Modern and late Holocene wind regimes over the Great Plains (central U.S.A.)

Schmeisser, Rebecca L.; Loope, David B.; Mason, Joseph A.

doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2009.11.003

Cited by 28 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 45 publications

(102 reference statements)

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“…The northwest-southeast trend is parallel with the resultant of the dominant sand drift direction for this time period, as preserved in dune crest orientations and slipfaces within the dunes (Muhs et al, 1997;Schmeisser et al, 2010;Sridhar et al, 2006;Swinehart, 1998). During the last major (2007), Goble and Mason (2007), and Goble et al (2008) and re-dated for this study.…”

Section: Spatial Trend Of Ages In the Nebraska Sand Hillsmentioning

confidence: 76%

Temporal and spatial variability in dune reactivation across the Nebraska Sand Hills, USA

et al. 2014

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The Nebraska Sand Hills is a stabilized dune field on the Great Plains of North America. Although it is well known that this dune field, like several others on the Great Plains, last experienced widespread activity during the Medieval Climatic Anomaly (MCA, ~AD 900–1300), spatial variation in the timing and nature of drought development is poorly constrained. To elucidate spatial trends in dune reactivation, samples potentially representing MCA activity across the Sand Hills were collected and dated using optically stimulated luminescence (OSL). Ages from the older part of the MCA were obtained from eolian sediments in the northwestern Sand Hills, while ages from later in the episode were obtained to the southeast, suggesting a geographic trend in the timing of revegetation of the dunes near the end of the drought. Revegetation likely occurred to the northwest initially as a result of renewed moisture availability from a rising water table in the interdunes, which serve as refugia for vegetation during times of drought. Vegetation then gradually spread to the southeastern Sand Hills. An additional spatial trend in ages is apparent in the chronology of linear dune mobilization across the Sand Hills. Linear dunes in the northwest are superimposed on megadunes and originated during the last reactivation, while linear dunes in the southeast are built around older cores of dunes and formed during several reactivations. Our geochronology reveals three episodes of eolian transport, including the MCA, in the formation of linear dunes in the southeast.

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Section: Spatial Trend Of Ages In the Nebraska Sand Hillsmentioning

confidence: 76%

Temporal and spatial variability in dune reactivation across the Nebraska Sand Hills, USA

et al. 2014

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“…During the winter months in the Great Plains region of North America, conditions are relatively dry (Schmeisser et al, 2010). From our modern climate analogue, this can be explained by cold, dry northerly winds from the interior of Canada that follow the western edge of the 500mb geopotential low-pressure trough centred over the interior region of Canada.…”

Section: Paleowinds and The Application Of The Modern Climate Analogumentioning

confidence: 86%

“…25 However, during the spring and early summer months, a high-pressure ridge positions over the Great Plains region shifts the winds, creating more of a southerly-to-southwesterly component of flow. Typically, southerly winds are responsible for bringing in moist latent air from the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Plains region (Sridhar et al, 2006), which is known as the Great Plains low-level jet (Schmeisser et al, 2010). The southerly winds are associated with the anti-cyclonic flow around the Bermuda High off the coast of eastern North America.…”

Section: Paleowinds and The Application Of The Modern Climate Analogumentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, if the Great Plains low-level jet is closed off from its moisture 5 source (the Gulf of Mexico), the Great Plains region will essentially be dry during the summer months. Schmeisser et al (2010) suggest that in order for drought to develop and persist in the Great Plains region during the summer months, the Bermuda High must be reduced or positioned either more easterly or southerly, which would create a more south-westerly component of flow. However, our 500mb geopotential height composite anomaly maps for both spring and summer (Figures 5b & c) documents the development, and persistence of an anomalous 500mb high-pressure ridge over the Great Plains region, which 10 likely inhibited the Great Plains low-level jet from transporting moisture from the Gulf of Mexico into the region.…”

Section: Paleowinds and The Application Of The Modern Climate Analogumentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Reconstructed palaeowinds using optical luminescence dating from sand dunes in the Great Plains region suggest a more southwesterly component of flow during periods of drought, such as during the mega drought centred on 4200 cal yr BP (Schmeisser et al, 2010). Therefore, the development and persistence of anomalously 500mb high-pressure ridges over the Great Plains region and the subsequent anti-cyclonic component of flow offers one hypothetical explanation to the widespread ecological 15 responses from the Great Plains and central Rocky Mountain regions during the mega drought centred on 4200 cal yr BP.…”

Section: Paleowinds and The Application Of The Modern Climate Analogumentioning

confidence: 99%

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Drought and vegetation change in the central Rocky Mountains: Potential climatic mechanisms associated with the mega drought at 4200 cal yr BP

Carter

Shinker

2017

Preprint

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Abstract. Droughts are a naturally re-occurring phenomena that result in economic and societal losses. Yet, the most historic droughts that occurred in the 1930s and 1950s in the Great Plains and western United States were both shorter in duration, and less severe than mega droughts that have plagued the region in the past. Roughly 4200 years ago, a ~150-year long mega drought occurred in the central Rocky Mountains, as indicated by pollen evidence from lake sediments from Long Lake, southeastern Wyoming. However, pollen evidence does not record the climate mechanisms that caused the drought; they only 15 provide evidence that the drought occurred. A modern climate analogue technique using North American Regional Reanalysis data was applied to the sedimentary data in order to identify possible synoptic and dynamic patterns that may have caused the mega drought at 4200 cal yr BP. Our results demonstrate the warm and dry conditions were a result of anomalously higherthan-normal geopotential heights that were centred over the Great Plains beginning in spring and persisting until the fall.

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Introduction to Inland Dunes of North America

Lancaster

Hesp

2020

Dunes of the World

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Modern and late Holocene wind regimes over the Great Plains (central U.S.A.)

Cited by 28 publications

References 45 publications

Temporal and spatial variability in dune reactivation across the Nebraska Sand Hills, USA

Temporal and spatial variability in dune reactivation across the Nebraska Sand Hills, USA

Drought and vegetation change in the central Rocky Mountains: Potential climatic mechanisms associated with the mega drought at 4200 cal yr BP

Introduction to Inland Dunes of North America

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