Fluctuations Of The West Greenland Ice Sheet Independent Ice Caps And Mountain Glaciers During The Twentieth Century PDF Download

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Fluctuations of the West Greenland Ice Sheet, Independent Ice Caps and Mountain Glaciers During the Twentieth Century

Fluctuations of the West Greenland Ice Sheet, Independent Ice Caps and Mountain Glaciers During the Twentieth Century
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 205
Release: 2010
Genre:
ISBN:

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The Greenland Ice Sheet contains enough water to raise global sea levels by ~7 metres, but predictions of the actual potential future contribution in a warming climate vary widely. These can be improved through a better understanding of how the whole ice sheet and its outlet glaciers have responded to past and present climate fluctuations. Recent studies have observed that Greenland Ice Sheet outlet glaciers have been retreating and thinning at increasingly faster rates since the 1990s. However, few studies have investigated the behaviour of the numerous independent ice caps that surround the ice sheet, or the land-terminating outlet glaciers. In addition, recent retreat is rarely put into context with long-term twentieth century fluctuations. This study has mapped ice sheet outlet glaciers and margins, independent ice cap outlets and mountain/valley glaciers at 11 time steps between the Little Ice Age and 2009 in northwest and southwest Greenland. Length changes of different glacier classes and terminus environments are examined, and overall glacier fluctuations compared to regional air temperatures and precipitation. Glaciers in the northwest have retreated further than those in the southwest at most time periods, with the exception of 1943/53-1964 when southwest glaciers underwent their most rapid rate of retreat. Length changes in both regions are driven by air temperature and precipitation changes. Tidewater outlet glaciers have generally retreated shorter distances than land-terminating glaciers in both absolute and relative terms over long time periods. These results imply that recent rapid retreat of many tidewater outlet glaciers in Greenland is not unprecedented, and may represent natural cyclical fluctuations rather than a long-term shift in behaviour. Ice sheet outlet glaciers have retreated shorter relative distances than independent ice caps and mountain/valley glaciers. Ice sheet margins advanced in the southwest between 1964 and 2001, and a slight and a slight advance of independent glaciers was observed from ~1964-1987. It is unclear why this advance occurred. This study highlights the need for more research into the fluctuations of the independent ice caps and land-terminating glaciers in all regions of Greenland. In addition, more detailed research into the response of glaciers of all classes and terminus environments to climate change during the whole of the twentieth century is required to put recent changes into context.


Late Glacial and Holocene Fluctuations of Local Glaciers and the Greenland Ice Sheet, Eastern and Western Greenland

Late Glacial and Holocene Fluctuations of Local Glaciers and the Greenland Ice Sheet, Eastern and Western Greenland
Author: Laura B. Levy
Publisher:
Total Pages: 408
Release: 2014
Genre:
ISBN:

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"The Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) is responding sensitively to climate change and its meltwater has the potential to influence global sea level. Recently, large changes in the GrIS have occurred including increased velocities of outlet glaciers and melt over ~97% of the ice sheet. One means to understand modern and help predict future changes in the GrIS is to examine how it responded to past climate conditions. In this dissertation I provide a longer-term perspective of changes in the GrIS as well as in smaller, independent glaciers near the ice sheet margins (i.e., "local" glaciers). My research documents the past extents of the GrIS in central East and southern West Greenland during the Holocene Epoch (11,600 yrs ago-present) and provides evidence for climate conditions along the ice sheet margin during late glacial time (~17,500-11,600 yrs ago) and the Holocene Epoch. I use geomorphic mapping, surface exposure dating and lake sediment analyses to demonstrate that the GrIS and local glaciers in central East Greenland were receding during the Younger Dryas cold event (~12,900-11,600 yrs ago) and deposited the Milne Land stade moraines at the end of the Younger Dryas. I hypothesize that these ice marginal fluctuations were primarily influenced by air or ocean surface temperatures. I document the Holocene fluctuations of a local glacier that completely disappeared indicating peak warm conditions between ~9.3 and 6.0 cal kyr BP. The formation of this glacier at 2.6 cal kyr BP and its persistence from ~1.9 cal kyr BP-present suggests cold conditions during late Holocene time. I also use geomorphic mapping and surface exposure dating to document the extents of the GrIS in southern West Greenland, near Kangerlussuaq. I show that the Keglen, Ørkendalen and Historical moraines were deposited at 7.3 ka, 6.3 ka, and by ~AD 1950, respectively. These data indicate that the GrIS was as small as or smaller than at present during much of middle to late Holocene time. Finally, I synthesize my results and discuss possible causes of GrIS marginal changes in central East and southern West Greenland including changes in air and ocean temperatures and changes in sea level."


