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Response of a marine‐terminating Greenland outlet glacier to abrupt cooling 8200 and 9300 years ago
Author(s) -
Young Nicolás E.,
Briner Jason P.,
Axford Yarrow,
Csatho Beata,
Babonis Greg S.,
Rood Dylan H.,
Finkel Robert C.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2011gl049639
Subject(s) - greenland ice sheet , geology , glacier , climate change , glacier morphology , holocene , ice stream , ice sheet , ice sheet model , cryosphere , climatology , future sea level , ice core , glacier mass balance , oceanography , physical geography , sea ice , geomorphology , geography
Long‐term records of Greenland outlet‐glacier change extending beyond the satellite era can inform future predictions of Greenland Ice Sheet behavior. Of particular relevance is elucidating the Greenland Ice Sheet's response to decadal‐ and centennial‐scale climate change. Here, we reconstruct the early Holocene history of Jakobshavn Isbræ, Greenland's largest outlet glacier, using 10 Be surface exposure ages and 14 C‐dated lake sediments. Our chronology of ice‐margin change demonstrates that Jakobshavn Isbræ advanced to deposit moraines in response to abrupt cooling recorded in central Greenland ice cores ca. 8,200 and 9,300 years ago. While the rapid, dynamically aided retreat of many Greenland outlet glaciers in response to warming is well documented, these results indicate that marine‐terminating outlet glaciers are also able to respond quickly to cooling. We suggest that short lag times of high ice flux margins enable a greater magnitude response of marine‐terminating outlets to abrupt climate change compared to their land‐terminating counterparts.