Holocene warming in western continental Eurasia driven by glacial retreat and greenhouse forcing

Baker, Jonathan; Lachniet, Matthew S.; Chervyatsova, O. Ya.; Asmerom, Yemane; Polyak, Victor J.

doi:10.1038/ngeo2953

Cited by 107 publications

(99 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…Winter climate reconstructions from ice wedges in the northeast Siberian permafrost region have recently identified warming trends during the mid‐ to late Holocene and pronounced modern warming that may be explained, respectively, by seasonal solar insolation and greenhouse gas forcing . These trends are supported by a recent study of speleothems in continental Eurasia that emphasized the importance of winter climate dynamics for Holocene temperature evolution there. Overall, attempts to reconstruct winter temperatures from biological proxies (such as pollen and beetles) have had little success.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Ice wedges as archives of winter paleoclimate: A review

Opel

Meyer

Wetterich

et al. 2018

Permafrost & Periglacial

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Ice wedges are a characteristic feature of northern permafrost landscapes and grow mainly by snowmelt that refreezes in thermal contraction cracks that open in winter. In high latitudes the stable‐isotope composition of precipitation (δ18O and δD) is sensitive to air temperature. Hence, the integrated climate information of winter precipitation is transferred to individual ice veins and can be preserved over millennia, allowing ice wedges to be used to reconstruct past winter climate. Recent studies indicate a promising potential of ice‐wedge‐based paleoclimate reconstructions for more comprehensive reconstructions of Arctic past climate evolution. We briefly highlight the potential and review the current state of ice‐wedge paleoclimatology. Existing knowledge gaps and challenges are outlined and priorities for future ice‐wedge research are suggested. The major research topics are (1) frost cracking and infilling dynamics, (2) formation and preservation of the stable‐isotope information, (3) ice‐wedge dating, (4) age‐model development and (5) interpretation of stable‐isotope time series. Progress in each of these topics will help to exploit the paleoclimatic potential of ice wedges, particularly in view of their unique cold‐season information, which is not adequately covered by other terrestrial climate archives.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Ice wedges as archives of winter paleoclimate: A review

Opel

Meyer

Wetterich

et al. 2018

Permafrost & Periglacial

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“…1a). The highest amplitude of cooling is seen in the Ural Mountains (Baker et al, 2017), at high altitude in the Alps (Fohlmeister et al, 2013), both recorded by speleothem δ 18 O, and in SW Asia (Wolff et al, 2017), recorded by speleothem δ 13 C. Other records show only a moderate to weak cooling (Daley et al, 2010;Nesje et al, 2001;Muschitiello et al, 2013). The general picture that emerges from the data is that of westward decreasing cooling with increased distance from Eastern Europe/Western Asia.…”

Section: Cold Europe and Southwest Asiamentioning

confidence: 81%

Blocking induced by the strengthened Siberian High led to drying in west Asia during the 4.2 ka BP event – a hypothesis

Perşoiu¹,

Ionita²,

Weiss³

2018

Preprint

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Abstract. Causal explanations for the 4.2 ka BP event are based on the amalgamation of seasonal and annual records of climate variability manifest across global regions dominated by different climatic regimes. However, instrumental and paleoclimate data indicate that seasonal climate variability is not always sequential in some regions. The present study investigates the spatial manifestation of the 4.2 ka BP event during the boreal winter season in Eurasia, where climate variability is a function of the spatio-temporal dynamics of the westerly winds. We present a multi-proxy reconstruction of winter climate conditions in Europe, west Asia and northern Africa between 4.3 and 3.8 ka BP. Our results show that, while winter temperatures were cold throughout the region, precipitation amounts had a heterogeneous distribution, with regionally significant low values in W Asia, SE and N Europe and local high values in the N Balkan Peninsula, the Carpathian Mountains, and E and NE Europe. Further, strong northerly winds were dominating in the Middle East, and E and NE Europe. Analyzing the relationships between these climatic conditions, we hypothesize that in the extratropical Northern Hemisphere, the 4.2 ka BP event was caused by the strengthening and expansion of the Siberian High, which effectively blocked the moisture-carrying westerlies from reaching W Asia, and enhanced outbreaks of cold and dry winds in that region. The antiphase behavior of the winter and summer monsoons suggests that when parts of Asia and Europe were experiencing winter droughts, SE Asia was experiencing similar summer droughts, resulting from failed and/or reduced monsoons. Thus, while in the extratropical regions of Eurasia the 4.2 ka BP event was a century-scale winter phenomenon, in the monsoon-dominated regions it may have been a feature of summer climate conditions.

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“…It should be noted, however, that some records indicate long‐term winter warming over most of the Holocene, such as the ice wedge record for the past 7 kyr in the Lena Delta region and proxy data from stalagmites from Kinderlinskaya Cave in the southern Ural Mountains. This warming trend is interpreted as a response to the retreat of Northern Hemisphere ice sheets until about 7 ka BP, following by rising atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations and winter insolation …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Winter air temperature during the Holocene optimum in the north‐eastern part of the east European plain based on ice wedge stable isotope records

Vasil'chuk

Budantseva

Vasil'chuk

et al. 2020

Permafrost & Periglacial

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Early Holocene winter air temperatures have been reconstructed for the northeastern part of the East European Plain using stable isotope (δ 18 O and δ 2 H) records of syngenetic ice wedges. We show that ice wedges here actively grew synchronously with accumulation of peatlands in bogged and forested depressions between 10 and 8 cal ka BP, corresponding to the early Holocene Thermal Maximum. The slope of the δ 2 H-δ 18 O regression line is close to the global meteoric water line. This suggests the preservation of winter precipitation signal in the ice wedge with minor isotope transformation. The low range of stable isotope values in the ice wedge indicates quite stable winter climate conditions, favorable to ice wedge growth.Reconstructed mean winter air temperature was close to modern, but it is assumed that air temperature of the coldest winter month was lower and more stable than at present.

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Holocene warming in western continental Eurasia driven by glacial retreat and greenhouse forcing

Cited by 107 publications

References 49 publications

Ice wedges as archives of winter paleoclimate: A review

Ice wedges as archives of winter paleoclimate: A review

Blocking induced by the strengthened Siberian High led to drying in west Asia during the 4.2 ka BP event – a hypothesis

Winter air temperature during the Holocene optimum in the north‐eastern part of the east European plain based on ice wedge stable isotope records

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