scholarly journals A revised chronology of key Vatnajökull (Iceland) outlet glaciers during the Little Ice Age

2005 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
pp. 171-179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Krista M. McKinzey ◽  
John F. Orwin ◽  
Tom Bradwell
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
Little Ice Age ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Early 19Th Century ◽  
The North ◽  
Climate Interactions ◽  
Tephra Layers ◽  
The North Atlantic ◽  
The North Atlantic Oscillation

AbstractGlacier fluctuations from key Vatnajökull outlets have been redated using tephrochronology coupled with two lichenometric techniques to ascertain the timing of the Little Ice Age (LIA) maximum in southeast Iceland. An updated tephrochronology for southeast Iceland (both the number of tephra layers present and their geochemical signatures) indicates a LIA maximum for both glaciers between AD 1755 and 1873. Based on a population gradient approach, lichenometrically dated moraines along the margins of Skálafellsjökull and Heinabergsjökull narrow this window to the early to mid-19th century respectively. These revised chronologies, in addition to emerging evidence from elsewhere in Iceland, support a late 18th- to early 19th-century LIA glacier maximum. In contrast, the Norwegian LIA glacial maximum is strongly centred around AD1750. This implies differing glaciological responses to secular shifts in the North Atlantic Oscillation. Such revisions to the Vatnajökull record are crucial, as accurately identifying the timing and delimiting the spatial extent of the Icelandic LIA glacier maximum will allow further light to be shed on glacier–climate interactions in the North Atlantic.

scholarly journals Flood events in Transylvania during the Medieval Warm Period and the Little Ice Age

The Holocene ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ioana Perșoiu ◽  
Aurel Perșoiu
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
Little Ice Age ◽  
Medieval Warm Period ◽  
Warm Period ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
The North ◽  
High Incidence ◽  
The North Atlantic ◽  
The 19Th Century

We present here the first record of past flooding activity from the Carpathian Mountains, Eastern Europe, based on documentary evidence and sedimentary records along one of the main rivers draining this region (Someșul Mic River). Three periods of increased flood activity have occurred in Transylvania during the last millennium: the first at the beginning of the 10th century (the end of the Dark Ages Cold Period and beginning of the Medieval Warm Period (MWP)); the second at the end of the 16th and beginning of 17th century, during the cold Little Ice Age (LIA) and the third at the end of the 19th century. During the early MWP, generally wet summers resulted in a high incidence of floods and/or high discharges, while the cluster of floods at the end of 16th and beginning of the 17th centuries occurred mostly at flash floods generated during heavy summer thunderstorms. Increasing winter temperatures and spring precipitations probably caused the high incidence of floods at the end of the 19th century. The predominantly wet conditions during the MWP are likely to have resulted from northward penetration of Mediterranean cyclones during a (mostly) positive phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), while wet conditions during the LIA arose as a combination of increases in local storminess and moisture transport from the North Atlantic along more southerly positioned westerlies associated with a negative phase of the NAO.

scholarly journals Bunker Cave stalagmites: an archive for central European Holocene climate variability

2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 1687-1720 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Fohlmeister ◽  
A. Schröder-Ritzrau ◽  
D. Scholz ◽  
C. Spötl ◽  
D. F. C. Riechelmann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Variability ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
Little Ice Age ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Holocene Climate ◽  
Central European ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Atlantic ◽  
Meteoric Precipitation ◽  
Precipitation And Temperature

Abstract. Holocene climate was characterised by variability on multi-centennial to multi-decadal time scales. In central Europe, these fluctuations were most pronounced during winter. Here we present a new record of past winter climate variability for the last 10.8 ka based on four speleothems from Bunker Cave, Western Germany. Due to its central European location, the cave site is particularly well suited to record changes in precipitation and temperature in response to changes in the North Atlantic realm. We present high resolution records of δ18O, δ13C values and Mg/Ca ratios. We attribute changes in the Mg/Ca ratio to variations in the meteoric precipitation. The stable C isotope composition of the speleothems most likely reflects changes in vegetation and precipitation and variations in the δ18O signal are interpreted as variations in meteoric precipitation and temperature. We found cold and dry periods between 9 and 7 ka, 6.5 and 5.5 ka, 4 and 3 ka as well as between 0.7 to 0.2 ka. The proxy signals in our stalagmites compare well with other isotope records and, thus, seem representative for central European Holocene climate variability. The prominent 8.2 ka event and the Little Ice Age cold events are both recorded in the Bunker cave record. However, these events show a contrasting relationship between climate and δ18O, which is explained by different causes underlying the two climate anomalies. Whereas the Little Ice Age is attributed to a pronounced negative phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation, the 8.2 ka event was triggered by cooler conditions in the North Atlantic due to a slowdown of the Thermohaline Circulation.

