scholarly journals The case of a southern European glacier which survived Roman and medieval warm periods but is disappearing under recent warming

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 1157-1172
Author(s):  
Ana Moreno ◽  
Miguel Bartolomé ◽  
Juan Ignacio López-Moreno ◽  
Jorge Pey ◽  
Juan Pablo Corella ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Little Ice Age ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Medieval Climate Anomaly ◽  
Climate Anomaly ◽  
Apparent Absence ◽  
Mountain Ranges ◽  
Mountain Glaciers ◽  
The Past ◽  
Recent Warming ◽  
Industrial Age

Abstract. Mountain glaciers have generally experienced an accelerated retreat over the last 3 decades as a rapid response to current global warming. However, the response to previous warm periods in the Holocene is not well-described for glaciers of the southern Europe mountain ranges, such as the Pyrenees. The situation during the Medieval Climate Anomaly (900–1300 CE) is particularly relevant since it is not certain whether the southern European glaciers just experienced significant ice loss or whether they actually disappeared. We present here the first chronological study of a glacier located in the Central Pyrenees (NE Spain), Monte Perdido Glacier (MPG), carried out by different radiochronological techniques and a comparison with geochemical proxies from neighbouring palaeoclimate records. The chronological model evidences that the glacier persisted during the Roman period and the Medieval Climate Anomaly. The apparent absence of ice in the past ∼ 600 years suggests that any ice accumulated during the Little Ice Age has since ablated. This interpretation is supported by measured concentrations of anthropogenic metals, including Zn, Se, Cd, Hg and Pb, which have concentrations well below those typical of industrial-age ice measured at other glaciers in Europe. This study strengthens the general understanding that warming of the past few decades has been exceptional for the past 2 millennia.

scholarly journals The case of a southern European glacier disappearing under recent warming that survived Roman and Medieval warm periods

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Moreno ◽  
Miguel Bartolomé ◽  
Juan Ignacio López-Moreno ◽  
Jorge Pey ◽  
Pablo Corella ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Little Ice Age ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Medieval Climate Anomaly ◽  
Climate Anomaly ◽  
Mountain Ranges ◽  
Mountain Glaciers ◽  
Geochemical Proxies ◽  
Recent Warming ◽  
Age Model ◽  
Paleoclimate Records

Abstract. Mountain glaciers have generally experienced an accelerated retreat over the last three decades as a rapid response to current global warming. However, the response to previous warm periods in the Holocene is not well-described for glaciers of the of southern Europe mountain ranges, such as the Pyrenees. The situation during the Medieval Climate Anomaly (900–1300 CE) is particularly relevant since it is not certain whether the glaciers just experienced significant ice loss or whether they actually disappeared. We present here the first chronological study of a glacier located in the Central Pyrenees (N Spain), the Monte Perdido Glacier (MPG), carried out by different radiochronological techniques and their comparison with geochemical proxies with neighboring paleoclimate records. The result of the chronological model proves that the glacier endured during the Roman Period and the Medieval Climate Anomaly. The lack of ice from last 600 years indicates that the ice formed during the Little Ice Age has melted away. The analyses of the content of several metals of anthropogenic origin, such as Zn, Se, Cd, Hg, Pb, appear in low amounts in MPG ice, which further supports our age model in which the record from the industrial period is lost. This study confirms the exceptional warming of the last decades in the context of last two millennia. We demonstrate that we are facing an unprecedented retreat of the Pyrenean glaciers which survival is compromised beyond a few decades.

Characterization of the Medieval Climate Anomaly, Little Ice Age and recent warming in northern Lapland

2017 ◽  
Vol 37 ◽  
pp. 1257-1266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomi P. Luoto ◽  
E. Henriikka Kivilä ◽  
Marttiina V. Rantala ◽  
Liisa Nevalainen
Keyword(s):  
Little Ice Age ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Medieval Climate Anomaly ◽  
Climate Anomaly ◽  
Recent Warming

scholarly journals Was the Little Ice Age more or less El Niño-like than the Medieval Climate Anomaly? Evidence from hydrological and temperature proxy data

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 267-301 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lilo M. K. Henke ◽  
F. Hugo Lambert ◽  
Dan J. Charman
Keyword(s):  
Little Ice Age ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Medieval Climate Anomaly ◽  
Climate Anomaly ◽  
Proxy Data ◽  
The Past ◽  
Proxy Records

