Signature of ice melt over the Greenland derived from MSMR (OCEANSAT-1) data

In order to monitor the impact of global warming phenomena over the Polar Regions, it is necessary to monitor snow/ice melt on the Greenland and the Antarctic ice sheets. Using MSMR data, it is possible to differentiate sea ice at different concentration levels. On the basis of microwave emissivities of continental ice and sea ice, useful information on the formation and melting of the ice can be derived. The paper discusses different strategies to derive a melt signal from the MSMR observations for the continental ice sheets in Greenland. The Polarization Difference (PD) for 21 GHz, available from MSMR data, is studied and an appropriate threshold is selected to detect the presence of melt signal. The results of the present study have bearing on climate changes.

CHANGE IN THE GLOBAL DENUDATION BASE IN THE LATE MESOZOIC AND CENOZOIC AND ITS INFLUENCE ON THE FORMATION OF GEOMORPHOLOGICAL STRUCTURE IN AREAS WITH VARIOUS NEOTECTONIC REGIMES

The data on regional geology, stratigraphy and geomorphology accumulated by now permit one to compile a reliable and fairly complete model of changes in the World Ocean level in the interval from the Cretaceous period to the present. Global changes in the level of the World Ocean are primarily associated with slow and prolonged (107–108 y.) manifestations of plate tectonics (spreading of the ocean floor and decrease in the area of continents against the background of the formation of mountain relief due to collision processes at their borders) and faster, but short-term (103–106 y.) processes associated with the withdrawal of large amounts of water during the formation of large continental ice sheets and its return to the World Ocean during interglacial periods. The impact of the tectonic factor throughout the entire period under review was unidirectional, but uneven and led to intermittent decrease in the World Ocean level from 250–300 m above the present level to the current level, taken as 0 m. Prolonged periods of stable position of the World Ocean level in the second half of the Cretaceous, Paleogene and Early Neogene at 300, 250, 200 and 150 m led to the formation of regional peneplanation planes near these levels. Moreover, younger surfaces have never completely cut off the previous, higher level, leaving its relics in the form of table elevations on the surface of the younger peneplain. In tectonically passive areas, the hypsometric position of these geomorphological elements and associated sediments has stratigraphic significance, allowing the researchers to estimate their age, and in the case of their displacement, to evaluate the age and amplitudes of neotectonic movements.

Tides on a Snowball

<p>The severe “Snowball Earth” glaciations proposed to have existed during the Cryogenian period (720 to 635 million years ago) coincided with the breakup of one supercontinent (Rodinia) and assembly of another (Pannotia). The presence of extensive continental ice sheets should theoretically lead to a tidally energetic Snowball ocean due to the reduced ocean depth, as was the case during the last glaciations, but the theory of the supertidal cycle suggests that the supercontinent paleogeography should lead to weak tides because the surrounding ocean is too large to host tidal resonances. So which theory is correct? Using an established numerical global tidal model and 22 paleogeographic reconstructions spanning 750-600Ma, we show that the Cryogenian ocean hosted diminished tidal amplitudes and associated energy dissipation rates, reaching 10-50% of today’s rates, during the Snowball glaciations. In contrast, the tides were more energetic during the ice-free periods, and we propose that the near-absence of Cryogenian tidal processes may have been one contributor to the prolonged glaciations if these were near-global. These results also constrain lunar distance and orbital evolution throughout the Cryogenian and highlight that simulations of past oceans should include explicit tidally driven mixing processes.</p>

Weak tides during Cryogenian glaciations

The severe “Snowball Earth” glaciations proposed to have existed during the Cryogenian period (720 to 635 million years ago) coincided with the breakup of one supercontinent and assembly of another. Whereas the presence of extensive continental ice sheets predicts a tidally energetic Snowball ocean due to the reduced ocean depth, the supercontinent palaeogeography predicts weak tides because the surrounding ocean is too large to host tidal resonances. Here we show, using an established numerical global tidal model and paleogeographic reconstructions, that the Cryogenian ocean hosted diminished tidal amplitudes and associated energy dissipation rates, reaching 10–50% of today’s rates, during the Snowball glaciations. We argue that the near-absence of Cryogenian tidal processes may have been one contributor to the prolonged glaciations if these were near-global. These results also constrain lunar distance and orbital evolution throughout the Cryogenian, and highlight that simulations of past oceans should include explicit tidally driven mixing processes.

