The Little Ice Age glacier maximum in Iceland and the North Atlantic Oscillation: evidence from Lambatungnajökull, southeast Iceland

This article examines the link between late Holocene fluctuations of Lambatungnajokull, an outlet glacier of the ice cap in Iceland, and variations in climate. Geomorphological evidence is used to reconstruct the of glacier fluctuations, while lichenometry and tephrostratigraphy are used to date glacial landforms over the past /400 years.Moraines dated using two different lichenometric techniques indicate that the extensive period of glacier expansion occurred shortly before c. AD 1795, probably during the 1780s. over the last 200 years was punctuated by re-advances in the 1810s, 1850s, 1870s, 1890s and c. 1920, 1930 and 1965. Lambatungnajokull receded more rapidly in the 1930s and 1940s than at any other time during the 200 years. The rate and style of glacier retreat since 1930 compare well with other similar-sized, non-surging, in southeast Iceland, suggesting that the terminus fluctuations are climatically driven. Furthermore, the of glacier fluctuations over the 20th century broadly reflects the temperature oscillations recorded at meteorological stations. Much of the climatic variation experienced in southern Iceland, and the glacier that result, can be explained by secular changes in the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). Advances of generally occur during prolonged periods of negative NAO index. The main implication of work relates to the exact timing of the Little Ice Age in the Northeast Atlantic. Mounting evidence now that the period between AD 1750 and 1800, rather than the late 19th century, represented the culmination the Little Ice Age in Iceland.