Deglaciation of Penobscot Bay, Maine, USA

2020 ◽  
Vol 56 ◽  
pp. 147-161
Author(s):  
Emmy A. Wrobleski ◽  
Roger LeBaron Hooke

The Pond Ridge and Pineo Ridge moraines in downeast Maine likely formed at ~16.1 and ~15.7 ka respectively, during cold episodes recorded by δ18O dips in the GRIP ice core. The elapsed time between these ages is broadly consistent with retreat rates recorded by intervening De Geer moraines, which are readily visible on LiDAR imagery and are believed to be approximately annual. North-northwestward from the southwesterly extension of the Pond Ridge moraine there are three pairs of prominent moraines that are relatively continuous across the study area and could be reliably extrapolated across intervening water bodies. Retreat rates recorded by De Geer moraines suggest that these pairs formed at 15.7-15.8 ka, 15.5-15.6 ka, and ~15.5 ka. Although retreat appears to have occurred slightly faster across Penobscot Bay, a significant calving bay does not seem to have developed there. Instead, the ice margin remained relatively straight, retreating to the north-northwest. De Geer moraines become more widely spaced northward and vanish after ~15.5 ka when the ice margin was north of the head of Penobscot Bay and of Pineo Ridge. This likely reflects higher retreat rates during the initial phases of the Bølling warm period. Just south of Pineo Ridge there were two ice lobes; one retreated to the north and one to the northwest. The latter retreated more rapidly, while the former experienced numerous minor readvances and stillstands until finally pausing at the location of Pineo Ridge. A stillstand of this lobe then resulted in deposition of the Pineo Ridge moraine complex.

Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 294
Author(s):  
Norel Rimbu ◽  
Monica Ionita ◽  
Gerrit Lohmann

The variability of stable oxygen isotope ratios (δ18O) from Greenland ice cores is commonly linked to changes in local climate and associated teleconnection patterns. In this respect, in this study we investigate ice core δ18O variability from a synoptic scale perspective to assess the potential of such records as proxies for extreme climate variability and associated weather patterns. We show that positive (negative) δ18O anomalies in three southern and central Greenland ice cores are associated with relatively high (low) Rossby Wave Breaking (RWB) activity in the North Atlantic region. Both cyclonic and anticyclonic RWB patterns associated with high δ18O show filaments of strong moisture transport from the Atlantic Ocean towards Greenland. During such events, warm and wet conditions are recorded over southern, western and central part of Greenland. In the same time the cyclonic and anticyclonic RWB patterns show enhanced southward advection of cold polar air masses on their eastern side, leading to extreme cold conditions over Europe. The association between high δ18O winters in Greenland ice cores and extremely cold winters over Europe is partly explained by the modulation of the RWB frequency by the tropical Atlantic sea surface temperature forcing, as shown in recent modeling studies. We argue that δ18O from Greenland ice cores can be used as a proxy for RWB activity in the Atlantic European region and associated extreme weather and climate anomalies.


1963 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 789-826 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. McK. Bary

Monthly temperature-salinity diagrams for 1957 have demonstrated that three surface oceanic "water bodies" were consistently present in the eastern North Atlantic; two are regarded as modified North Atlantic Central water which give rise to the third by mixing. As well in the oceanic areas, large and small, high or low salinity patches of water were common. Effects of seasonal climatic fluctuations differed in the several oceanic water bodies. In coastal waters, differences in properties and in seasonal and annual cycles of the properties distinguish the waters from the North Sea, English Channel and the western entrance to the Channel.The geographic distributions of the oceanic waters are consistent with "northern" and "southern" water bodies mixing to form a "transitional" water. Within this distribution there are short-term changes in boundaries and long-term (seasonal) changes in size of the water bodies.Water in the western approaches to the English Channel appeared to be influenced chiefly by the mixed, oceanic transitional water; oceanic influences in the North Sea appear to have been from northern and transitional waters.


2008 ◽  
Vol 35 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Osterberg ◽  
P. Mayewski ◽  
K. Kreutz ◽  
D. Fisher ◽  
M. Handley ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olga Churakova (Sidorova) ◽  
Marina Fonti ◽  
Rolf Siegwolf ◽  
Tatyana Trushkina ◽  
Eugene Vaganov ◽  
...  

