Late-holocene climate in central West Greenland: Meteorological data and rock-glacier isotope evidence

Holocene

Volumn 9, Issue 5, 1999, Pages 581-594

  Humlum, Ole ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN   (Denmark)

Author keywords

'Little Ice Age'; Greenland; Late Holocene; Meteorology; Oxygen isotopes; Palaeoclimate; Periglacial; Permafrost; Rock glacier; Stable isotopes

Indexed keywords

CLIMATE CHANGE; GEOLOGY; GREENLAND; ISOTOPE LABELING; METEOROLOGY;

HOLOCENE; ISOTOPIC ANALYSIS; PALEOCLIMATE;

GREENLAND; WEST GREENLAND;

EID: 0032824246     PISSN: 09596836     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1191/095968399671916949     Document Type: Article

References (103)

1. Ambach, W., Dansgaard, W., Eisner, H. and Möller, J. 1968. The altitude effect on the isotopic composition of precipitation and glacier ice in the Alps. Tellus 20, 595-600.
2. Andersen, O.G.N. 1981: The annual cycle of temperature, salinity, currents and water masses in Disko Bugt and adjacent waters, West Greenland. Meddelelser om Grønland, Biosciences 5, 3-33.
3. Andersen, D.E., Binney, H.A. and Smith, M.A. 1998: Evidence for abrupt climatic change in northern Scotland between 3900 and 3500 calendar years BP. The Holocene 8, 97-103.
4. Arnason, B. 1969: The exchange of hydrogen isotopes between ice and water in temperate glaciers. Earth Planetary Science Letters 6, 423-30.
5. Barlow, L.K., Rogers, J.C., Serreze, M.C. and Barry, R.G. 1997: Aspects of climate variability in the North Atlantic sector: discussion and relation to the Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2 high-resolution isotope signal. Journal of Geophysical Research 102, 26 333-44.
6. Barlow, L.K., Sadler, J.P., Ogilvie, A.E.J., Buckland, P.C., Amorosi, T., Ingimundarson, J.H., Skidmore, P., Dugmore, A.J. and McGovern, T.H. 1997: Interdisciplinary investigations of the end of the Norse Western Settlement in Greenland. The Holocene 1, 489-99.
7. Barlow, L.K., White, J.W.C., Barry, R.G., Rogers, J.C., and Grootes, P.M. 1993: The North Atlantic oscillation signature in deuterium and deuterium excess signals in the Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2 ice core, 1840-1970. Geophysical Research Letters 20, 2901-04.
8. Barsch, D. 1987a: Rock glaciers: an approach to their systematics. In Giardino, J.R., Shroder, J.F. and Vitek, J.D., editors, Rock glaciers, London: Allen & Unwin, 41-44.
9. _ 1987b: The problem of the ice-cored rock glacier. In Giardino, J.R., Shroder, J.F. and Vitek, J.D., editors, Rock glaciers, London: Allen & Unwin, 45-53.
10. _ 1988: Rockglaciers. In: Clarck, M.J., editor, Advances in periglacial geomorphology, Chichester: John Wiley, 69-90.
11. _ 1992: Permafrost creep and rockglaciers. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes 3, 175-88.
12. _ 1996: Rockglaciers. Indicators for the present and former geoecology in high mountain environments. Berlin: Springer 331 pp.
13. Bennike, O. 1992: Paleoecology and palaeoclimatology of a Late Holocene peat deposit from Brændevinsskær, Central West Greenland. Arctic and Alpine Research 24, 249-52.
14. Bennike, O., Hansen, K.B., Knudsen, K.L., Penney, D.N. and Rasmussen, K.L. 1994: Quaternary marine stratigraphy and geochronology in central West Greenland. Boreas 23, 194-215.
15. Beschel, R.E. 1958: Lichenometrical studies in West Greenland. Arctic 11, 254.
16. _ 1961: Dating rock surfaces by lichen growth and its application to glaciology and physiography (lichenometry). In Raasch, G.O., editor, Geology of the Arctic 2, Toronto: Toronto University Press, 1044-62.
17. Beschel, R.E. and Weidick, A. 1973: Geobotanical and geomorphological reconnaissance in West Greenland, 1961. Arctic and Alpine Research 5, 311-19.
