scholarly journals Last-glacial-cycle glacier erosion potential in the Alps

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 923-935
Author(s):  
Julien Seguinot ◽  
Ian Delaney
Keyword(s):  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
High Mountain ◽  
Glacial Cycle ◽  
Glacier Surface ◽  
Climate History ◽  
Last Glacial ◽  
Erosion Rates ◽  
Erosion Processes ◽  
The Alps ◽  
The Last Glacial

Abstract. The glacial landscape of the Alps has fascinated generations of explorers, artists, mountaineers, and scientists with its diversity, including erosional features of all scales from high-mountain cirques to steep glacial valleys and large overdeepened basins. Using previous glacier modelling results and empirical inferences of bedrock erosion under modern glaciers, we compute a distribution of potential glacier erosion in the Alps over the last glacial cycle from 120 000 years ago to the present. Despite large uncertainties pertaining to the climate history of the Alps and unconstrained glacier erosion processes, the resulting modelled patterns of glacier erosion include persistent features. The cumulative imprint of the last glacial cycle shows a very strong localization of erosion potential with local maxima at the mouths of major Alpine valleys and some other upstream sections where glaciers are modelled to have flowed with the highest velocity. The potential erosion rates vary significantly through the glacial cycle but show paradoxically little relation to the total glacier volume. Phases of glacier advance and maximum extension see a localization of rapid potential erosion rates at low elevation, while glacier erosion at higher elevation is modelled to date from phases of less extensive glaciation. The modelled erosion rates peak during deglaciation phases, when frontal retreat results in steeper glacier surface slopes, implying that climatic conditions that result in rapid glacier erosion might be quite transient and specific. Our results depict the Alpine glacier erosion landscape as a time-transgressive patchwork, with different parts of the range corresponding to different glaciation stages and time periods.

scholarly journals Last glacial cycle glacier erosion potential in the Alps

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julien Seguinot ◽  
Ian Delaney
Keyword(s):  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
High Mountain ◽  
Glacial Cycle ◽  
Glacier Surface ◽  
Climate History ◽  
Last Glacial ◽  
Erosion Rates ◽  
Erosion Processes ◽  
The Alps ◽  
The Last Glacial

Abstract. The glacial landscape of the Alps has fascinated generations of explorers, artists, mountaineers and scientists with its diversity, including erosional features of all scales from high-mountain cirques, to steep glacial valleys and large over-deepened basins. Using previous glacier modelling results, and empirical inferences of bedrock erosion under modern glaciers, we compute a distribution of potential glacier erosion in the Alps over the last glacial cycle from 120 000 years ago to the present. Despite large uncertainties pertaining to the climate history of the Alps and unconstrained glacier erosion processes, the resulting modelled patterns of glacier erosion include persistent features. The cumulative imprint of the last glacial cycle shows a very strong localization of glacier erosion with local maxima at the mouths of major Alpine valleys and some other upstream sections where glaciers are modelled to have flown with the highest velocity. The modelled erosion rates vary significantly through the glacial cycle, but show paradoxically little relation to the total glacier volume. Phases of glacier advance and maximum extension see a localization of rapid erosion rates at low elevation, while glacier erosion at higher elevation is modelled date from phases of less extensive glaciation. The modelled erosion rates peak during deglaciation phases, when frontal retreat results in steeper glacier surface slopes, implying that climatic conditions that result in rapid glacier erosion might be quite transient and specific. Our results depict the Alpine glacier erosion landscape as a time-transgressive patchwork, with different parts of the range corresponding to different glaciation stages and time periods.

scholarly journals Coupled Northern Hemisphere permafrost–ice-sheet evolution over the last glacial cycle

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 1165-1180 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Willeit ◽  
A. Ganopolski
Keyword(s):  
Heat Flux ◽  
Northern Hemisphere ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Sediment Layer ◽  
Glacial Cycle ◽  
Geothermal Heat ◽  
Climate History ◽  
Last Glacial ◽  
The Last Glacial

Abstract. Permafrost influences a number of processes which are relevant for local and global climate. For example, it is well known that permafrost plays an important role in global carbon and methane cycles. Less is known about the interaction between permafrost and ice sheets. In this study a permafrost module is included in the Earth system model CLIMBER-2, and the coupled Northern Hemisphere (NH) permafrost–ice-sheet evolution over the last glacial cycle is explored. The model performs generally well at reproducing present-day permafrost extent and thickness. Modeled permafrost thickness is sensitive to the values of ground porosity, thermal conductivity and geothermal heat flux. Permafrost extent at the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) agrees well with reconstructions and previous modeling estimates. Present-day permafrost thickness is far from equilibrium over deep permafrost regions. Over central Siberia and the Arctic Archipelago permafrost is presently up to 200–500 m thicker than it would be at equilibrium. In these areas, present-day permafrost depth strongly depends on the past climate history and simulations indicate that deep permafrost has a memory of surface temperature variations going back to at least 800 ka. Over the last glacial cycle permafrost has a relatively modest impact on simulated NH ice sheet volume except at LGM, when including permafrost increases ice volume by about 15 m sea level equivalent in our model. This is explained by a delayed melting of the ice base from below by the geothermal heat flux when the ice sheet sits on a porous sediment layer and permafrost has to be melted first. Permafrost affects ice sheet dynamics only when ice extends over areas covered by thick sediments, which is the case at LGM.