Cuban stalagmite suggests relationship between Caribbean precipitation and the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation during the past 1.3 ka

The Holocene ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 22 (12) ◽  
pp. 1405-1412 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Fensterer ◽  
Denis Scholz ◽  
Dirk Hoffmann ◽  
Christoph Spötl ◽  
Jesús M Pajón ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
North Atlantic ◽  
Little Ice Age ◽  
Rainfall Intensity ◽  
Thermohaline Circulation ◽  
Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
The Past ◽  
The North ◽  
Southward Shift ◽  
The North Atlantic

Here we present the first high-resolution δ18O record of a stalagmite from western Cuba. The record reflects precipitation variability in the northwestern Caribbean during the last 1.3 ka and exhibits a correlation to the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO). This suggests a relationship between Caribbean rainfall intensity and North Atlantic sea-surface temperature (SST) anomalies. A potential mechanism for this relationship may be the strength of the Thermohaline Circulation (THC). For a weaker THC, lower SSTs in the North Atlantic possibly lead to a southward shift of the Intertropical Convergence Zone and drier conditions in Cuba. Thus, this Cuban stalagmite records drier conditions during cold phases in the North Atlantic such as the ‘Little Ice Age’. This study contributes to the understanding of teleconnections between North Atlantic SSTs and northern Caribbean climate variability during the past 1.3 ka.

scholarly journals Late Holocene climate variability in the southwestern Mediterranean region: an integrated marine and terrestrial geochemical approach

2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
pp. 1655-1683 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Martín-Puertas ◽  
F. Jiménez-Espejo ◽  
F. Martínez-Ruiz ◽  
V. Nieto-Moreno ◽  
M. Rodrigo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Variability ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
Little Ice Age ◽  
Mediterranean Region ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Warm Period ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Atlantic

Abstract. A combination of marine (Alboran Sea cores, ODP 976 and TTR 300 G) and terrestrial (Zoñar Lake, Andalucia, Spain) paleoclimate information using geochemical proxies provides a high resolution reconstruction of climate variability and human influence in southwestern Mediterranean region for the last 4000 years at inter-centennial resolution. Proxies respond to changes in precipitation rather than temperature alone. Our archive documents a succession of dry and wet periods coherent with the North Atlantic climate signal. Drier stages occurred prior to 2.7 cal ka BP, well-correlated with the global aridity crisis of the third-millennium BC, and during the Medieval Warm Period (1.4–0.7 cal ka BP). Wetter conditions prevailed from 2.7 to 1.4 cal ka BP and after the Medieval Warm Period and the onset of the Little Ice Age. Hydrological signatures during the Little Ice Age are highly variable but consistent with more humidity that the period before. Additionally, Pb anomalies in sediments at the end of Bronze Age suggest anthropogenic pollution earlier than the Roman Empire development in the Iberian Peninsula. The evolution of the climate in the study area during the Late Holocene confirms the see-saw pattern previously shown between eastern and western Mediterranean regions and suggests a higher influence of the North Atlantic dynamics in the western Mediterranean.

scholarly journals Bunker Cave stalagmites: an archive for central European Holocene climate variability

2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 1751-1764 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Fohlmeister ◽  
A. Schröder-Ritzrau ◽  
D. Scholz ◽  
C. Spötl ◽  
D. F. C. Riechelmann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Variability ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
Little Ice Age ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Holocene Climate ◽  
Central European ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Atlantic ◽  
Meteoric Precipitation ◽  
Precipitation And Temperature

Abstract. Holocene climate was characterised by variability on multi-centennial to multi-decadal time scales. In central Europe, these fluctuations were most pronounced during winter. Here we present a record of past winter climate variability for the last 10.8 ka based on four speleothems from Bunker Cave, western Germany. Due to its central European location, the cave site is particularly well suited to record changes in precipitation and temperature in response to changes in the North Atlantic realm. We present high-resolution records of δ18O, δ13C values and Mg/Ca ratios. Changes in the Mg/Ca ratio are attributed to past meteoric precipitation variability. The stable C isotope composition of the speleothems most likely reflects changes in vegetation and precipitation, and variations in the δ18O signal are interpreted as variations in meteoric precipitation and temperature. We found cold and dry periods between 8 and 7 ka, 6.5 and 5.5 ka, 4 and 3 ka as well as between 0.7 and 0.2 ka. The proxy signals in the Bunker Cave stalagmites compare well with other isotope records and, thus, seem representative for central European Holocene climate variability. The prominent 8.2 ka event and the Little Ice Age cold events are both recorded in the Bunker Cave record. However, these events show a contrasting relationship between climate and δ18O, which is explained by different causes underlying the two climate anomalies. Whereas the Little Ice Age is attributed to a pronounced negative phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation, the 8.2 ka event was triggered by cooler conditions in the North Atlantic due to a slowdown of the thermohaline circulation.

Slope Water Current over the Laurentian Fan on Interannual to Millennial Time Scales

Science ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 286 (5439) ◽  
pp. 520-523 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. D. Keigwin ◽  
R. S. Pickart
Keyword(s):  
North Atlantic ◽  
Gulf Stream ◽  
Little Ice Age ◽  
Coupled System ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Water Current ◽  
Sea Level Pressure ◽  
Ocean Variability ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Atlantic Oscillation

The strength and position of surface and deep currents in the slope water south of Newfoundland are thought to vary as a coupled system in relation to the dipole in atmospheric sea level pressure known as the North Atlantic oscillation (NAO). Paleoceanographic data from the Laurentian Fan, used as a proxy for sea surface temperature, reveal that surface slope waters north of the Gulf Stream experienced warming during the Little Ice Age of the 16th to 19th centuries and support the notion of an NAO-driven coupled system. The NAO may be a useful model for millennial-scale ocean variability during interglacial climate states.

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