Abstract. The El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is the most important source of global climate variability on interannual timescales and has substantial environmental and socio-economic consequences. However, it is unclear how it interacts with large-scale climate states over longer (decadal to centennial) timescales. The instrumental ENSO record is too short for analysing long-term trends and variability and climate models are unable to accurately simulate past ENSO states. Proxy data are used to extend the record, but different proxy sources have produced dissimilar reconstructions of long-term ENSO-like climate change, with some evidence for a temperature–precipitation divergence in ENSO-like climate over the past millennium, in particular during the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA; AD  ∼  800–1300) and the Little Ice Age (LIA; AD  ∼  1400–1850). This throws into question the stability of the modern ENSO system and its links to the global climate, which has implications for future projections. Here we use a new statistical approach using weighting based on empirical orthogonal function (EOF) to create two new large-scale reconstructions of ENSO-like climate change derived independently from precipitation proxies and temperature proxies. The method is developed and validated using model-derived pseudo-proxy experiments that address the effects of proxy dating error, resolution, and noise to improve uncertainty estimations. We find no evidence that temperature and precipitation disagree over the ENSO-like state over the past millennium, but neither do they agree strongly. There is no statistically significant difference between the MCA and the LIA in either reconstruction. However, the temperature reconstruction suffers from a lack of high-quality proxy records located in ENSO-sensitive regions, which limits its ability to capture the large-scale ENSO signal. Further expansion of the palaeo-database and improvements to instrumental, satellite, and model representations of ENSO are needed to fully resolve the discrepancies found among proxy records and establish the long-term stability of this important mode of climatic variability.

scholarly journals Absence of a Medieval Climate Anomaly, Little Ice Age and twentieth century warming in Skarvsnes, Lützow Holm Bay, East Antarctica

2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (5) ◽  
pp. 585-598 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ines Tavernier ◽  
Elie Verleyen ◽  
Dominic A. Hodgson ◽  
Katrien Heirman ◽  
Stephen J. Roberts ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Southern Hemisphere ◽  
Northern Hemisphere ◽  
Little Ice Age ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Open Water ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Medieval Climate Anomaly ◽  
Climate Anomaly ◽  
The Past

AbstractPalaeoclimate changes, such as the Medieval Climate Anomaly and the Little Ice Age, are well-defined in the Northern Hemisphere during the past 2000 years. In contrast, these anomalies appear to be either absent, or less well-defined, in high-latitude regions of the Southern Hemisphere. Here, we inferred environmental changes during the past two millennia from proxies in a sediment core from Mago Ike, an East Antarctic lake in Skarvsnes (Lützow Holm Bay). Variations in lake primary production were inferred from fossil pigments, sedimentological and geochemical proxies and combined with absolute diatom counts to infer past diatom productivity and community changes. Three distinct stratigraphic zones were recognized, resulting from a shift from marine to lacustrine conditions with a clear transition zone in between. The presence of open-water marine diatoms indicates a coastal zone seasonally free of sea ice between c. 2120–1500 cal yr bp. Subsequently, the lake became isolated from the ocean due to isostatic uplift. Freshwater conditions were established from c. 1120 cal yr bp onwards after which the proxies are considered highly sensitive to temperature changes. There is no evidence for a Medieval Climate Anomaly, Little Ice Age or twentieth century warming in our lake sediment record suggesting that studies that have imposed Northern Hemisphere climate anomalies onto Southern Hemisphere palaeoclimate records should be treated with caution.

Lacustrine stable isotope record of precipitation changes in Nicaragua during the Little Ice Age and Medieval Climate Anomaly

Geology ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan D. Stansell ◽  
Byron A. Steinman ◽  
Mark B. Abbott ◽  
Michael Rubinov ◽  
Manuel Roman-Lacayo
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotope ◽  
Little Ice Age ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Medieval Climate Anomaly ◽  
Climate Anomaly ◽  
Isotope Record ◽  
Precipitation Changes ◽  
Stable Isotope Record

scholarly journals Estimating South Cascade Glacier (Washington, U.S.A.) mass balance from a distant radiosonde and comparison with Blue Glacier

2001 ◽  
Vol 47 (159) ◽  
pp. 579-588 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. A. Rasmussen ◽  
H. Conway
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Mass Balance ◽  
Little Ice Age ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
The Past ◽  
Recent Warming ◽  
Flux Model ◽  
Present Area

AbstractA simple flux model using twice-daily measurements of wind, humidity and temperature from standard upper-air levels in a distant radiosonde estimated winter balance of South Cascade Glacier, Washington, U.S.A., over 1959–98 with error 0.24 m w.e. Correlation between net and winter balance is strong; the model estimates net balance with error 0.53 m w.e. Over the past 40 years, average net balance of South Cascade Glacier has been strongly negative (−0.46 m w.e.), and it has been shrinking steadily. In comparison, 200 km west-southwest at Blue Glacier, the average balance has been less negative (−0.13 m w.e); that glacier has undergone little change over the 40 years. Balance histories of the two glaciers are positively correlated (r = +0.54), and South Cascade has been more out of balance than Blue, presumably because it is still adjusting to climate change since the Little Ice Age. Recent warming and drying has made the net balance of both glaciers strongly negative since 1976 (−0.84 m w.e. at South Cascade, −0.56 m w.e. at Blue). If South Cascade Glacier were in balance with the 1986–98 climate, it would be about one-quarter of its present area.

The medieval climate anomaly and the little Ice Age in coastal Syria inferred from pollen-derived palaeoclimatic patterns

2011 ◽  
Vol 78 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 178-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Kaniewski ◽  
E. Van Campo ◽  
E. Paulissen ◽  
H. Weiss ◽  
J. Bakker ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Little Ice Age ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Medieval Climate Anomaly ◽  
Climate Anomaly
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