scholarly journals Attribution of Global Monsoon Response to the Last Glacial Maximum Forcings

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (19) ◽  
pp. 6589-6605 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jian Cao ◽  
Bin Wang ◽  
Libin Ma

Abstract Investigation of global monsoon (GM) responses to external forcings is instrumental for understanding its formation mechanism and projected future changes. Coupled climate model experiments are performed to assess how the individual and full Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) forcings change GM precipitation. Under the full LGM forcing, the annual and local summer-mean GM precipitation are reduced by 8.5% and 10.8%, respectively, compared to the results in the preindustrial control run; and the reduction of Northern Hemisphere (NH) summer monsoon (NHSM) precipitation is twice as large as its Southern Hemisphere (SH) counterpart (SHSM). The NH–SH asymmetric response is mainly caused by the monsoon circulation change–induced moisture convergence rather than the reduction of moisture content, but the root cause is the continental ice sheet forcing. The NHSM precipitation changes dramatically differ among various single-forcing experiments, while this is not the case for their SH counterparts. The moisture budget analysis indicates the NHSM is dynamically oriented, but SHSM is thermodynamically oriented. The markedly different NHSM circulation changes are caused by different forcing-induced sea surface temperature (SST) patterns, including the North Atlantic cooling pattern forced by the continental ice sheet, the mega–La Niña–like pattern resulting from the greenhouse gas forcing, and the Indian Ocean dipole–like SST pattern caused by the land–sea configuration forcing. Moreover, the distinctive change of “monsoonality” in the Australian–Indonesian monsoon is predominantly forced by the exposure of the land shelf, which enhances precipitation during early summer (November–December) but weakens it in the rest of the year.

1997 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 333-339 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philippe Huybrechts ◽  
Stephen T’siobbel

A quasi-three-dimensional (3-D) climate model (Sellers, 1983) was used to simulate the climate of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) in order to provide climatic input for the modelling of the Northern Hemisphere ice sheets. The climate model is basically a coarse-gridded general circulation (GCM) with simplified dynamics, and was subject to appropriate boundary conditions for ice-sheet elevation, atmospheric CO2concentration and orbital parameters. When compared with the present-daysimulation, the simulated climate at the Last Glacial Maximum is characterized by a global annual cooling of 3.5°C and a reduction in global annualprecipitation of 7.5%, which agrees well with results from other, more complex GCMs. Also the patterns of temperature change compare fairly with mostother GCM results, except for a smaller cooling over the North Atlantic and the larger cooling predicted for the summer rather than for the winter over Eurasia.The climate model is able to simulate changes in Northern Hemisphere tropospheric circulation, yielding enhanced westerlies in the vicinity of the Laurentide and Eurasian ice sheets. However, the simulated precipitation patterns are less convincing, and show a distinct mean precipitation increase over the Laurentide ice sheet. Nevertheless, when using the mean-monthly fields of LGM minus present-day anomalies of temperature and precipitation rate to drive a three-dimensional thermomechanical ice-sheet model, it was demonstrated that within realistic bounds of the ice-flow and mass-balance parameters, veryreasonable reconstructions of the Last Glacial Maximum ice sheets could be obtained.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caleb K. Walcott ◽  
Jason P. Briner ◽  
James F. Baichtal ◽  
Alia J. Lesnek ◽  
Joseph M. Licciardi

Abstract. The late-Pleistocene history of the coastal Cordilleran Ice Sheet (CIS) remains relatively unstudied compared to chronologies of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. Yet accurate reconstructions of CIS extent and timing of ice retreat along the Pacific Coast are essential for a variety of reasons including paleoclimate modeling, assessing meltwater contribution to the North Pacific, and determining the availability of ice-free land along the coastal CIS margin for human migration from Beringia into the Americas. To improve the chronology of CIS history in the Alexander Archipelago, Alaska, we applied 10Be and 36Cl dating to boulders and glacially sculpted bedrock outcrops in areas previously hypothesized to have remained ice-free throughout the local Last Glacial Maximum (lLGM; 20–17 ka). Results indicate that these sites, and more generally the coastal northern Alexander Archipelago, became ice-free by 15.1 ± 0.9 ka (n = 12 boulders; 1 SD). We also provide further age constraints on deglaciation along the southern Alexander Archipelago and combine our new ages with data from two previous studies. We determine that ice retreated from the outer coast of the southern Alexander Archipelago at 16.3 ± 0.8 ka (n = 14 boulders; 1 SD). These results collectively indicate that areas above modern sea level that were previously mapped as glacial refugia were covered by ice during the lLGM until between ~16.3 and 15.1 ka. As no evidence was found for ice-free land during the lLGM, our results suggest that previous ice-sheet reconstructions underestimate the regional maximum CIS extent, and that all ice likely terminated on the continental shelf. Future work should investigate whether presently submerged areas of the continental shelf were ice-free.