Terrestrial stratigraphical division in the Quaternary and its correlation

Initially, terrestrial evidence formed the foundation for the division of Quaternary time. However, since the 1970s there has been an abandonment of the terrestrial stage chronostratigraphy, which is based on locally dominated successions, in favour of the marine oxygen isotope stratigraphy which largely records global-scale changes in ice volume. However, it is now clear that glacial records around the world are asynchronous, even at the scale of the continental ice sheets which display marked contrasts in extent and timing in different glacial cycles. Consequently, the marine isotope record does not reflect global patterns of glaciation, or other terrestrial processes, on land. This has led to inappropriate correlation of terrestrial records with the marine isotopic record. The low resolution of the latter has led to a preferential shift towards high-resolution ice-core records for global correlation. However, even in the short term, most terrestrial records display spatial variation in response to global climate fluctuations, and changes recorded on land are often diachronous, asynchronous or both, leading to difficulties in global correlation. Thus, whilst the marine and the ice-core records are very useful in providing global frameworks through time, it must be recognized that there exist significant problems and challenges for terrestrial correlation.

Prominent precession-band variance in El Niño–Southern Oscillation Intensity over the last 300,000 years

<p>It remains unclear how El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO)—the prominent interannual anomalous climate mode—varied during the full glacial cycles. We study the evolution of ENSO of the last 300,000 years using continuous fully-coupled climate model simulations. How the slow time‐varying changes in insolation, greenhouse gases concentration, and continental ice sheets could influence the behaviours of El Niño are taken into account. The simulated ENSO variance and the tropical eastern Pacific annual cycle (AC) amplitude change in phase, and both have pronounced precession-band variance (~21,000 years) rather than the obliquity-band (~40,000 years). The precession‐modulated slow (orbital time scales) ENSO evolution is determined linearly by the change of the coupled ocean‐atmosphere instability, notably the Ekman upwelling feedback and thermocline feedback. In contrast, the greenhouse gases and ice sheet forcings (~100,000‐year cycles with sawtooth shapes) are opposed to each other as they influence ENSO variability through changes in AC amplitude via a common nonlinear frequency entrainment mechanism. The relatively long simulations which involve pronounced glacial‐interglacial forcing effects gives us more confidence in understanding ENSO forcing mechanisms, so they may shed light on ENSO dynamics and how ENSO will change in the future.</p>

Sea level fingerprinting of the Bering Strait flooding history detects the source of the Younger Dryas climate event

During the Last Glacial Maximum, expansive continental ice sheets lowered globally averaged sea level ~130 m, exposing a land bridge at the Bering Strait. During the subsequent deglaciation, sea level rose rapidly and ultimately flooded the Bering Strait, linking the Arctic and Pacific Oceans. Observational records of the Bering Strait flooding have suggested two apparently contradictory scenarios for the timing of the reconnection. We reconcile these enigmatic datasets using gravitationally self-consistent sea-level simulations that vary the timing and geometry of ice retreat between the Laurentide and Cordilleran Ice Sheets to the southwest of the Bering Strait to fit observations of a two-phased flooding history. Assuming the datasets are robust, we demonstrate that their reconciliation requires a substantial melting of the Cordilleran and western Laurentide Ice Sheet from 13,000 to 11,500 years ago. This timing provides a freshwater source for the widely debated Younger Dryas cold episode (12,900 to 11,700 years ago).

Aquifer-eustasy as the main driver of short-term sea-level fluctuations during Cretaceous hothouse climate phases

