Full-glacial — late-glacial palaeoclimate of the Southern Andes: evidence from pollen,beetle and glacial records

Palaeoecological studies carried out in the Chilean Lake District and Chilotan Archipelago (41°–43°S) record full-glacial and late-glacial pollen assemblages beginning just after 21000 and beetle assemblages after 18000, both sets extending until 10000 ¹⁴C yr BP. Pollen records indicate that Subantarctic Parkland, the vegetation of the early millennia of record, changed after about 14000 yr BP to become open woodland and later North Patagonian Evergreen Forest. Assemblages of plants and beetles, responding more or less in unison to a strong rise in temperature (≥ 6°C), behaved in accord at around 14000 until 13000–12500 yr BP, the beetle fauna displaying a marked increase in obligate forest types. During full-glacial conditions (17400–16100 and 15300 and 14400 yr BP) and in the late-glacial interval (after about 13000 yr BP), however, climate evidently coerced populations dissimilarly, the pollen sequence showing an increase in plant taxa indicative of colder climate, whereas the beetle fauna underwent little or no variation. Contrasting climate modes implied by plants and beetles may be attributed to differential responses to apparent low-order temperature changes (≤ 2–3°C).     

Consideration of the genus Ginkgoites Seward and a redescription of two species from the Lower Cretaceous of Germany

Genera used for fossil ginkgoalean leafy shoots, especially Baiera F. Braun,Ginkgoites Seward and Ginkgo L., are discussed both in their historical context and in the light of recent discoveries. Use of Ginkgoites Seward as a form- or organ-genus for fossil leaves lacking associated reproductive structures is readopted. Two species, Ginkgoitesbrauniana (Dunker) comb. nov. and Ginkgoites pluripartita (Schimper) Seward, from the Lower Cretaceous Wealden facies of Germany, are rediagnosed and neotypes selected. The occurrence of G. pluripartita in the Lower Cretaceous of western Greenland, Montana, U S A, Canada and Siberia is confirmed.     

我国轻型高山冰芯机械钻机的发展和应用

通过冰芯研究可重建过去的气候环境变化, 为深刻理解现在和预测未来气候环境变化提供重要的科学依据. 冰芯机械钻机作为获取冰芯样品的必备工具之一, 在我国高山冰川冰芯获取中发挥了重要作用. 主要介绍我国自行研制的以山地冰川为主的冰芯机械钻机的发展过程和应用, 存在的问题和对未来的展望. 我国自行研制的BZXJ钻机性能优异, 是世界上同类钻机中的佼佼者, 截至2012年底已经钻取的冰芯总支数和总长度分别为125支和8 095 m, 为我国开展冰芯研究做出了重要贡献.     

Constraining Holocene 10Be production rates in Greenland

The absence of a production rate calibration experiment on Greenland has limited the ability to link ¹⁰Be exposure dating chronologies of ice‐margin change to independent records of rapid climate change. We use radiocarbon age control on Holocene glacial features near Jakobshavn Isbræ, western Greenland, to investigate ¹⁰Be production rates. The radiocarbon chronology is inconsistent with the ¹⁰Be age calculations based on the current globally averaged ¹⁰Be production rate calibration data set, but is consistent with the ¹⁰Be production rate calibration data set from north‐eastern North America, which includes a calibration site nearby on north‐eastern Baffin Island. Based on the best‐dated feature available from the Jakobshavn Isbræ forefield, we derive a ¹⁰Be production rate value of 3.98 ± 0.24 atoms g a^?1, using the ‘St’ scaling scheme, which overlaps with recently published reference ¹⁰Be production rates. We suggest that these ¹⁰Be production rate data, or the very similar data from north‐eastern North America, are used on Greenland. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Relationship between the Wintertime Blocking over Greenland and the Sea Ice Distribution over North Atlantic

The sea-ice concentration in the Northern Hemisphere, 500 hPa height, sea-level pressure and 1000-500 hPa thickness of monthly mean data are examined for the period 1953-1989, with emphasis on the winter season.Relationships between large-scale patterns of atmospheric variability and sea-ice variability are investigated, making use of the correlation method. The analysis is conducted for the Atlantic sectors. In agreement with earlier studies based upon monthly mean data on sea-ice concentration, the strongest sea-ice pattern is composed of a dipole with opposing centers of action in the Davis Straits / Labrador Sea region and the Greenland and Barents Seas. Its temporal variability is strongly coupled to the atmospheric North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). The relationship between the two patterns is strongest with the atmosphere leading the ocean. The polarity of the NAO is associated with Greenland blocking episodes, during which the influence of the atmosphere is strong enough to temporarily halt the c     