1997 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 333-339 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philippe Huybrechts ◽  
Stephen T’siobbel

A quasi-three-dimensional (3-D) climate model (Sellers, 1983) was used to simulate the climate of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) in order to provide climatic input for the modelling of the Northern Hemisphere ice sheets. The climate model is basically a coarse-gridded general circulation (GCM) with simplified dynamics, and was subject to appropriate boundary conditions for ice-sheet elevation, atmospheric CO2 concentration and orbital parameters. When compared with the present-daysimulation, the simulated climate at the Last Glacial Maximum is characterized by a global annual cooling of 3.5°C and a reduction in global annualprecipitation of 7.5%, which agrees well with results from other, more complex GCMs. Also the patterns of temperature change compare fairly with mostother GCM results, except for a smaller cooling over the North Atlantic and the larger cooling predicted for the summer rather than for the winter over Eurasia.The climate model is able to simulate changes in Northern Hemisphere tropospheric circulation, yielding enhanced westerlies in the vicinity of the Laurentide and Eurasian ice sheets. However, the simulated precipitation patterns are less convincing, and show a distinct mean precipitation increase over the Laurentide ice sheet. Nevertheless, when using the mean-monthly fields of LGM minus present-day anomalies of temperature and precipitation rate to drive a three-dimensional thermomechanical ice-sheet model, it was demonstrated that within realistic bounds of the ice-flow and mass-balance parameters, veryreasonable reconstructions of the Last Glacial Maximum ice sheets could be obtained.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felix Martin Hofmann ◽  
William McCreary ◽  
Frank Preusser

<p>Chronological evidence from the southern part of the Alps (Monegato et al. 2017) indicates an earlier last glacial maximum of the Alpine glaciers relative to the Eurasian Ice Sheet maximum extent. This asynchronicity is probably due to the expansion of the North American Ice Sheet causing a southward shift of the North Atlantic jet stream and the establishment of a meridional atmospheric circulation over Europe (Luetscher et al. 2015). The advection of humid air masses from the Mediterranean Sea caused the Alpine glaciers to reach their maximum extent prior to the Eurasian ice sheet. Hence, the ice cap of the southern Black Forest must have been in a lee position with respect to the Alpine glaciers. This suggests that the last glacial maximum in the Black Forest was out of phase with the Alps. Since the lack of chronological data from the southern Black Forest prevents this hypothesis to be tested, a glacier chronology is crucially needed. As a first step towards such a framework, glacial landforms in the southern Black Forest are mapped based on both the analysis of highresolution LiDAR (Light detecting and ranging) data and its derivates as well as field mapping. Geomorphological mapping of a key site resulted in the identification of 18 ice-marginal positions in a single valley, whereby a significant number of moraines has been mapped for the first time. These findings reinforce the idea of a dynamic Lateglacial in the southern Black Forest interrupted by multiple periods of moraine stabilisation. Additional geomorphological and sedimentological investigations will be carried out to provide a solid base for the application of up-to-date geochronological methods (<sup>10</sup>Be exposure dating of boulders on moraines and optically stimulated luminescence dating) with particular emphasis on supposed last local glacial maximum moraines. Geomorphological, sedimentological and geochronological evidence will then be combined for palaeoglacier modelling. The determination of equilibrium line altitudes will ultimately enable the determination of palaeo-precipitation and –temperature during the last local glacial maximum and the subsequent Lateglacial. This palaeoclimatic reconstruction will be supported by data from the lake Bergsee record (southernmost Black Forest) spanning the 45-14.7 ka period (Duprat-Oualid et al. 2017).</p><p><strong>References</strong></p><p>Duprat-Oualid F., Rius D., Bégeot C., Magny M., Millet L., Wulf S., Appelt O. 2017. Vegetation response to abrupt climate changes in Western Europe from 45 to 14.7 k cal a BP: the Bergsee lacustrine record (Black Forest, Germany). J. Quaternary Sci. 32, 1008-1021.</p><p>Luetscher M., Boch R., Sodemann H., Spötl C., Cheng H., Edwards R.L., Frisia S., Hof F., Müller W. 2015. North Atlantic storm track changes during the Last Glacial Maximum recorded by Alpine speleothems. Nat. Commun. 6, 6344.</p><p>Monegato G., Scardia G., Hajdas I., Rizzini F., Piccin A. 2017. The Alpine LGM in the boreal ice-sheets game. Sci. Rep-UK 7, 2078.</p><p> </p>


