Moraine development at a small High‐Arctic valley glacier: Rieperbreen,Svalbard

Ice‐cored lateral and frontal moraine complexes, formed at the margin of the small, land‐based Rieperbreen glacier, central Svalbard, have been investigated through field observations and interpretations of aerial photographs (1936, 1961 and 1990). The main focus has been on the stratigraphical and dynamic development of these moraines as well as the disintegration processes. The glacier has been wasting down since the ‘Little Ice Age’ (LIA) maximum, and between 1936 and 1990 the glacier surface was lowered by 50–60 m and the front retreated by approximately 900 m. As the glacier wasted, three moraine ridges developed at the front, mainly as melting out of sediments from debris‐rich foliation and debris‐bands formed when the glacier was polythermal, probably during the LIA maximum. The disintegration of the moraines is dominated by wastage of buried ice, sediment gravity‐flows, meltwater activity and some frost weathering. A transverse glacier profile with a northward sloping surface has developed owing to the higher insolation along the south‐facing ice margin. This asymmetric geometry also strongly affects the supraglacial drainage pattern. Lateral moraines have formed along both sides of the glacier, although the insolation aspect of the glacier has resulted in the development of a moraine 60 m high along its northern margin. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Glacial imprints of the Okanogan Lobe,southern margin of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet

The glacial geomorphology of the Waterville Plateau (ca. 55 km²) provides information on the dynamics of the Okanogan Lobe, southern sector of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet in north‐central Washington. The Okanogan Lobe had a profound influence on the landscape. It diverted meltwater and floodwater along the ice front contributing to the Channeled Scabland features during the late Wisconsin (Fraser Glaciation). The glacial imprint may record surge behaviour of the former Okanogan Lobe based on a comparison with other glacial landsystems. Conditions that may have promoted instability include regional topographic constraints, ice marginal lakes and dynamics of the subglacial hydrological system, which probably included a subglacial reservoir. The ice‐surface morphology and estimated driving stresses (17–26 kPa) implied from ice thickness and surface slope reconstructed in the terminal area also suggest fast basal flow characteristics. This work identifies the location of a fast flowing ice corridor and this probably affected the stability and mass balance of the south‐central portion of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet. Evidence for fast ice flow is lacking in the main Okanogan River Valley, probably because it was destroyed during deglaciation by various glacial and fluvial processes. The only signature of fast ice flow left is the imprint on the Waterville Plateau. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Paleoclimatological and paleoenvironmental records since 4 000 a B. P. in sediments of alpine lakes in Taiwan

The 3 310-m-high Chia-min Lake records the climatic history since 4 ka B. P. in Taiwan. The warm/wet period before 2.2 ka B.P. seemed to correspond to the later part of the Holocene Megathermal, and the cold/dry period during 0–2.2 ka B. P. corresponded to the Katathermal. Before the termination of the Megathermal, an especially warm and humid segment (2.2–2.4 ka B. P.) emerged. The paleoclimatic records from Yuen-yang and Chi-tsai Lakes support the notion that the Megathermal in Taiwan terminated during 2—2.3 ka B. P. A warm segment (820–1 320 AD) in the Katathermal could be considered the Medieval Warm Period. The climate turned cold and dry after 1 320 AD and this indicated the onset of the Little Ice Age. These paleoclimatic variations are also in good agreement with those recorded in Great Ghost Lake.     

被断裂破坏的盖层封闭能力评价方法及其应用

断层对盖层的破坏主要表现为两个方面:一是减小了盖层的连续封盖面积,二是减小了盖层的厚度。盖层被断层破坏的主要影响因素有断层的断距、倾角和盖层厚度。通过对影响因素研究,提出了盖层有效断接厚度的新概念和计算方法。根据我国部分与断层有关的大-中型气田气柱高度资料,发现了有效断接厚度与所能封闭的最大气柱高度的对数线性关系,并由此提出了评价被断层破坏的盖层封闭能力的新方法。通过对库车坳陷库姆格列木群膏泥岩盖层的应用研究,所得结论与勘探实践完全吻合,证明所提出的评价方法是可行的。     

Sensitivity of a global ocean model to increased run-off from Greenland

We study the reaction of a global ocean–sea ice model to an increase of fresh water input into the northern North Atlantic under different surface boundary conditions, ranging from simple restoring of surface salinity to the use of an energy balance model (EBM) for the atmosphere. The anomalous fresh water flux is distributed around Greenland, reflecting increased melting of the Greenland ice sheet and increasing fresh water export from the Arctic Ocean. Depending on the type of surface boundary condition, the large circulation reacts with a slow-down of overturning and gyre circulations. Restoring of the total or mean surface salinity prevents a large scale redistribution of the salinity field that is apparent under mixed boundary conditions and with the EBM. The control run under mixed boundary conditions exhibits large and unrealistic oscillations of the meridional overturning. Although the reaction to the fresh water flux anomaly is similar to the response with the EBM, mixed boundary conditions must thus be considered unreliable. With the EBM, the waters in the deep western boundary current initially become saltier and a new fresh water mass forms in the north-eastern North Atlantic in response to the fresh water flux anomaly around Greenland. After an accumulation period of several decades duration, this new North East Atlantic Intermediate Water spreads towards the western boundary and opens a new southward pathway at intermediate depths along the western boundary for the fresh waters of high northern latitudes.     