<p>We use an interdisciplinary approach combining stable isotopes in tree rings, pollen data, ice cores from temperature-limited environment in the Siberian north and developed a comprehensive description of the climatic changes over the past 1500 years. We found that the Climatic Optimum Period was warmer and drier compared to the Medieval one, but rather similar to the recent period. Our results indicate that the Medieval Warm period in the Taimyr Peninsula started earlier and was wetter compared to the northeastern part of Siberia (northeastern Yakutia). Summer precipitation reconstruction obtained from carbon isotopes in tree-ring cellulose from Taimyr Peninsula significantly correlated with the pollen data of the Lama Lake (Andreev et al. 2004) and oxygen isotopes of the ice core from Severnaya Zemlya (Opel et al. 2013) recording wetter climate conditions during the Medieval Warm period compared to the northeastern part of Siberia. Common large-scale climate variability was confirmed by significant relationship between oxygen isotope data in tree-ring cellulose from the Taimyr Peninsula and northeastern Yakutia, and oxygen isotope ice core data from Severnaya Zemlja during the Medieval Warm period and the recent one. Finally, we showed that the recent warming on the Taimyr Peninsula is not unprecedented in the Siberian north. Similar climate conditions were recorded by stable isotopes in tree rings, pollen, and ice core data 6000 years ago. On the northeastern part of Siberia newly developed a 1500-year summer vapor pressure deficit (VPD) reconstruction showed, that VPD increased recently, but does not yet exceed the maximum values reconstructed during the Medieval Warm period. The most humid conditions in the northeastern part of Siberia were recorded in the Early Medieval period and during the Little Ice Age. However, the increasing VPD under elevated air temperature in the last decades affects the hydrological regime of these sensitive ecosystems by greater evapotranspiration rates. Further VPD increase will significantly affect Siberian forests most likely leading to drought even under additional access of thawed permafrost water.</p><p>This work was supported by the FP7-PEOPLE-IIF-2008 - Marie Curie Action: "International Incoming Fellowships" 235122 and "Reintegration Fellowships" 909122 “Climatic and environmental changes in the Eurasian Subarctic inferred from tree-ring and stable isotope chronologies for the past and recent periods” and the Government of Krasnoyarsk Kray and Russian Foundation for Basic Research and Krasnoyarsk Foundation 20-44-240001 “Adaptation of conifer forests on the north of the Krasnoyarsk region (Taimyr Peninsula) to climatic changes after extreme events over the past 1500 years“ awarded to Olga V. Churakova (Sidorova).</p>


Author(s):  
Andrey N. Sharov

Based on the study of the spatio-temporal aspects of the development of phytoplankton in the lakes of the North and North-West of the European territory of Russia (large lakes – Imandra, Onega and Chudsko-Pskovskoye and small lakes of the Arctic and Subarctic), the features of its structure and dynamics under the influence of natural and anthropogenic factors (eutrophication, heavy metal pollution, acidification, thermification). The species composition and quantitative characteristics of phytoplankton of large lakes of the North of Russia, small arctic lakes and lakes of subarctic regions are studied. It has been shown that diatoms predominate in arctic water bodies according to species diversity, and green and diatoms predominate in boreal ones. By biomass, diatoms dominate mainly in all cold-water lakes, with the exception of small arctic lakes, where golden algae lead. The features of the reorganization of phytoplankton in response to the action of anthropogenic factors are revealed. It is proved that in the northern water bodies the complex action of heavy metals and nutrients does not lead to inhibition of phytoplankton, and the effect of acidification in combination with heavy metals enhances the toxic effect of the latter. A feature of the response to acidification is an increase in the variability of the dynamics of the biomass of phytoplankton. It has been shown that in different types of lakes of East Antarctica under severe climate conditions under light and biogenic limitation, redistribution of autotrophic components in the formation of the biota of water bodies occurs: against the background of a decrease in the abundance and diversity of phytoplankton, the role of microphytobenthos and periphyton increases.


2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 871-886 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Casado ◽  
P. Ortega ◽  
V. Masson-Delmotte ◽  
C. Risi ◽  
D. Swingedouw ◽  
...  

