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- Title
Holocene thinning of the Greenland ice sheet.
- Authors
Vinther, B. M.; Buchardt, S. L.; Clausen, H. B.; Dahl-Jensen, D.; Johnsen, S. J.; Fisher, D. A.; Koerner, R. M.; Raynaud, D.; Lipenkov, V.; Andersen, K. K.; Blunier, T.; Rasmussen, S. O.; Steffensen, J. P.; Svensson, A. M.
- Abstract
On entering an era of global warming, the stability of the Greenland ice sheet (GIS) is an important concern, especially in the light of new evidence of rapidly changing flow and melt conditions at the GIS margins. Studying the response of the GIS to past climatic change may help to advance our understanding of GIS dynamics. The previous interpretation of evidence from stable isotopes (δ18O) in water from GIS ice cores was that Holocene climate variability on the GIS differed spatially and that a consistent Holocene climate optimum—the unusually warm period from about 9,000 to 6,000 years ago found in many northern-latitude palaeoclimate records—did not exist. Here we extract both the Greenland Holocene temperature history and the evolution of GIS surface elevation at four GIS locations. We achieve this by comparing δ18O from GIS ice cores with δ18O from ice cores from small marginal icecaps. Contrary to the earlier interpretation of δ18O evidence from ice cores, our new temperature history reveals a pronounced Holocene climatic optimum in Greenland coinciding with maximum thinning near the GIS margins. Our δ18O-based results are corroborated by the air content of ice cores, a proxy for surface elevation. State-of-the-art ice sheet models are generally found to be underestimating the extent and changes in GIS elevation and area; our findings may help to improve the ability of models to reproduce the GIS response to Holocene climate.
- Subjects
GREENLAND; ICE sheets -- Environmental aspects; GLOBAL warming; CLIMATE change; STABLE isotopes; ICE cores; ICE caps; GLOBAL temperature changes; GREENHOUSE effect
- Publication
Nature, 2009, Vol 461, Issue 7262, p385
- ISSN
0028-0836
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1038/nature08355