the mjauvotn tephra and other holocene tephra horizons from the faroe islands a link between the icelandic source region the nordic seas and the european continent six different tephra horizons were found in peat and lacustrine sediments on the faroe islands in the north atlantic their geochemistry showed that they were of icelandic origin three of these can be correlated with previously described tephra horizons from the faroe islands the saksunarvatn tephra c 9000 bp the hekla 4 c 3800 bp and hekla selsund c 3600 bp a previously unrecorded basaltic tephra dated to c 5700 5300 bp was found in two lacustrine successions this horizon is named the mjauvotn tephra after mjauvotn lake on the island of streymoy two further tephras were recorded the basaltic phase of the landnam tephra viia c ad 870s and the rhyolitic tjornuvk tephra these were found in sediments deposited shortly after the first phase of human settlement at tjornuvik which is ams dated to ad 675 861 calibrated age the faroe islands are an important link between the volcanic sources on iceland and the established tephrochronological frameworks on the british isles scandinavia and germany their position within a sensitive region of the northeastern branch of the north atlantic drift make the faroe islands ideal for registering climate changes during the holocene the establishment of a modern tephrochronology may provide a tool for more precisely dating and correlating regional climate events in and around the nordic seas

insolation values for the climate of the last 10 million years new values for the astronomical parameters of the earth s orbit and rotation eccentricity obliquity and precession are proposed for paleoclimatic research related to the late miocene the pliocene and the quaternary they have been obtained from a numerical solution of the lagrangian system of the planetary point masses and from an analytical solution of the poisson equations of the earth moon system the analytical expansion allows the direct determination of the main frequencies with their phase and amplitude numerical and analytical comparisons with the former astronomical solution ber78 are performed so that the accuracy and the interval of time over which the new solution is valid can be estimated the corresponding insolation values have also been computed this analysis leads to the conclusion that the new values are expected to be reliable over the last 5 ma in the time domain and at least over the last 10 ma in the frequency domain

towards a holocene tephrochronology for the faroe islands north atlantic abstract the faroe islands hold a key position in the north atlantic region for tephra studies due to their relative proximity to iceland several tephras have been described over the last 50 years in peat and lake sediment sequences including the type sites for the saksunarvatn and mjauvotn tephras here we present a comprehensive overview of holocene tephras found on the faroe island in total 23 tephra layers are described including visible macrotephras such as the saksunarvatn and hekla 4 tephras and several cryptotephras the importance of tephras originally described from the faroe islands is highlighted and previously unpublished results are included in addition full datasets for several sites are published here for the first time the saksunarvatn ash now considered to be the result of several eruptions rather than one major eruption can be separated into two phases on the faroe islands one early phase with two precursor eruptions with lower mgo concentrations 4 5 5 0 wt than the main eruption and a later phase with higher mgo concentrations 5 5 6 0 wt including the visible saksunarvatn ash the tjornuvik tephra previously considered to be a primary deposit is now interpreted as a reworked tephra with material from at least two middle holocene eruptions of hekla several of the tephras identified on the faroe islands provide useful isochrons for climate events during the holocene

lateglacial and early holocene palaeoclimatic reconstruction based on glacier fluctuations and equilibrium line altitudes at northern folgefonna hardanger western norway northern folgefonna c 23 km 2 is a nearly circular maritime ice cap located on the folgefonna peninsula in hardanger western norway by combining the position of marginal mor aines with ams radiocarbon dated glacier meltwater induced sediments in proglacial lakes draining northern folgefonna a continuous high resolution record of variations in glacier size and equili brium line altitudes elas during the lateglacial and early holocene has been obtained after the termination of the younger dryas c 11 500 cal yr bp a short lived 100 150 years climatically induced glacier readvance termed the jondal event 1 occurred within the preboreal oscillation pbo c 11 100 cal yr bp bracketed to 10 550 10 450 cal yr bp a second glacier readvance is named the jondal event 2 a third readvance occurred about 10 000 cal yr bp and corresponds with the erdalen event 1 recorded at jostedalsbreen an exponential relationship between mean solid winter precipitation and ablation season temperature at the ela of norwegian glaciers is used to reconstruct former variations in winter precipitation based on the corresponding ela and an indepen dent proxy for summer temperature compared to the present the younger dryas was much colder and drier the jondal event 1 pbo was colder and somewhat drier and the jondal event 2 was much wetter the erdalen event 1 started as rather dry and terminated as somewhat wetter varia tions in glacier magnitude elas and corresponding palaeoclimatic reconstructions at northern folge fonna suggest that low altitude cirque glaciers lowest altitude of marginal moraines 290 m in the area existed for the last time during the younger dryas these low altitude cirque glaciers of sug gested younger dryas age do not fit into the previous reconstructions of the younger dryas ice sheet in hardanger copyright 2005 john wiley sons ltd