Vanishing Ice

Vanishing Ice
Author: Vivien Gornitz
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 364
Release: 2019-06-11
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0231548893

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The Arctic is thawing. In summer, cruise ships sail through the once ice-clogged Northwest Passage, lakes form on top of the Greenland Ice Sheet, and polar bears swim farther and farther in search of waning ice floes. At the opposite end of the world, floating Antarctic ice shelves are shrinking. Mountain glaciers are in retreat worldwide, unleashing flash floods and avalanches. We are on thin ice—and with melting permafrost’s potential to let loose still more greenhouse gases, these changes may be just the beginning. Vanishing Ice is a powerful depiction of the dramatic transformation of the cryosphere—the world of ice and snow—and its consequences for the human world. Delving into the major components of the cryosphere, including ice sheets, valley glaciers, permafrost, and floating ice, Vivien Gornitz gives an up-to-date explanation of key current trends in the decline of ice mass. Drawing on a long-term perspective gained by examining changes in the cryosphere and corresponding variations in sea level over millions of years, she demonstrates the link between thawing ice and sea-level rise to point to the social and economic challenges on the horizon. Gornitz highlights the widespread repercussions of ice loss, which will affect countless people far removed from frozen regions, to explain why the big meltdown matters to us all. Written for all readers and students interested in the science of our changing climate, Vanishing Ice is an accessible and lucid warning of the coming thaw.


Glaciers and Environmental Change

Glaciers and Environmental Change
Author: Atle Nesje
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 216
Release: 2016-04-29
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1317836065

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This authoritative new text provides a thorough, updated account of glaciers and ice sheets as monitors and indicators of environmental change. It examines the record of environmental change within glaciers and ice sheets, and that of past environments left by retreating glaciers. These themes are examined within the context of environmental change in general and global climate change in particular. Methods of using palaeoenvironmental records are assessed and the implications for future environmental change are discussed. Evidence from glacier ice left in the landscape or within the geological record, provides one of the most important sources of information on environmental change. 'Glaciers and Environmental Change' is a comprehensive account of glaciers andice sheets as monitors and indictaors of environmental change. Based on the latest research, this book consolidates a diverse range of data and explains their applications. it also assesses methods of using palaeoenvironmental records. This authoritative new text examines not only the records of environmental change within glaciers but also that of past environments left by retreating glaciers. These themes are examined within the context of contemporary debates in environmental change and the volume also seeks to draw conclusions concernign past, present and future climatic change in relation to glaciers.


Reconstructing Ice Sheet and Alpine Glacier Margins During the Early Holocene on Nuussuaq in Central West Greenland

Reconstructing Ice Sheet and Alpine Glacier Margins During the Early Holocene on Nuussuaq in Central West Greenland
Author: Sandra L. Cronauer
Publisher:
Total Pages: 99
Release: 2014
Genre:
ISBN:

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Comparison of past ice sheet margin and alpine glacier reconstructions to paleoclimate records can offer insight into the dominant forcing mechanisms that determine glacial response to changes in climate. Previous research on a major ice stream in central West Greenland reveals that the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) responded to abrupt centennial-scale cold periods at ~9. 3 and ~8. 2 ka. The aim of this thesis is to determine whether or not alpine glaciers and a land-terminating ice sheet margin on the peninsula of Nuussuaq in central West Greenland also responded to abrupt climate changes in the early Holocene. To this end, I reconstructed ice sheet and alpine glacier histories on Nuussuaq using cosmogenic 10Be surface exposure dating (herein 10Be dating) and lake sediment analysis. Neither the ice margin nor alpine glacier chronologies indicate a response to abrupt climate change at 9. 3 ka or 8. 2 ka. I found that the Drygalski Moraines are early Holocene in age, with mean moraine ages of 8. 6 ℗ł 0. 4 ka (n=2), 8. 5 ℗ł 0. 2 ka (n=3), and 7. 6 ℗ł 0. 1 ka (n=2) from outer to inner. The moraine chronology, combined with radiocarbon dated lake sediment stratigraphy from an adjacent proglacial lake, reveal that the ice margin remained within about one kilometer of its present position from ~9. 9 to 5. 4 ka. This evidence for ice sheet stability during the first half of the Holocene, followed by minimum ice extent between ~5. 4 and 0. 6 ka, contrasts with many records of early Holocene warmth during the Holocene maximum of Northern Hemisphere summer insolation. This period of ice margin stability may relate to adjacent ocean temperatures, which did not increase until the middle Holocene. A 10Be chronology of moraines deposited by a nearby alpine glacier reveals glacier stability at 10. 5 ℗ł 0. 3 ka, during the Preboreal period. Moraine deposition at this time is potentially due to increased moisture availability as the GrIS retreated and sea ice declined. The alpine glacier chronology also fits well within an emerging pattern of alpine glacier advance during the Preboreal period on East and West Greenland. The results presented in this thesis suggest that GrIS and alpine glacier margin response to changes in climate is complex, and that detailed chronologies from moraines on Greenland can shed light on the intricate processes that link glaciers and climate.


Effects of Carbon Dioxide Buildup in the Atmosphere

Effects of Carbon Dioxide Buildup in the Atmosphere
Author: United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
Publisher:
Total Pages: 364
Release: 1980
Genre: Atmospheric carbon dioxide
ISBN:

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Polar Environments and Global Change

Polar Environments and Global Change
Author: Roger G. Barry
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 445
Release: 2018-08-09
Genre: History
ISBN: 1108423167

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Surveys atmospheric, oceanic and cryospheric processes, present and past conditions, and changes in polar environments.


Glacier Fluctuations and Climatic Change

Glacier Fluctuations and Climatic Change
Author: Johannes Oerlemans
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 414
Release: 2013-06-29
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9401578230

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Proceedings of the Symposium on Glacier Fluctuations and Climatic Change, held in Amsterdam, June 1-5, 1987


When the Ice Is Gone: What a Greenland Ice Core Reveals About Earth's Tumultuous History and Perilous Future

When the Ice Is Gone: What a Greenland Ice Core Reveals About Earth's Tumultuous History and Perilous Future
Author: Paul Bierman
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages: 179
Release: 2024-08-20
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1324020687

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Paul Bierman’s realization that Greenland’s ice sheet melted when Earth was no warmer than today sounds an alarm for our planet. In 2018, lumps of frozen soil, collected from the bottom of the world’s first deep ice core and lost for decades, reappeared in Denmark. When geologist Paul Bierman and his team first melted a piece of this unique material, they were shocked to find perfectly preserved leaves, twigs, and moss. That observation led them to a startling discovery: Greenland’s ice sheet had melted naturally before, about 400,000 years ago. The remote island’s ice was far more fragile than scientists had realized—unstable even without human interference. In When the Ice Is Gone, Bierman traces the story of this extraordinary finding, revealing how it radically changes our understanding of the Earth and its climate. A longtime researcher in Greenland, he begins with a brief history of the island, both human and geological, explaining how over the last century scientists have learned to read the historical record in ice, deciphering when volcanoes exploded and humans started driving cars fueled by leaded gasoline. For the origins of ice coring, Bierman brings us to Camp Century, a U.S. military base built inside Greenland’s ice sheet, where engineers first drilled through mile-thick ice and into the frozen soil beneath. Decades later, a few feet of that long-frozen earth would reveal its secrets—ancient warmth and melted ice. Changes in Greenland reverberate around the world, with ice melting high in the arctic affecting people everywhere. Bierman explores how losing Greenland’s ice will catalyze devastating events if we don’t change course and address climate change now.