A review of short-term (<3 myr: c. 100 kyr to 2.4 myr) Cretaceous sea-level fluctuations of several tens of metres indicates recent fundamental progress in understanding the underlying mechanisms for eustasy, both in timing and in correlation. Cretaceous third- and fourth-order hothouse sea-level changes, the sequence-stratigraphic framework, are linked to Milankovitch-type climate cycles, especially the longer-period sequence-building bands of 405 kyr and 1.2 myr. In the absence of continental ice sheets during Cretaceous hothouse phases (e.g. Cenomanian–Turonian), growing evidence indicates groundwater-related sea-level cycles: (1) the existence of Milankovitch-type humid-arid climate oscillations, proven via intense humid weathering records during times of regression and sea-level lowstands; (2) missing or inverse relationships of sea-level and the marine δ18O archives, i.e. the lack of a pronounced positive excursion, cooling signal during sea-level lowstands; and (3) the anti-phase relationship of sea and lake levels, attesting to high groundwater levels and charged continental aquifers during sea-level lowstands. This substantiates the aquifer-eustasy hypothesis. Rates of aquifer-eustatic sea-level change remain hard to decipher; however, reconstructions range from a very conservative minimum estimate of 0.04 mm a−1 (longer time intervals) to 0.7 mm a−1 (shorter, probably asymmetric cycles). Remarkably, aquifer-eustasy is recognized as a significant component for the Anthropocene sea-level budget.

The penultimate deglaciation: protocol for Paleoclimate Modelling Intercomparison Project (PMIP) phase 4 transient numerical simulations between 140 and 127 ka, version 1.0

The penultimate deglaciation (PDG, ∼138–128 thousand years before present, hereafter ka) is the transition from the penultimate glacial maximum (PGM) to the Last Interglacial (LIG, ∼129–116 ka). The LIG stands out as one of the warmest interglacials of the last 800 000 years (hereafter kyr), with high-latitude temperature warmer than today and global sea level likely higher by at least 6 m. Considering the transient nature of the Earth system, the LIG climate and ice-sheet evolution were certainly influenced by the changes occurring during the penultimate deglaciation. It is thus important to investigate, with coupled atmosphere–ocean general circulation models (AOGCMs), the climate and environmental response to the large changes in boundary conditions (i.e. orbital configuration, atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations, ice-sheet geometry and associated meltwater fluxes) occurring during the penultimate deglaciation. A deglaciation working group has recently been set up as part of the Paleoclimate Modelling Intercomparison Project (PMIP) phase 4, with a protocol to perform transient simulations of the last deglaciation (19–11 ka; although the protocol covers 26–0 ka). Similar to the last deglaciation, the disintegration of continental ice sheets during the penultimate deglaciation led to significant changes in the oceanic circulation during Heinrich Stadial 11 (∼136–129 ka). However, the two deglaciations bear significant differences in magnitude and temporal evolution of climate and environmental changes. Here, as part of the Past Global Changes (PAGES)-PMIP working group on Quaternary interglacials (QUIGS), we propose a protocol to perform transient simulations of the penultimate deglaciation under the auspices of PMIP4. This design includes time-varying changes in orbital forcing, greenhouse gas concentrations, continental ice sheets as well as freshwater input from the disintegration of continental ice sheets. This experiment is designed for AOGCMs to assess the coupled response of the climate system to all forcings. Additional sensitivity experiments are proposed to evaluate the response to each forcing. Finally, a selection of paleo-records representing different parts of the climate system is presented, providing an appropriate benchmark for upcoming model–data comparisons across the penultimate deglaciation.

An efficient surface energy–mass balance model for snow and ice

A comprehensive understanding of the state and dynamics of the land cryosphere and associated sea level rise is not possible without taking into consideration the intrinsic timescales of the continental ice sheets. At the same time, the ice sheet mass balance is the result of seasonal variations in the meteorological conditions. Simulations of the coupled climate–ice-sheet system thus face the dilemma of skillfully resolving short-lived phenomena, while also being computationally fast enough to run over tens of thousands of years. As a possible solution, we present the BErgen Snow SImulator (BESSI), a surface energy and mass balance model that achieves computational efficiency while simulating all surface and internal fluxes of heat and mass explicitly, based on physical first principles. In its current configuration it covers most land areas of the Northern Hemisphere. Input data are daily values of surface air temperature, total precipitation, and shortwave radiation. The model is calibrated using present-day observations of Greenland firn temperature, cumulative Greenland mass changes, and monthly snow extent over the entire domain. The results of the calibrated simulations are then discussed. Finally, as a first application of the model and to illustrate its numerical efficiency, we present the results of a large ensemble of simulations to assess the model's sensitivity to variations in temperature and precipitation.