18. Birks, H.J.B. 1996: Great Britain - Scotland. In Berglund, B.E., Birks, H.J.B., Ralska-Jasiewiczowa, M. and Wright, H.E., editors, Palaeoecological events during the last 15 000 years, Chichester: John Wiley, 95-143.
19. Bond, G.C. and Lotti, R. 1995: Iceberg discharge into the North Atlantic on millennial time scales during the Last Glaciation. Science 267, 1005-10.
20. Bowling, S.A. 1974: Possible significance of recent weather and circulation anomalies in northeastern Canada for the initiation of continental glaciation. In Weller, G. and Bowling, S.A., editors, Climate of the Arctic, Geophysical Institute. University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Alaska, 91-97.
21. Briffa, K.R. and Jones, P.D. 1993: Global surface air temperature variations during the twentieth century: Part 2, implications for large-scale high-frequency palaeoclimatic studies. The Holocene 3, 77-88.
22. Bromwich, D.H. 1988. Snowfall in high southern latitudes. Review Geophysics 26, 149-68.
23. Christiansen, H.H. 1995. Observations of open system pingos in a marsh environment, Mellemfjord, Disko, Central West Greenland. Danish Journal of Geography 95, 42-48.
24. _ 1997. Open system Pingos in Mellemfjord, Disko, Central West Greenland: a reply to Gurney and Worsley. Danish Journal of Geography 97, 157-59.
25. Clark, D.H., Clark, M. M. and Gillespie, A.R. 1994: Debris covered glaciers in the Sierra Nevada, California, and their implications for snowline reconstructions. Quaternary Research 41, 139-53.
26. COHMAP Members 1988: Climatic changes of the last 18,000 years: observations and model simulations. Science 241, 1043-53.
27. Corte, A.E. 1987: Rock glacier taxonomy. In Giardino, J.R., Shroder, J.F. and Vitek, J.D., editors, Rock glaciers, London: Allen & Unwin, 27-39.
28. Dansgaard, W., Johnsen, S.J., Clausen, H.B., Dahl-Jensen, D., Gundestrup, N., Hammer, C.V., Hvidbjerg, C.S., Steffensen, J.P., Sveinbjörnsdottir, A.E., Jouzel, J. and Bond, G. 1993: Evidence for instability of past climate from a 250-kyr ice-cord record. Nature 364, 218-20.
29. Dansgaard, W., Johnsen, S.J., Clausen, H.B. and Langway, C.C. Jr. 1971: Climatic record revealed by the Camp Century ice core. In Turekian, K.K., editor, The late Cenozoic glacial ages, New Haven: Yale University Press, 37-56.
30. Dansgaard, W., Johnsen, S.J., Clausen, S.J. and Gundestrup, N. 1973: Stable isotope glaciology. Meddelelser om Grønland 197, 1-53.
31. Dansgaard, W., Johnsen, S.J., Reeh, N., Gundestrup, N., Clausen, H.B. and Hammer, C.U. 1975: Climatic changes, Norsemen and modern man. Nature 255, 24-28.
32. Dickson, R.R. 1998: Atlantic variability and global change. North Atlantic Climate Impacts, International Workshop on Environmental and Climate Variations and their Impact in the North Atlantic Region. Reykjavik, Iceland, 23-26 September, 24.
33. 18O) and precipitation records from sites in Canada and Greenland over the last 3500 years and over the last few centuries in detail using EOF techniques. In Jones, P.D., Bradley, R.S. and Jouzel, J., editors, Climatic variations and forcing mechanisms in the last 2000 years, NATO ASI Series v. 141, Berlin: Springer-Verlag, 297-328.
34. Fortuin, J.P.F. and Oerlemans, J. 1990. Parameterization of the annual surface temperature and mass balance of Antarctic. Annals of Glaciology 14, 78-84.
35. Fredskild, B. 1973: Palaeobotanical investigations of some peat deposits of Norse age at Qagssiarssuk, South Greenland. Meddelelser om Grønland 204(5), 1-41.
36. Funder, S., co-ordinator, 1989: Quaternary geology of the ice-free areas and adjacent shelves of Greenland. In Fulton, K.J., editor, Quaternary geology of Canada and Greenland, Geological Survey of Canada, 743-92.