early preboreal cooling in the nordic seas region triggered by meltwater at the younger dryas preboreal transition a high resolution core from the northeastern norwegian sea reveals a two step warming of sea surface temperatures dated at respectively 10 200 10 000 and 9700 9500 14 c yr b p 11 450 11 350 and 11 150 11 000 cal yr b p warming was interrupted by a period having stable temperatures and a reduction in sea surface salinity and we suggest that this pause in warming was triggered by an increase in freshwater supply that may have hampered the north atlantic heat conveyor the freshwater influx correlates to an atmospheric cooling over both the greenland ice sheet and northwest europe and to cooling of surface temperatures in the nordic seas freshwater may have been supplied from the waning fennoscandian ice sheet

persistent solar influence on north atlantic climate during the holocene surface winds and surface ocean hydrography in the subpolar north atlantic appear to have been influenced by variations in solar output through the entire holocene the evidence comes from a close correlation between inferred changes in production rates of the cosmogenic nuclides carbon 14 and beryllium 10 and centennial to millennial time scale changes in proxies of drift ice measured in deep sea sediment cores a solar forcing mechanism therefore may underlie at least the holocene segment of the north atlantic9s 1500 year cycle the surface hydrographic changes may have affected production of north atlantic deep water potentially providing an additional mechanism for amplifying the solar signals and transmitting them globally

fault roughness at seismogenic depths from lidar and photogrammetric analysis fault surface roughness is a principal factor influencing earthquake mechanics and particularly rupture initiation propagation and arrest however little data currently exist on fault surfaces at seismogenic depths here we investigate the roughness of slip surfaces from the seismogenic strike slip gole larghe fault zone exhumed from ca 10 km depth the fault zone exploited pre existing joints and is hosted in granitoid rocks of the adamello batholith italian alps individual seismogenic slip surfaces generally show a first phase of cataclasite production and a second phase with beautifully preserved pseudotachylytes of variable thickness we determined the geometry of fault traces over almost five orders of magnitude using terrestrial laser scanning lidar ca 500 to 1 10 m is not anisotropic and less evolved than at smaller scales these observations are consistent with an evolution of roughness due to fault surface processes that takes place only at scales smaller or comparable to the observed net slip differences in roughness evolution between shallow and deeper faults the latter showing evidences of seismic activity are interpreted as the result of different weakening versus induration processes which also result in localization versus delocalization of deformation in the fault zone from a methodological point of view the technique used here is advantageous over direct measurements of exposed fault surfaces in that it preserves in cross section all of the structures which contribute to fault roughness and removes any subjectivity introduced by the need to distinguish roughness of original slip surfaces from roughness induced by secondary weathering processes moreover offsets can be measured by means of suitable markers and fault rocks are preserved hence their thickness composition and structural features can be characterised providing an integrated dataset which sheds new light on mechanisms of roughness evolution with slip and concomitant fault rock production

ash layers from iceland in the greenland grip ice core correlated with oceanic and land sediments four previously known ash layers ash zones i and ii saksunarvatn and the settlement layer all originating in iceland have been identified in the central greenland ice core grip this correlation of the ash between the different environments is achieved by comparison of the chemical composition of glass shards from the ash this establishes and confirms detailed correlations between the different types of depositional records and the absolute dating of the younger part of the ice core by counting annual layers dates the eruptions accurately a precise connection with dates obtained by14c beyond the range of dendrochronology is established which provides an excellent confirmation of230th 234u dates from corals four additional icelandic ash layers have also been identified in the core but not yet correlated with known ash deposits