Little Ice Age subsidence and post Little Ice Age uplift at Juneau, Alaska, inferred from dendrochronology and geomorphology

Application of dendrochronology and geomorphology to a recently emerged coastal area near Juneau, Alaska, has documented a Little Ice Age (LIA) sea-level transgression to 6.2 m above current sea level. The rise in relative sea level is attributed to regional subsidence and appears to have stabilized by the mid 16th century, based on a sea-cliff eroded into late-Pleistocene glaciomarine sediments. Land began emerging between A.D. 1770 and 1790, coincident with retreat of regional glaciers from their LIA maximums. This emergence has continued since then, paralleling regional glacier retreat. Total Juneau uplift since the late 18th century is estimated to be 3.2 m. The rate of downward colonization of newly emergent coastline by Sitka spruce during the 20th century closely parallels the rate of sea-level fall documented by analysis of local tide-gauge records (1.3 cm/yr). Regional and Glacier Bay LIA loading and unloading are inferred to be the primary mechanisms driving subsidence and uplift in the Juneau area. Climate change rather then regional tectonics has forced relative sea-level change over the last several hundred years.     

The fast Ice Nucleus chamber FINCH

We present first results of our new developed Ice Nucleus (IN) counter FINCH from the sixth Cloud and Aerosol Characterization Experiment (CLACE 6) campaign at Jungfraujoch station, 3571 m asl. Measurements were made at the total and the ICE CVI inlet. Laboratory measurements of ice onset temperatures by FINCH are compared to those of the static diffusion chamber FRIDGE (FRankfurt Ice Deposition Freezing Experiment). Within the errors of both new instruments the results compare well to published data.     

利用ICESat数据确定格陵兰冰盖高程和体积变化

两极冰盖消融是造成海平面上升的重要原因,作为世界第二大冰盖,格陵兰冰盖消融速度在进入21世纪以后明显加快,引起了广泛关注.本文利用ICESat卫星激光测高数据,探讨了坡度改正的方法,通过改进平差模型解决了病态问题,并采用重复轨道方法计算了2003年9月至2009年10月间格陵兰冰盖的体积和高程变化趋势,对格陵兰冰盖各冰川流域系统的变化情况进行了详细分析.结果表明,格陵兰冰盖在这6年间平均高程变化趋势为-16.79±0.84 cm·a^-1,体积变化速率为-301.37±15.16 km³·a^-1,体积流失主要发生在冰盖边缘,其中DS1、DS8等流域的体积损失正在加剧,而高程在2000 m以上的冰盖内陆地区表现出高程积聚的状态,但增长速度明显减缓.与现有研究成果的对比表明,算法优化后的本文结果更具可靠性.

     

The Kuwae (Vanuatu) eruption of<Emphasis Type="SmallCaps"> AD</Emphasis> 1452: potential magnitude and volatile release

Sometime during AD 1452, according to new evidence, a large-magnitude, initially phreatomagmatic eruption, destroyed the island of Kuwae (16.83°S, 168.54°E), located in the present-day Republic of Vanuatu. It created a 12×6-km submarine caldera composed of two adjacent basins. Based on estimates of caldera volume, between 30 and 60 km³ DRE of dacite magma was ejected as pyroclastic flow and fall deposits during this event. Annual layers of ice dating from the period AD 1450–1460 contain acidity peaks representing fallout of sulfuric acid onto both the Greenland and Antarctic ice caps. These acidity peaks have been attributed by others to the sedimentation of H₂SO₄ aerosols that originated from sulfur degassing during the Kuwae eruption. Improved dating techniques and new data from nineteen ice cores reveal a single acidity peak attributed to Kuwae lasting from 1453 to 1457. In this study, we present new electron microprobe analyses of the S, Cl, and F contents of matrix glasses and glass inclusions in phenocrysts from tephra ejected during the Kuwae eruption. We establish that the Kuwae event did indeed yield a large release of sulfur gases. From our glass inclusion data and analysis, we calculate that the total atmospheric aerosol loading from the 1452 Kuwae eruption was ≫100 Tg H₂SO₄. Much of the volatile mass released during the eruption was probably contained in a separate, volatile-rich, fluid phase within the pre-eruptive Kuwae magma body. Comparing the volatile release of the Kuwae eruption with other large-magnitude eruptions, places Kuwae as the greatest sulfuric acid aerosol producer in the last seven centuries, larger even than sulfur emissions from the eruption of Tambora (Indonesia) in 1815, and possibly Laki (Iceland) in 1783. The severe and unusual climatic effects reported in the mid- to late-1450s were likely caused by the Kuwae eruption.     

A stochastic method for the prediction of icebreaker bow extreme stresses

It is well established that the ship-ice interaction process is quite complex and associated ice loads on the icebreaker hull is a stochastic process. Obviously, novel accurate statistical methods and models should be developed and applied to estimate extreme bow stresses.This paper studies icebreaker bow stresses based on measured distribution of ice thickness in the Arctic Ocean on the way to and from the North Pole. Since the vessel route was carefully selected searching for easier ice conditions, the Arctic Ocean crossing was not a straight linear but a meandering path. Thus, the specific ship route data was biased with respect to general ice statistics in the region, but true with respect to the route specific ice data encountered by a ship navigating in that region. Therefore the route specific ice thickness data is directly needed for ship design and navigation analysis. It is assumed that captains are competent and knowledgeable, and therefore will select a route that provides the most favourable ice conditions.This paper contributes to study of the newest Chinese self-designed polar icebreaker, serving the purpose of enhancing icebreaker operational reliability. Finite Element Method software package ANSYS/LS-DYNA has been employed to simulate bow stress pattern for a particular icebreaker operating in the Arctic Ocean. Extreme bow stresses were estimated using Naess-Gaidai method. The latter is a first application of Naess-Gaidai method to a distribution with lower bound. Thus this paper aims at introducing an efficient method of estimating route-specific icebreaker extreme bow stresses.