxy records from the Northern Hemisphere. Comparison of the tree-rings with an ice core record of melt feature index for Kamchatka's Ushkovsky volcano confirms a 1–3 year dating accuracy for this ice core series over the late 18th to 20th centuries. Decadal variations of low summer temperatures (tree-ring record) and high annual precipitation (ice core record) are broadly consistent with intervals of positive mass balance measured and estimated at several glaciers, and with moraine building, provides a basis to interpret geologic glacier records.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yannick Heiser ◽  
Janica Bühler ◽  
Mathieu Casado ◽  
Kira Rehfeld

<div> <div> <div> <p>Stable water isotope ratios (δ18O) measured in e.g. ice-cores or speleothems have long been established as temperature proxies and are used to reconstruct past climate variability but still require more quantification on spatial and temporal scales. The high resolution ice-core archives are mainly found in polar and alpine regions, whereas the speleothem records mostly grow in caves in low to mid-latitudes. To bridge between the archives, models are needed to compare the climate variability stored in both ice-cores and speleothems, which will help to evaluate future projections of climate variability.</p> <p>Here, we compare a transient isotope enabled simulation from the Hadley Center Climate Model version 3 (iHadCM3) [1, 2] to polar ice-core records from the iso2k database [3] for the last millennium (LM, 850-1850 CE). We analyze time-averaged isotope ratios and their variability on decadal to centennial timescales to systematically evaluate the offsets and correlation patterns between simulated and recorded isotopes to specific climatic drivers. For better comparability between speleothem and ice core-archives, we also include non-polar ice core records, as well as monitored precipitation δ18O from a global database.</p> <p>We find the time-averaged δ18O offsets between the simulation and ice-core records to be fairly small for most of the polar ice-core sites, indicating a low simulation climate offset.<br>As expected, we find the simulated δ18O variability to be higher in the polar regions of ice-core locations, compared to the simulated variability at speleothem cave locations. Recorded δ18O variability is also generally higher as stored in ice-cores, compared to that stored in speleothems. Both speleothems and ice-core records show damping effects on decadal time scales, which can in part be attributed to the temporal resolution of the individual records. This comparison of different proxy archives to isotope-enabled GCM output shows a promising way to evaluate the model’s capability to resolve δ18O variability.</p> <div> <div> <div> <p>[1]  Bühler, J. C. et al. Comparison of the oxygen isotope signatures in speleothem records and iHadCM3 model simulations for the last millennium. Climate of the Past: Discussions 1–30 (2020).</p> <p>[2]  Tindall, J. C., Valdes, P. J. & Sime, L. C. Stable water isotopes in HadCM3: Isotopic signature of El Niño-Southern Oscillation and the tropical amount effect. Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres 114, 1–12 (2009).</p> <p>[3] Konecky, B. L. et al. The Iso2k database: A global compilation of paleo-δ18O and δ2H records to aid understanding of Common Era climate. Earth System Science Data 12, 2261–2288 (2020).</p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div>


2018 ◽  
Vol 188 ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lonnie G. Thompson ◽  
Tandong Yao ◽  
Mary E. Davis ◽  
Ellen Mosley-Thompson ◽  
Guangjian Wu ◽  
...  

2012 ◽  
Vol 25 (12) ◽  
pp. 4048-4066 ◽  
Author(s):  
David P. Schneider ◽  
Yuko Okumura ◽  
Clara Deser

Abstract This study reviews the mechanisms associated with Antarctic–tropical climate linkages and presents new analyses of the seasonality and spatial patterns of tropical climate signals in the Antarctic for the late 1950s to the present. Tropical climate signals are primarily communicated to the Antarctic via the Pacific–South America (PSA) pattern and the southern annular mode (SAM). The impacts of these circulation patterns and their tropical linkages are evident in regressions of seasonally stratified Antarctic station temperature data and annually resolved ice core records on global fields of sea surface temperature, sea level pressure, and precipitation. Temperature and ice core anomalies in the Antarctic Peninsula region and adjoining areas of West Antarctica are significantly impacted by the PSA, interpreted as a Rossby wave train driven by anomalous tropical deep convection during ENSO events. This pattern is most evident in the austral spring, consistent with recent studies, suggesting that atmospheric conditions for Rossby wave propagation are most favorable during this season. During austral summer at the peak of the ENSO cycle, temperature anomalies at East Antarctic coastal stations exhibit significant correlations with tropical Pacific anomalies. This linkage reflects the influence of anomalous tropical heating on the position and strength of the subtropical jets and is consistent with changes in eddy momentum fluxes that alter the mean meridional circulation associated with the SAM. Of the ice cores that exhibit tropical linkages, most tend to be associated with the PSA teleconnection. The implications of the study’s findings for understanding Antarctic climate variability and climate change from seasonal to decadal time scales are also discussed.


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