A replicated 3000 yr proxy-climate record from Coom Rigg Moss and Felecia Moss,the Border Mires,northern England

Quantitative plant macrofossil and colorimetric humification analyses have been used to reconstruct proxy-climate from two paired ombrotrophic bogs in northern England (Coom Rigg Moss and Felecia Moss). Detrended correspondence analysis was used to transform the raw floral data into indices of mire surface wetness. The chronology of each peat profile was determined by radiocarbon assay, supported by pollen correlations. Palaeoclimatic reconstructions have been made by linking documented historical changes in climate, and other proxy-climate records, to those inferred from the sites investigated in the study region. Both sites contain a sensitive palaeoclimatic record, as ten periods of increased effective precipitation have been detected between ca. cal. ad 1770–1800, ad 1400–1470, ad 1110–1260, ad 920–1060, ad 550–670, ad 210–360, 30 bc to ad 80, 180–130 bc, 590–520 bc and 760–710 bc. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

小冰期以来敦德冰芯中微粒含量与沙尘暴及气候的关系

Determination of microparticles, including >2.0 μm, 2.0～2.5 μm and >5.04 μm in diameter, since the Little Ice Age in the Dunde ice core is presented. Three increasing and three decreasing periods are distinguished since 1400 AD. Among them, the greatest one was from the end of the 17th Century to the early 18th Century. Microparticle concentration variation corresponds to climate change. The higher the microparticle concentration is, the colder and drier the climate is; the lower the microparticle concentration is, the warmer and wetter the climate is. A comparison of microparticle concentration and sand-dust storm frequency indicates that there exits a good relationship. Most of the material deposited on the Dunde ice cap is thought to have originated in the surrounding arid and semi-arid areas, probably transported into the Qilian Mountains by sand-dust storms. When microparticle concentration appears in special values, sand-dust storms would happen.     

末次间冰期以来门捷列夫洋脊南部冰盖对细颗粒沉积的控制作用

门捷列夫洋脊南部的粘土矿物沉积具有明确的物源,为追踪该区沉积环境的演变提供了良好的条件。末次间冰期以来,ARC7-E23孔中的粘土矿物记录表现出了非常显著的变化。结合沉积物粒度的端元组份和冰阀碎屑沉积,粘土矿物的变化模式表明,东西伯利亚冰盖(ESIS)的规模可能是控制细颗粒沉积的主要因素。在氧同位素2期(MIS2)和4期(MIS4),门捷列夫洋脊南部可能被ESIS所覆盖,几乎阻挡了所有来自加拿大和拉夫贴夫海陆架的沉积物,但允许大量来自东西伯利亚海陆架的细粒沉积物输入。只有当ESIS消融后,波弗特环流和越极流的相对强度以及搬运作用才成为了控制远源沉积物输入的主要因素。MIS3期的气候条件似乎最适合远源沉积物的输入,不仅提高了表层环流的流通性,也提供了足够多的搬运介质。     

Sea-floor scour at the mouth of Hudson Strait by deep-keeled icebergs from the Laurentide Ice Sheet

Physical evidence on the dimensions of icebergs released from the mouth of Hudson Strait into the northwest Atlantic during the last Heinrich event (H-0) is presented. Side-scan sonar imagery shows scour marks up to 700 m wide and longer than 28 km. These scour marks were carved by gigantic icebergs (megabergs) with keel drafts possibly as great as 660 m capable of scouring trenches 20 to 25 m deep into the seabed. These icebergs were likely calved from the grounding margin of a thick (possibly as thick as 640 m) rapidly-flowing glacial margin during the H-0 Heinrich event (11 ka BP). Along with the relatively few megabergs released were large numbers of smaller icebergs that calved from the ice margin at the same time and were also produced from break-up of the megabergs. Scouring of the seabed by the large and smaller icebergs happened at the same time, with megabergs scouring only in the deep waters of Hatton Basin, and the smaller bergs scouring only on the eastern, shallow margin of the Basin at the continental shelf break.     

葫芦岛市龙港区渔民村发生罕见冰灾及成因分析

2007年1月5日葫芦岛市龙港区渔民村发生罕见冰情灾害,国家海洋环境预报中心的科研人员对冰灾进行了实地考察.本文较详细地介绍了冰情灾害状况,并根据有关的海洋和气象的观测资料,对冰灾发生的成因进行了分析研究,这对今后的防冰减灾具有重要的意义.     

