Mild Little Ice Age and unprecedented recent warmth in an 1800 year lake sediment record from Svalbard

Research Article| November 01, 2012 Mild Little Ice Age and unprecedented recent warmth in an 1800 year lake sediment record from Svalbard William J. D'Andrea; William J. D'Andrea * 1Department of Geosciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003, USA *Current address: Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, New York 10964, USA; E-mail: dandrea@ldeo.columbia.edu. Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar David A. Vaillencourt; David A. Vaillencourt 1Department of Geosciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003, USA Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Nicholas L. Balascio; Nicholas L. Balascio 1Department of Geosciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003, USA Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Al Werner; Al Werner 2Department of Geology and Geography, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Massachusetts 01075, USA Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Steven R. Roof; Steven R. Roof 3School of Natural Science, Hampshire College, Amherst, Massachusetts 01002, USA Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Michael Retelle; Michael Retelle 4Department of Geology, Bates College, Lewiston, Maine 04240, USA Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Raymond S. Bradley Raymond S. Bradley 1Department of Geosciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003, USA Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Author and Article Information William J. D'Andrea * 1Department of Geosciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003, USA David A. Vaillencourt 1Department of Geosciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003, USA Nicholas L. Balascio 1Department of Geosciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003, USA Al Werner 2Department of Geology and Geography, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Massachusetts 01075, USA Steven R. Roof 3School of Natural Science, Hampshire College, Amherst, Massachusetts 01002, USA Michael Retelle 4Department of Geology, Bates College, Lewiston, Maine 04240, USA Raymond S. Bradley 1Department of Geosciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003, USA *Current address: Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, New York 10964, USA; E-mail: dandrea@ldeo.columbia.edu. Publisher: Geological Society of America Received: 01 Mar 2012 Revision Received: 02 May 2012 Accepted: 04 May 2012 First Online: 09 Mar 2017 Online ISSN: 1943-2682 Print ISSN: 0091-7613 © 2012 Geological Society of America Geology (2012) 40 (11): 1007–1010. https://doi.org/10.1130/G33365.1 Article history Received: 01 Mar 2012 Revision Received: 02 May 2012 Accepted: 04 May 2012 First Online: 09 Mar 2017 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Permissions Search Site Citation William J. D'Andrea, David A. Vaillencourt, Nicholas L. Balascio, Al Werner, Steven R. Roof, Michael Retelle, Raymond S. Bradley; Mild Little Ice Age and unprecedented recent warmth in an 1800 year lake sediment record from Svalbard. Geology 2012;; 40 (11): 1007–1010. doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/G33365.1 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Refmanager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentBy SocietyGeology Search Advanced Search Abstract The Arctic region is subject to a great amplitude of climate variability and is currently undergoing large-scale changes due in part to anthropogenic global warming. Accurate projections of future change depend on anticipating the response of the Arctic climate system to forcing, and understanding how the response to human forcing will interact with natural climate variations. The Svalbard Archipelago occupies an important location for studying patterns and causes of Arctic climate variability; however, available paleoclimate records from Svalbard are of restricted use due to limitations of existing climate proxies. Here we present a sub-decadal- to multidecadal-scale record of summer temperature for the past 1800 yr from lake sediments of Kongressvatnet on West Spitsbergen, Svalbard, based on the first instrumental calibration of the alkenone paleothermometer. The age model for the High Arctic lake sediments is based on 210Pb, plutonium activity, and the first application of tephrochronology to lake sediments in this region. We find that the summer warmth of the past 50 yr recorded in both the instrumental and alkenone records was unmatched in West Spitsbergen in the course of the past 1800 yr, including during the Medieval Climate Anomaly, and that summers during the Little Ice Age (LIA) of the 18th and 19th centuries on Svalbard were not particularly cold, even though glaciers occupied their maximum Holocene extent. Our results suggest that increased wintertime precipitation, rather than cold temperatures, was responsible for LIA glaciations on Svalbard and that increased heat transport into the Arctic via the West Spitsbergen Current began ca. A.D. 1600. You do not have access to this content, please speak to your institutional administrator if you feel you should have access.