冬春季格陵兰海冰变化与初夏中国气温/降水关系的初步分析

采用英国Hadley中心GISST海冰面积资料，NCEP／NCAR再分析资料以及中国地面降水和气温资料，运用EOF分解，小波分析和合成分析等方法，初步探讨了格陵兰岛两侧附近冬春季海冰面积变化特征及其与初夏6月中国气温和降水的关系，结果表明，格陵兰岛东西两侧海冰面积呈显著反相变化，并且具有明显的年际和年代际周期性振荡，冬春季格陵兰－寻威海海冰与初夏6月中国长江以北气温（降水）正相关（反相关），与长江以南气温（降水）反相关（正相关），而对于戴维斯海峡－拉布拉多海海冰则具有相反的相关型，大尺度500hPa环流合成分析初步表明，冬春季格陵兰附近海冰面积变化伴随着北极极涡环流和北半球阻塞高压的持续异常，海冰变化可能是影响初夏中国气温和降水的因子之一。     

Measured and modelled absolute gravity changes in Greenland

In glaciated areas, the Earth is responding to the ongoing changes of the ice sheets, a response known as glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA). GIA can be investigated through observations of gravity change. For the ongoing assessment of the ice sheets mass balance, where satellite data are used, the study of GIA is important since it acts as an error source. GIA consists of three signals as seen by a gravimeter on the surface of the Earth. These signals are investigated in this study. The ICE-5G ice history and recently developed ice models of present day changes are used to model the gravity change in Greenland. The result is compared with the initial measurements of absolute gravity (AG) change at selected Greenland Network (GNET) sites.We find that observations are highly influenced by the direct attraction from the ice and ocean. This is especially evident in the measurements conducted at the GNET station near the Helheim Glacier. The effect of the direct attraction diminishes at sites that are more than one degree from the source. Here, the dominant signal is the effect of the elastic signal from present day ice mass changes. We find agreement between the measured and modelled gravity changes at all but one site. This agreement only holds when the direct attraction is considered. For one site, there is no agreement, indicating that some improvements to the modelling results or the processing of the gravity data are needed. In addition, more AG measurements are needed to strengthen the time series of gravity change.     

Temporal and Spatial Variations of the Aerodynamic Roughness Length in the Ablation Zone of the Greenland Ice Sheet

To understand the response of the Greenland ice sheet to climate change the so-called ablation zone is of particular importance, since it accommodates the yearly net surface ice loss. In numerical models and for data analysis, the bulk aerodynamic method is often used to calculate the turbulent surface fluxes, for which the aerodynamic roughness length (z ₀) is a key parameter. We present, for the first time, spatial and temporal variations of z ₀ in the ablation area of the Greenland ice sheet using year-round data from three automatic weather stations and one eddy-correlation mast. The temporal variation of z ₀ is found to be very high in the lower ablation area (factor 500) with, at the end of the summer melt, a maximum in spatial variation for the whole ablation area of a factor 1000. The variation in time matches the onset of the accumulation and ablation season as recovered by sonic height rangers. During winter, snow accumulation and redistribution by snow drift lead to a uniform value of z ₀≈ 10⁻⁴ m throughout the ablation area. At the beginning of summer, snow melt uncovers ice hummocks and z ₀ quickly increases well above 10⁻² m in the lower ablation area. At the end of summer melt, hummocky ice dominates the surface with z ₀ > 5  ×  10⁻³ m up to 60 km from the ice edge. At the same time, the area close to the equilibrium line (about 90 km from the ice edge) remains very smooth with z ₀ = 10⁻⁵ m. At the beginning of winter, we observed that single snow events have the potential to lower z ₀ for a very rough ice surface by a factor of 20 to 50. The total surface drag of the abundant small-scale ice hummocks apparently dominates over the less frequent large domes and deep gullies. The latter results are verified by studying the individual drag contributions of hummocks and domes with a drag partition model.     

Accuracy of the deep convection intensity from a limited number of casts

Deep convection is one of the key components of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. The intensity of deep convection (DC) is traditionally estimated as the maximum mixed layer depth (MMLD). In this study, we developed a criterion of the minimum number of casts needed for obtaining the MMLD in the Greenland Sea with a pre-defined accuracy. The criterion depends on convection intensity.For gridded datasets, we introduce a complementary measure for the DC intensity: the area of the region with the mixed layer depth over a predefined value (800 m for the Greenland Sea, notated as S₈₀₀). For a weak or a moderate DC, variations of its intensity is more clear from variations of the MMLD (cluster 1 in the MMLD - S₈₀₀ parameter space). Then the MMLD can be obtained with the 25 % accuracy for at minimum 40 casts during winter. For a well developed DC (cluster 2), variations of the DC intensity are better accessed from variations of S₈₀₀ and minimum 10 casts are required.In the central Greenland Sea, the number of casts is sufficient for obtaining the interannual variations of the convection intensity only since 1986. If only Argo floats are available, minimum 4 floats should simultaneously operate in the Greenland Sea gyre during winter to reach the abovementioned accuracy. Up to present, the number of floats has been insufficient during most of the winters.