Abstract. In mid and high latitudes, the stable isotope ratio in precipitation is driven by changes in temperature, which control atmospheric distillation. This relationship forms the basis for many continental paleoclimatic reconstructions using direct (e.g. ice cores) or indirect (e.g. tree ring cellulose, speleothem calcite) archives of past precipitation. However, the archiving process is inherently biased by intermittency of precipitation. Here, we use two sets of atmospheric reanalyses (NCEP (National Centers for Environmental Prediction) and ERA-interim) to quantify this precipitation intermittency bias, by comparing seasonal (winter and summer) temperatures estimated with and without precipitation weighting. We show that this bias reaches up to 10 °C and has large interannual variability. We then assess the impact of precipitation intermittency on the strength and stability of temporal correlations between seasonal temperatures and the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). Precipitation weighting reduces the correlation between winter NAO and temperature in some areas (e.g. Québec, South-East USA, East Greenland, East Siberia, Mediterranean sector) but does not alter the main patterns of correlation. The correlations between NAO, δ18O in precipitation, temperature and precipitation weighted temperature are investigated using outputs of an atmospheric general circulation model enabled with stable isotopes and nudged using reanalyses (LMDZiso (Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique Zoom)). In winter, LMDZiso shows similar correlation values between the NAO and both the precipitation weighted temperature and δ18O in precipitation, thus suggesting limited impacts of moisture origin. Correlations of comparable magnitude are obtained for the available observational evidence (GNIP (Global Network of Isotopes in Precipitation) and Greenland ice core data). Our findings support the use of archives of past δ18O for NAO reconstructions.


2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Svensson ◽  
K. K. Andersen ◽  
M. Bigler ◽  
H. B. Clausen ◽  
D. Dahl-Jensen ◽  
...  

Abstract. The Greenland Ice Core Chronology 2005 (GICC05) is a time scale based on annual layer counting of high-resolution records from Greenland ice cores. Whereas the Holocene part of the time scale is based on various records from the DYE-3, the GRIP, and the NorthGRIP ice cores, the glacial part is solely based on NorthGRIP records. Here we present an 18 ka extension of the time scale such that GICC05 continuously covers the past 60 ka. The new section of the time scale places the onset of Greenland Interstadial 12 (GI-12) at 46.9±1.0 ka b2k (before year AD 2000), the North Atlantic Ash Zone II layer in GI-15 at 55.4±1.2 ka b2k, and the onset of GI-17 at 59.4±1.3 ka b2k. The error estimates are derived from the accumulated number of uncertain annual layers. In the 40–60 ka interval, the new time scale has a discrepancy with the Meese-Sowers GISP2 time scale of up to 2.4 ka. Assuming that the Greenland climatic events are synchronous with those seen in the Chinese Hulu Cave speleothem record, GICC05 compares well to the time scale of that record with absolute age differences of less than 800 years throughout the 60 ka period. The new time scale is generally in close agreement with other independently dated records and reference horizons, such as the Laschamp geomagnetic excursion, the French Villars Cave and the Austrian Kleegruben Cave speleothem records, suggesting high accuracy of both event durations and absolute age estimates.


Author(s):  
Silvia Marková ◽  
Catia Maurone ◽  
Erica Racchetti ◽  
Marco Bartoli ◽  
Valeria Rossi

<p>Shallow water bodies dominate the areal extent of continental waters and host a proportion of biodiversity higher than the percentage of Earth’s surface they cover. <em>Daphnia</em> is a key component of small aquatic ecosystems food webs. Here we present the result of a survey in 24 ponds located in the core of Po river Basin, to assess the actual spreading of <em>Daphnia</em> species in one of the most productive areas of the Northern hemisphere. By using diagnostic genetic markers (<em>12S rRNA </em>and <em>ND5 </em>genes) we identified five <em>Daphnia</em> species: <em>D. ambigua</em>, <em>D. curvirostris</em>, <em>D. longispina</em>, <em>D. obtusa</em> and <em>D. pulex </em>in fourteen ponds. Additional analyses of two nuclear genes (<em>LdhA</em> and <em>Rab4</em>) revealed that <em>D. pulex</em> in the study area is native European strain. In opposite, <em>D. ambigua</em> shared haplotype with the North-Eastern American lineage that was introduced to Europe by long-distance dispersal. In the Po river Basin we identified a highly divergent lineage of <em>D. longispina </em>group that formed a clade with individuals from northern European Russia and might represent a new <em>Daphnia </em>species. <em>Daphnia</em> species in the Cremona province have European origin, except for <em>D. ambigua</em> which is a North American species spreading across Europe. Future attention will require monitoring of invasive species, particularly <em>D. ambigua</em> and the North American invasive clone of <em>D. pulex </em>that is already present in Northern Italy. </p>


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (4-2021) ◽  
pp. 28-36
Author(s):  
O. V. Shabalina ◽  
◽  
K. S. Kazakova ◽  

The article presents materials from the personal fund of the largest hydropower engineer of the North-West of the USSR S. V. Grigoriev, belonging to the Museum-Archive of History of Studying and Exploration of the European North of the Barents Centre of Humanities of the KSC RAS. The personal documents of the scientist and the practitioner are sources of biographical information given in the article and potential sources for research in the field of the history of the scientific study of water bodies, rivers and the development of hydropower in the Arctic.


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