Paleo water isotope records can elucidate how the Arctic water cycle responded to past climate changes. We analyze the hydrogen isotope composition (δ2H) of plant‐derived n‐alkanoic acids (waxes) from Lake Qaupat, Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada, to assess moisture sources and seasonality during the past 5.8 ka. We compare this record to a sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA)‐inferred vascular plant record from the same lake, aiming to overcome the uncertainty of plant community impacts on leaf waxes. As the sedaDNA record reveals a stable plant community after the colonization of Betula sp. at 6.1 ka, we interpret plant wax δ2H values to reflect climate, specifically mean annual precipitation δ2H. However, the distributions of n‐alkanoic acid homologs suggest that aquatic mosses, which are not represented in the sedaDNA record, may become more abundant towards the present. Therefore, we cannot exclude the possibility that changes in the plant community cause changes in the plant wax δ2H record, particularly long‐chain waxes, which become less abundant through this record. We find that Lake Qaupat mid‐chain plant wax δ2H is enriched coincident with high Labrador Sea summer surface temperature, which suggests that local moisture sources in summer and early autumn have the greatest impact on precipitation isotopes in this region.
Sediment cores from 13 lakes in a 1500 km transect along the eastern North American Arctic contain up to four superposed stratified interglacial units. All 13 lakes contain one unit with sediment similar in character and mass to Holocene gyttja, with 14C ages >40 ka, luminescence ages 90 to 120 ka, and pollen assemblages that require nearly complete Laurentide deglaciation, supporting a Last Interglacial (LIG; MIS 5e) age. Two lakes preserve an older interglacial, with luminescence ages suggesting an MIS 7 age. Four adjacent lakes record a thin, stratified organic unit between the LIG and Holocene units with 14C ages >50 ka, that is probably from late in MIS 5. Temperature estimates from biotic proxies suggest LIG summer temperatures 4–6°C above mid‐20th century values; pollen, chironomids and DNA document a poleward expansion of woody plants and invertebrate species during the LIG, supporting arguments that positive feedbacks native to the Arctic amplified insolation‐driven summer temperature increases. The stratigraphic succession implies the Laurentide Ice Sheet remained intact with sea level below ‐40 m from ~115 ka to ~11 ka, and places new constraints on the interpretation of cosmogenic radionuclide inventories in erratic boulders older than the Holocene throughout this region.
Lacustrine δ2H and δ18O isotope proxies are powerful tools for reconstructing past climate and precipitation changes in the Arctic. However, robust paleoclimate record interpretations depend on site‐specific lake water isotope systematics, which are poorly described in the eastern Canadian Arctic due to insufficient modern lake water isotope data. We use modern lake water isotopes (δ18O and δ2H) collected between 1994–1997 and 2017–2021 from a transect of sites spanning a Québec‐to‐Ellesmere Island gradient to evaluate the effects of inflow seasonality and evaporative enrichment on the δ2H and δ18O composition of lake water. Four lakes near Iqaluit, Nunavut sampled biweekly through three ice‐free seasons reflect mean annual precipitation isotopes with slight evaporative enrichment. In a 23° latitudinal transect of 181 lakes, through‐flowing lake water δ2H and δ18O fall along local meteoric water lines. Despite variability within each region, we observe a latitudinal pattern: southern lakes reflect mean annual precipitation isotopes, whereas northern lakes reflect summer‐biased precipitation isotopes. This pattern suggests that northern lakes are more fully flushed with summer precipitation, and we hypothesize that this occurs because the ratio of runoff to precipitation increases with latitude as vegetation cover decreases. Therefore, proxy records from through‐flowing lakes in this region should reflect precipitation isotopes with minimal influence of evaporation, but vegetation changes in lake catchments across a latitudinal transect and through geologic time may influence the seasonality of lake water isotopic compositions. Thus, we recommend that future lake water isotope proxy records are considered in context with temperature and ecological proxy records.
<p>Changes in ice sheet size and configuration impact global moisture and heat transport, but few proxy records examine these impacts. High-latitude precipitation-isotope proxy records are often interpreted to reflect temperature change, but can also reflect changes in moisture source. We present independent sub-centennial-scale records of summer temperature and summer precipitation &#948;<sup>2</sup>H from the same lake sediment archive on northeastern Baffin Island. We also examine published TraCE-21k transient model simulation results. These records span from 12 to 7 ka, when the Laurentide Ice Sheet underwent major retreat. The correlation structure between summer temperature and precipitation &#948;<sup>2</sup>H on northeastern Baffin Island changed from negative to positive around 10 ka. We interpret this change in correlation structure to indicate a shift in moisture sources to northeastern Baffin Island. TraCE-21k results suggest that moisture sources in this region are controlled by the relative strength of the high pressure systems and associated anticyclonic circulation over the Greenland and Laurentide ice sheets. We therefore interpret the proxy records as follows: when the Laurentide high dominated prior to 10 ka, northerly winds brought cold, dry Arctic air to the region, allowing <sup>2</sup>H-enriched local sea breezes to provide most of the moisture to Baffin Island. After 10 ka, the Greenland high dominated, causing southerly flow to carry warm, moist, <sup>2</sup>H-depleted air masses to northeastern Baffin Island. Regional centennial-scale cooling events caused by periodic freshwater inputs to the Labrador Sea throughout the Early Holocene were also associated with intervals of <sup>2</sup>H-enriched summer precipitation. This study provides evidence that atmospheric circulation was influenced by the waning continental ice sheets. Similar ice-sheet influences are critical to consider when interpreting precipitation isotope proxy records spanning periods of dramatic ice-sheet change. These results demonstrate that precipitation isotopes can reflect changes in atmospheric circulation in the geologic record.</p>
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