37. Grove, J.M. 1988: The Little Ice Age. London: Routledge, 498 pp.
38. Haeberli, W. 1985: Creep of mountain permafrost: internal structure and flow of alpine rock glaciers. Mitteilungen der Versuchanstalt für Wasserbau, Hydrologie und Glaziologie 77, Zurich, 142 pp.
39. _ 1989: Glacier ice-cored rock glaciers in the Yukon Territory, Canada? Journal of Glaciology 35, 294-95.
40. Hambrey, M.J. 1975: The origin of foliation in glaciers: evidence from some Norwegian examples. Journal of Glaciology 14, 181-85.
41. Hamilton, S.J. and Whalley, W.B. 1995a: Rock glacier nomenclature: a re-assessment. Geomorphology 14, 73-80.
42. _ 1995b: Preliminary results from the lichenometric study of the Nautárdalur rock glacier, Tröllaskagi, northern Iceland. Geomorphology 12, 123-32.
43. Hammer, C.U., Clausen, H.B. and Dansgaard, W. 1985: Greenland ice sheet evidence of post-glacial volcanisin and its climatic impact. Nature 288, 230-35.
44. Hansen, B.U., Humlum, O., Nielsen, N., Rasch, M. and Funch, P. 1997: Meteorological Observations in 1996 at the Arctic Station, Qeqertarsuaq (Godhavn), Central West Greenland. Danish Journal of Geography 97, 152-53.
45. Hooke, R.L. and Hudleston, P.J. 1978: Origin of foliation in glaciers. Journal of Glaciology 20, 285-99.
46. Houghton, J.T., Meira Filho, L.G., Callander, B.A., Harris, N., Kattenberg, A. and Maskell, K., editors, 1996: Climate change 1995. The science of climate change. Contribution of Working Group 1 to the Second Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 572 pp.
47. Humlum, O. 1982: Rock glacier types on Disko, central West Greenland. Geografisk Tidsskrift 82, 59-66.
48. _ 1987: Glacier behaviour and the influence of upper-air conditions during the Little Ice Age in Disko, central West Greenland. Geografisk Tidsskrift 87, 1-12.
49. _ 1988a: Rock glacier appearance level and rock glacier initiation line altitude: a methodological approach to the study of rock glaciers. Arctic and Alpine Research 20, 160-78.
50. _ 1988b: Natural cairns on rock glaciers as an indication of a solid ice core. Geografisk Tidsskrift 88, 78-82.
51. _ 1996: Origin of rock glaciers: observations from Mellemfjord, Disko Island, central West Greenland. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes 7, 361-80.
52. _ 1997: Active layer thermal regime at three rock glaciers in Greenland. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes 8, 383-408.
53. _ 1998a: Active layer thermal regime 1991-1996 at Qeqertarsuaq, Disko Island, Central West Greenland. Arctic ami Alpine Research 30(3), 295-305.
54. _ 1998b: The climatic significance of rock glaciers. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes 9, 375-95.
55. Humlum, O. and Christiansen, H.H. 1998a: Mountain climate and periglacial phenomena in the Faeroe Islands, SE North Atlantic Ocean. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes 9, 189-211.
56. _ 1998b: Late Holocene climatic forcing of geomorphic activity in the Faroe Islands, North Atlantic Ocean. Fróskaparrit 46, 169-89.
57. Humlum, O., Nielsen, N.; Rasch, M. and Hansen, B.U. 1996: Meteorological observations in 1995 at the Arctic Station, Qeqertarsuaq (Godhavn), Central West Greenland. Danish Journal of Geography 96, 119-22.
58. Hurrell, J.W. 1996. Influence of variations in extratropical wintertime teleconnections on Northern Hemisphere temperature. Geophysical Research Letters 23, 665-68.
59. Ingólfsson, Ó., Frich, P., Funder, S. and Humlum, O. 1990: Palaeoclimatic implications of an early Holocene glacier advance on Disko Island, West Greenland. Boreas 19, 297-311.