scholarly journals Numerical simulations of the Cordilleran ice sheet through the last glacial cycle

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 639-664 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julien Seguinot ◽  
Irina Rogozhina ◽  
Arjen P. Stroeven ◽  
Martin Margold ◽  
Johan Kleman
Keyword(s):  
Sediment Cores ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Ice Cores ◽  
High Mountain ◽  
Glacial Cycle ◽  
Mountain Areas ◽  
Last Glacial ◽  
Proxy Records ◽  
Cordilleran Ice Sheet ◽  
The Last Glacial

Abstract. After more than a century of geological research, the Cordilleran ice sheet of North America remains among the least understood in terms of its former extent, volume, and dynamics. Because of the mountainous topography on which the ice sheet formed, geological studies have often had only local or regional relevance and shown such a complexity that ice-sheet-wide spatial reconstructions of advance and retreat patterns are lacking. Here we use a numerical ice sheet model calibrated against field-based evidence to attempt a quantitative reconstruction of the Cordilleran ice sheet history through the last glacial cycle. A series of simulations is driven by time-dependent temperature offsets from six proxy records located around the globe. Although this approach reveals large variations in model response to evolving climate forcing, all simulations produce two major glaciations during marine oxygen isotope stages 4 (62.2–56.9 ka) and 2 (23.2–16.9 ka). The timing of glaciation is better reproduced using temperature reconstructions from Greenland and Antarctic ice cores than from regional oceanic sediment cores. During most of the last glacial cycle, the modelled ice cover is discontinuous and restricted to high mountain areas. However, widespread precipitation over the Skeena Mountains favours the persistence of a central ice dome throughout the glacial cycle. It acts as a nucleation centre before the Last Glacial Maximum and hosts the last remains of Cordilleran ice until the middle Holocene (6.7 ka).

Vegetation and environmental conditions in the Doñana Natural Park coastal area (SW Iberia) at the beginning of the last glacial cycle

2011 ◽  
Vol 75 (1) ◽  
pp. 205-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
César Morales-Molino ◽  
José María Postigo-Mijarra ◽  
Mercedes García-Antón ◽  
Cari Zazo
Keyword(s):  
Coastal Area ◽  
Atlantic Coast ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Time Span ◽  
Glacial Cycle ◽  
Last Glacial ◽  
Natural Park ◽  
Temperate Trees ◽  
Southern Iberia ◽  
The Last Glacial

AbstractDetailed reconstructions of the vegetation of Iberia during the last glacial inception are rare due to the limited number of terrestrial sites recording this period. Active retreat of El Asperillo cliff, located on the Atlantic coast of southwestern Iberia, has exposed a fossil organic level dating back to one of the early stades of the last glacial cycle. Pollen and macrofossil analyses from this site show that the Doñana area was covered mainly by steppic vegetation; temperate trees survived the coldest periods, albeit in reduced numbers. Mediterranean taxa are extremely reduced, in contrast with other dry areas of southern Iberia over this time span. This vegetation suggests cold and arid climatic conditions, in accordance with paleoclimatic reconstructions based on several Atlantic marine cores.

scholarly journals Coupled Northern Hemisphere permafrost-ice sheet evolution over the last glacial cycle

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 555-601 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Willeit ◽  
A. Ganopolski
Keyword(s):  
Heat Flux ◽  
Northern Hemisphere ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Sediment Layer ◽  
Glacial Cycle ◽  
Geothermal Heat ◽  
Climate History ◽  
Last Glacial ◽  
The Last Glacial