Solar cycle variations in ice acidity at the end of the last ice age: Possible marker of a climatically significant interstellar dust incursion

Hammer et al. (Climatic Change 35 (1997) 1) report the presence of regularly spaced acidity peaks (H⁺,F^-,Cl^-) in the Byrd Station, Antarctica ice core. The event has a duration of about one century and falls at the beginning of the deglacial warming. Volcanism appears to be an unlikely cause since the total acid deposition of this event was about 18 fold greater than the largest known volcanic eruption, and since volcanic eruptions are not known to recur with such regularity. We show that the recurrence period of these peaks averages to 11.5±2.4 years, which approximates the solar cycle period, and suggest that this feature may have an extraterrestrial origin. We propose that this material may mark a period of enhanced interstellar dust and gas influx modulated by the solar cycle. The presence of this material could have made the Sun more active and have been responsible for initiating the warming that ended the last ice age.     

‘Little ice age’ variations of outlet glaciers from the jostedalsbreen ice-cap,Southern Norway: A regional lichenometric-dating study of ice-marginal moraine sequences and their climatic significance

Complex moraine-ridge sequences in front of seven outlet glaciers of the Jostedalsbreen ice-cap (Austerdalsbreen, Bergsetbreen, Fåbergstølsbreen, Lodalsbreen, Stegaholbreen, Tuftebreen, Bødalsbreen) are dated using families of lichenometric dating curves established previously at an eighth outlet (Nigardsbreen). Applicability of the Nigardsbreen curves at the regional level is tested using independent historical evidence: moraines deposited during the present century are dated to an accuracy of ± 9.4 yr (16.0%), and most of them are dated to an accuracy of ± 5.5 yr (9.4%). Results from the moraine sequences are combined to form a composite ‘Jostedalsbreen’ record. Median predicted dates for moraine ridges cluster around AD 1939 ± 2 yr, 1929 ± 3, 1908 ± 3, 1886 ± 5, 1875 ± 2, 1867 ± 4, 1855 ± 3, 1842 ± 5, 1822 ± 5, 1807 ± 4 and 1785 ± 5. At least four glaciers reached their ‘Little ice age’ maxima prior to AD 1780, two (Nigardsbreen and Bødalsbreen) at ca. 1750, one (Fåbergstølsbreen) at ca. 1705. Stegaholbreen attained its maximum ca. 1863. Since the ‘Little ice age’ maximum, and despite large differences in glacier size, frontal variations of the various outlets have exhibited a high degree of synchroneity, which suggests that the moraine sequences contain a sensitive record of high-frequency climatic variations over the last ca. 250 yr. During the early twentieth century, measured readvances of the order of 5–150 m over 1–10 yr led to moraine formation. Dendroclimatic evidence indicates that since the late eighteenth century, moraine ridges formed about 5 yr after summer temperature minima and correlate with runs of cool summers (temperature depression of 0.5–1.0°C below the AD 1700–1950 average). Almost simultaneous glacier advances appear to have been caused by reduced ablation. This near-immediate response to climatic variation, by glacier tongues that descend to relative low altitudes, is superimposed upon the longer-term dynamic response of the ice cap to climate.     

Preliminary 10Be chronology for the last deglaciation of the western margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet

The now acknowledged thinning of the Greenland Ice Sheet raises concerns about its potential contribution to future sea level rise. In order to appreciate the full extent of its contribution to sea level rise, reconstruction of the ice sheet's most recent last deglaciation could provide key information on the timing and the height of the ice sheet at a time of rapid climate readjustment. We measured ¹⁰Be concentrations in 12 samples collected along longitudinal and altitudinal transects from Sisimiut to within 10 km of the Isunguata Sermia Glacier ice margin on the western coast of Greenland. Along the longitudinal transect, we collected three perched boulders and two bedrocks. In addition, we sampled seven perched boulders along a vertical transect in a valley within 10 km of the Isunguata Sermia Glacier ice margin. Our pilot dataset constrains the height of the ice sheet during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) between 500 m and 840 m (including the 120 m relative sea level depression at the time of the LGM, 21 ka BP). From the transect we estimate the thinning of the ice sheet at the end of the deglaciation between 12.3 ± 1.5 ¹⁰Be ka (n = 2) and 8.3 ± 1.2 ¹⁰Be ka (n = 3) to be ～6 cm a^?1 over this time period. Direct dating of the retreat of the western margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet has the potential to better constrain the retreat rate of the ice margin, the thickness of the former ice sheet as well as its response to climate change. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.