60. Jacob, M. 1994: Comments on 'Clark, D.H., Clark, M.M. and Gillespie, A.R., Debris covered glaciers in the Sierra Nevada, California, and their implications for snowline reconstructions'; and reply by Clark et al. Quaternary Research 42, 356-58 and 359-62.
61. Johnsen, S.J., Clausen, H.B., Dansgaard, W., Gundestrup, N.S., Hansson, M., Johnsson, P., Steffensen, J.P. and Sveinbjörnsdottir, A.E. 1992: A 'deep' ice core from East Greenland. Meddelelser om Gronland. Geoseience 29, 3-22.
62. Johnsen, S.J., Dansgaard, W. and White, J.W.C. 1989: The origin of Arctic precipitation under present and glacial conditions. Tellus 41B, 452-68.
63. Jones, P.D. 1998. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Science 280, 544-45.
64. Jones, P.D. and Briffa, K.R. 1992: Global surface air temperature variations during the twentieth century: Part 1, spatial, temporal and seasonal details. The Holocene 2, 165-79.
65. Jones P.D., Jonsson, T. and Wheeler, D. 1997: Extension to the North Atlantic Oscillation using early instrumental pressure observations from Gibraltar and south-west Iceland. Int. J. Climatol. 17, 1433-50.
66. Karlén, W. 1998. Climate variations and the enhanced greenhouse effect. Ambio 21, 270-74.
67. Karlén, W. and Kuylenstierna, J. 1996: On solar forcing of Holocene climate: evidence from Scandinavia. The Holocene 6, 359-65.
68. Kellogg, W.W. 1973: Climatic feedback mechanisms involving the polar regions. In Weller, G. and Bowling, S.A., editors, Climate of the Arctic, Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Alaska, 111-16.
69. Kelly, M. 1980: The status of the Neoglacial in western Greenland. The Geological Survey of Greenland, Report No. 96, 24 pp.
70. King, L., Fisch, W., Haeberli, W. and Waechter, H.P. 1987: Comparison of resistivity and radio-echo soundings on rock glacier permafrost. Zeitschrift für Gletscherkunde und Glacialgeologie 23, 77-97.
71. Koç, N., Jansen, E. and Haflidason, H. 1993: Palaeoceanographic reconstructions of surface ocean conditions in the Greenland, Iceland and Norwegian Seas through the last 14 ka based on diatoms. Quaternary Science Reviews 12, 115-40.
72. Lamb, H.H. 1995: Climate, history and the modern world (second edition). London: Routledge, 433 pp.
73. Lehman, S. 1993. Flickers within cycles. Nature 361, 404-405.
74. Lowe, J.J. and Walker, M.J.C. 1997: Reconstructing Quaternary environments (second edition). UK: Longman, 446 pp.
75. 16 ratios in snow and ice of the Hubbard and Kaskawulsh glaciers. In Stout, G.E., editor, Proceedings of the symposium on isotopes techniques in the hydrological cycle, Washington, DC: American Geophysical Union, 180-94.
76. Mann, M.E., Bradley, R. and Hughes, M. 1998: Global-scale temperature patterns and climate forcing over the past six centuries. Nature 392, 779-87.
77. Martin, H.E. and Whalley, W.B. 1987. Rock glaciers. Part 1: rock glacier morphology: classification and distribution. Progress in Physical Geography 11, 260-82.
78. Meese, D.A., Gow, A.J, Grootes, P, Mayewski, P.A., Ram, M., Stuiver, M., Taylor, K.C., Waddington, E.D. and Zielenski, G.A. 1994: The accumulation record from the GISP2 core as an indicator of climatic change throughout the Holocene. Science 266, 1680-82.
79. Muszynski, I. and Birchfield, G.E. 1985. The dependence of Antarctic accumulation rates on surface temperature and elevation. Tellus 37A, 204-208.
80. Nielsen, N., Hansen, B.U. and Humlum, O. 1998: Meteorological observations 1997 at the Arctic Station, Qeqertarsuaq (69°15′N), central West Greenland. Danish Journal of Geography 98, 81-83.
81. Nielsen, N., Hansen, B.U., Humlum, O. and Rasch, M. 1995: Meteorological observations at Arctic Station, Qeqertarsuaq (Godhavn), Central West Greenland. Danish Journal of Geography 95, 97-104.
82. Oerlemans, J. 1982. Response of the Antarctic ice sheet to a climatic warming: a model study. Journal of Climatology 2, 1-11.