Abstract. Permafrost influences a number of processes which are relevant for local and global climate. For example, it is well known that permafrost plays an important role in global carbon and methane cycles. Less is known about the interaction between permafrost and ice sheets. In this study a permafrost module is included in the Earth system model CLIMBER-2 and the coupled Northern Hemisphere (NH) permafrost-ice sheet evolution over the last glacial cycle is explored. The model performs generally well at reproducing present-day permafrost extent and thickness. Modelled permafrost thickness is sensitive to the values of ground porosity, thermal conductivity and geothermal heat flux. Permafrost extent at the last glacial maximum (LGM) agrees well with reconstructions and previous modelling estimates. Present-day permafrost thickness is far from equilibrium over deep permafrost regions. Over Central Siberia and the Arctic Archipelago permafrost is presently up to 200–500 m thicker than it would be at equilibrium. In these areas, present-day permafrost depth strongly depends on the past climate history and simulations indicate that deep permafrost has a memory of surface temperature variations going back to at least 800 kya. Over the last glacial cycle permafrost has a relatively modest impact on simulated NH ice sheet volume except at LGM, when including permafrost increases ice volume by about 15 m sea level equivalent. This is explained by a delayed melting of the ice base from below by the geothermal heat flux when the ice sheet sits on a porous sediment layer and permafrost has to be melted first. Permafrost affects ice sheet dynamics only when ice extends over areas covered by thick sediments, which is the case at LGM.

scholarly journals Modelling last glacial cycle ice dynamics in the Alps

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julien Seguinot ◽  
Guillaume Jouvet ◽  
Matthias Huss ◽  
Martin Funk ◽  
Susan Ivy-Ochs ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Last Glacial Maximum ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Glacial Maximum ◽  
Climate Forcing ◽  
European Alps ◽  
Glacial Cycle ◽  
Ice Flow ◽  
Last Glacial ◽  
The Alps ◽  
The Last Glacial

Abstract. The European Alps, cradle of pioneer glacial studies, are one of the regions where geological markers of past glaciations are most abundant and well-studied. Such conditions make the region ideal for testing numerical glacier models based on simplified ice flow physics against field-based reconstructions, and vice-versa. Here, we use the Parallel Ice Sheet Model (PISM) to model the entire last glacial cycle (120–0 ka) in the Alps, using horizontal resolutions of 2 and 1 km and up to 576 processors. Climate forcing is derived using present-day climate data from WorldClim and the ERA-Interim reanalysis, and time-dependent temperature offsets from multiple palaeo-climate proxies, among which only the EPICA ice core record yields glaciation during marine oxygen isotope stages 4 (69–62 ka) and 2 (34–18 ka) spatially and temporally consistent with the geological reconstructions, while the other records used result in excessive early glacial cycle ice cover and a late Last Glacial Maximum. Despite the low variability of this Antarctic-based climate forcing, our simulation depicts a highly dynamic ice sheet, showing that Alpine glaciers may have advanced many times over the foreland during the last glacial cycle. Ice flow patterns during peak glaciation are largely governed by subglacial topography but include occasional transfluences and self-sustained ice domes. Modelled maximum ice surface is 861 m higher than observed trimline elevations in the upper Rhone Valley, yet our simulation predicts little erosion at high elevation due to cold-based ice. Finally, the Last Glacial Maximum advance, often considered synchronous, is here modelled as a time-transgressive event, with some glacier lobes reaching their maximum as early as 27 ka, and some as late as 21 ka.

scholarly journals Numerical simulations of the Cordilleran ice sheet through the last glacial cycle

2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 4147-4203 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Seguinot ◽  
I. Rogozhina ◽  
A. P. Stroeven ◽  
M. Margold ◽  
J. Kleman
Keyword(s):  
Sediment Cores ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Ice Cores ◽  
High Mountain ◽  
Glacial Cycle ◽  
Mountain Areas ◽  
Last Glacial ◽  
Proxy Records ◽  
Cordilleran Ice Sheet ◽  
The Last Glacial

Abstract. Despite more than a century of geological observations, the Cordilleran ice sheet of North America remains poorly understood in terms of its former extent, volume and dynamics. Although geomorphological evidence is abundant, its complexity is such that whole ice-sheet reconstructions of advance and retreat patterns are lacking. Here we use a numerical ice sheet model calibrated against field-based evidence to attempt a quantitative reconstruction of the Cordilleran ice sheet history through the last glacial cycle. A series of simulations is driven by time-dependent temperature offsets from six proxy records located around the globe. Although this approach reveals large variations in model response to evolving climate forcing, all simulations produce two major glaciations during marine oxygen isotope stages 4 (61.9–56.5 ka) and 2 (23.2–16.8 ka). The timing of glaciation is better reproduced using temperature reconstructions from Greenland and Antarctic ice cores than from regional oceanic sediment cores. During most of the last glacial cycle, the modelled ice cover is discontinuous and restricted to high mountain areas. However, widespread precipitation over the Skeena Mountains favours the persistence of a central ice dome throughout the glacial cycle. It acts as a nucleation centre before the Last Glacial Maximum and hosts the last remains of Cordilleran ice until the middle Holocene (6.6–6.2 ka).

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document