2001 ◽  
Vol 31 (1-4) ◽  
pp. 407-425 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juha Pekka Lunkka ◽  
Matti Saarnisto ◽  
Valeri Gey ◽  
Igor Demidov ◽  
Vera Kiselova

2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 2319-2333 ◽  
Author(s):  
X. Zhang ◽  
G. Lohmann ◽  
G. Knorr ◽  
X. Xu

Abstract. The last deglaciation is one of the best constrained global-scale climate changes documented by climate archives. Nevertheless, understanding of the underlying dynamics is still limited, especially with respect to abrupt climate shifts and associated changes in the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) during glacial and deglacial periods. A fundamental issue is how to obtain an appropriate climate state at the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, 21 000 yr before present, 21 ka BP) that can be used as an initial condition for deglaciation. With the aid of a comprehensive climate model, we found that initial ocean states play an important role on the equilibrium timescale of the simulated glacial ocean. Independent of the initialization, the climatological surface characteristics are similar and quasi-stationary, even when trends in the deep ocean are still significant, which provides an explanation for the large spread of simulated LGM ocean states among the Paleoclimate Modeling Intercomparison Project phase 2 (PMIP2) models. Accordingly, we emphasize that caution must be taken when alleged quasi-stationary states, inferred on the basis of surface properties, are used as a reference for both model inter-comparison and data model comparison. The simulated ocean state with the most realistic AMOC is characterized by a pronounced vertical stratification, in line with reconstructions. Hosing experiments further suggest that the response of the glacial ocean is dependent on the ocean background state, i.e. only the state with robust stratification shows an overshoot behavior in the North Atlantic. We propose that the salinity stratification represents a key control on the AMOC pattern and its transient response to perturbations. Furthermore, additional experiments suggest that the stratified deep ocean formed prior to the LGM during a time of minimum obliquity (~ 27 ka BP). This indicates that changes in the glacial deep ocean already occur before the last deglaciation. In combination, these findings represent a new paradigm for the LGM and the last deglaciation, which challenges the conventional evaluation of glacial and deglacial AMOC changes based on an ocean state derived from 21 ka BP boundary conditions.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Sanne M Maas

<p>Sediment Cores collected from the shallow sub-sea floor beneath the Ross Ice Shelf at Coulman High have been analysed using sedimentological techniques to constrain the retreat history of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) ice sheet in the Ross Embayment, and to determine when the modern-day calving line location of the Ross Ice Shelf was established. A characteristic vertical succession of facies was identified in these cores, that can be linked to ice sheet and ice shelf extent in the Ross Embayment. The base of this succession consists of unconsolidated, clast rich muddy diamicts, and is interpreted to be deposited subglacially or in a grounding line proximal environment on account of a distinct provenance in the clast content which can only be attributed to subglacial transport from the Byrd Glacier 400 km to the south of the drill site. This is overlain by a mud with abundant clasts, similar in character to a granulated facies that has been documented previously in the Ross Sea, and is interpreted as being a characteristic grounding line lift-o facies in a sub-ice shelf setting. These glacial proximal facies pass upward into a mud, which comprises three distinctive units. i) Muds with sub-mm scale laminae resulting from traction currents occurring near the grounding line in a sub-ice shelf environment overlain by, ii) muds with sub-mm scale laminae and elevated biogenic content (diatoms and foraminifera) and sand/gravel clasts, interpreted as being deposited in open water conditions, passing up into a iii) bioturbated mud, interpreted as being deposited in sub-ice shelf environment, proximal to the calving line. The uppermost facies consists of a 20 cm thick diatom ooze with abundant clasts and pervasive bioturbation, indicative of a condensed section deposited during periodically open marine conditions. During post-LGM retreat of the ice sheet margin in western Ross Sea, and prior to the first open marine conditions at Coulman High, it is hypothesized that the grounding and calving line were in relative close proximity to each other. As the calving line became "pinned" in the Ross Island region, the grounding line likely continued its retreat toward its present day location. New corrected radiocarbon ages on the foraminifera shells in the interval of laminated muds with clasts, provide some of the first inorganic ages from the Ross Sea, and strengthen inferences from previous studies, that the first open marine conditions in the vicinity of Ross Island were 7,600 14C yr BP. While retreat of the calving line south of its present day position is implied during this period of mid-Holocene warmth prior to its re-advance, at present it is not possible to constrain the magnitude of retreat or attribute this to climate change rather than normal calving dynamics.</p>


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