83. Ohmura, A., Kasser, P. and Funk, M. 1992: Climate at the equilibrium line of glaciers. Journal of Glaciology 38, 397-411.
84. Raben, P. and Theakstone, W.F. 1994. Isotopic and ionic changes in a snow cover at different altitudes: observations at the glacier Austre Okstindbreen in 1991. Annals of Glaciology 19, 85-91.
85. _ 1998. Changes of ionic and oxygen isotope composition of the snowpack at the Austre Okstindbreen, Norway, 1995. Nordic Hydrology 29, 1-20.
86. Robin, G. de Q. 1977. Ice cores and climatic change. Philosophical Transactions Royal Society London B280, 143-68.
87. Stichler, W. 1987. Snowcover and snowmelt processes studied by means of environmental isotopes. In Jones. H.G. and Orville-Thomas, W.J., editors. Seasonal snowcovers: physics, chemistry, hydrology, Berlin: Springer-Verlag, 273-317.
88. Sutherland, D.G. 1984. Modern glacier characteristics as a basis for inferring former climates with particular reference to the Loch Lomond Stadial. Quaternary Science Reviews 3, 291-309.
89. Theakstone, W.F. 1991. Stable isotope investigations at Austre Okstindbreen, 1980-1990. Okstindan Glacier Project Report 91.3, 46 pp.
90. Theakstone, W.F. and Knudsen, N.T. 1996a. Isotopic and ionic variations in glacier river water during three contrasting ablation seasons, Hydrological Processes 10, 523-39.
91. _ 1996b. Oxygen isotope and ionic concentrations in glacier river water: multi-year observations in the Austre Okstindbreen Basin, Norway. Nordic Hydrology 27, 101-16.
92. Trenberth, K.E. 1993: Northern Hemisphere climate change: physical processes and observed changes. In Mooney, H.A., Fuentes, E.R. and Kronberg, B.I., editors, Earth system responses to global change. New York: Academic Press, 35-59.
93. van Loon, H. and Madden, R.A. 1983: Interannual variations of mean monthly sea-level pressure in January. J. Climate Appl. Meteorol. 22, 687-92.
94. van Loon, H. and Rogers, J.C. 1978: The seesaw in winter temperatures between Greenland and Northern Europe. I. General description. Monthly Weather Review 104, 296-310.
95. Vilhjálmsson, H. and Jakobsson, J. 1998: Relation between environmental fluctuations and fisheries management. North Atlantic Climate Impacts, International Workshop on Environmental and Climate Variations and their Impact in the North Atlantic Region, Reykjavik 23-26 September, 28.
96. Vitek, J.D. and Giardino, J.R. 1987: Rock glaciers: a review of the knowledge base. In Giardino, J.R. Shroder, J.F. and Vitek, J.D., editors, Rock glaciers, London: Allen & Unwin, 41-44.
97. Weidick, A. 1968: Observations on some Holocene glacier fluctuations in West Greenland. Meddelelser om Grønland, 164(6), 202 pp.
98. _ 1972: Notes on Holocene glacial events in Greenland. In Vasari, Y., Hyvärinen, H. and Hicks, S., editors, Climatic changes in Arctic areas during the last ten-thousand years. Acta University of Oulu, Finland, A3 geol. 1, 177-204.
99. _ 1976: Glaciation and the Quaternary. In Esher, A. and Watt, W.S., editors, Geology of Greenland, Copenhagen: The Geological Survey of Greenland, 431-58.
100. Whalley, W.B. and Azizi, F. 1994: Rheological models of active rock glaciers: evaluation, critique and a possible test. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes 5, 37-51.
101. Whalley, W.B. and Martin, H.E. 1992: Rock glaciers: II models and mechanisms. Progress in Physical Geography 16, 127-86.
102. Williams, L.D. and Wigley, T.M.L. 1983: Comparison of evidence for late Holocene summer temperature variations in the Northern Hemisphere. Quaternary Research 20, 286-307.
103. Ye, H. and Mather, J.R. 1997: Polar snow cover changes and global warming. International Journal of Climatology 17, 155-62.