the preboreal climate reversal and a subsequent solar forced climate shift accurate chronologies are essential for linking palaeoclimate archives carbon 14 wiggle match dating was used to produce an accurate chronology for part of an early holocene peat sequence from the borchert the netherlands following the younger dryas preboreal transition two climatic shifts could be inferred around 11 400 cal yr bp the expansion of birch betula forest was interrupted by a dry continental phase with dominantly open grassland vegetation coeval with the pbo preboreal oscillation as observed in the grip ice core at 11 250 cal yr bp a sudden shift to a humid climate occurred this second change appears to be contemporaneous with i a sharp increase of atmospheric c 14 ii a temporary decline of atmospheric co2 and iii an increase in the grip be 10 flux the close correspondence with excursions of cosmogenic nuclides points to a decline in solar activity which may have forced the changes in climate and vegetation at around 11 250 cal yr bp copyright c 2004 john wiley sons ltd

holocene climate changes in southern greenland evidence from lake sediments a holocene lake sediment record is presented from lake n14 situated on angissoq island 15 km off the main coast of southern greenland the palaeoclimatic development has been interpreted on the basis of flux and percentage content of biogenic silica clastic material organic material and sulphur as well as sedimentation rate moss content and magnetic susceptibility a total of 43 radiocarbon dates has ensured a reliable chronology it is argued that varying sediment composition mainly reflects changing precipitation by analogy with the present meteorological conditions in southern greenland holocene climate development is inferred between 11550 and 9300 cal yr bp temperature and precipitation increase markedly but this period is climatically unstable from 9300 yr bp conditions become more stable and a holocene climatic optimum characterised by warm and humid conditions is observed from 8000 to 5000 cal yr bp from 4700 cal yr bp the first signs of a climatic deterioration are observed and from 3700 cal yr bp the climate has become more dry and cold superimposed on the climatic long term trend is climate variability on a centennial time scale that increases in amplitude after 3700 cal yr bp a climatic scenario related to the strength and position of the greenland high pressure cell and the iceland low pressure cell is proposed to explain the holocene centennial climate variability a comparison of the lake n14 record with a terrestrial as well as a marine record from the eastern north atlantic ocean suggests that the centennial climate variability was uniform over large areas at certain times less

close range terrestrial digital photogrammetry and terrestrial laser scanning for discontinuity characterization on rock cuts this paper reviews the application of close range terrestrial digital photogrammetry and terrestrial laser scanning for discontinuity characterization on rock cuts terrestrial remote sensing techniques are being increasingly used as a complement to traditional scanline and window mapping methods they provide more comprehensive information on rock cuts allow surveying of inaccessible outcrops and increase user safety selected case studies are used to estimate the accuracy of several 3d model registration approaches and the most time effort and cost effective methods are highlighted it is shown that simple registration networks are able to provide adequate measurement of discontinuity orientation for engineering purposes the case studies presented also illustrate the effects of sampling bias and limitations related to discontinuity characterization using remote sensing techniques vertical orientation bias and occlusion can be of particular concern when persistent discontinuities dip at the same angle as the camera scanner line of sight major advantages of the techniques are presented illustrating how terrestrial remote sensing techniques provide rapid spatial measurements of discontinuity location orientation and curvature and are well suited to the quantification of persistence magnitudes greater than 3 m

quantitative three dimensional description of a rough surface and parameter evolution with shearing note roches reference lmr article 2002 005view record in web of science record created on 2006 11 09 modified on 2016 08 08

a new semi deterministic block theory method with digital photogrammetry for stability analysis of a high rock slope in china abstract this study proposed a new semi deterministic block theory nsdbt method in which the sizes and spatial positions of discontinuities along with their orientations were incorporated hence the locations volumes and sliding forces of key rock blocks could be obtained which could directly provide quantitative reference for support design the nsdbt method was applied to analyze the stability of a high rock slope of changhe dam located in sichuan province southwest china required geological data for the analyses was obtained from field and laboratory investigations the mechanical parameters of discontinuities were obtained by laboratory direct shear tests and geometric characteristics of discontinuities were obtained by digital photogrammetry a total of 3540 discontinuities were identified the analysis results showed that a 57 7 key blocks were excluded owing to taking the formation probability of key blocks into consideration b comparing the results of the calculation and field investigation it was found that the calculated locations of dangerous discontinuities were in good agreement with the failed blocks investigated in the field note the failed blocks include blocks that have developed into real rockfalls and dangerous blocks identified by a field survey c on the studied slope 355 key blocks were searched of which 175 123 and 57 were tetrahedral pentahedral and hexahedral blocks respectively d the volumes of key blocks ranged from 0 01 to 22 83 m 3 and most of them were smaller than 4 m 3 e the sliding forces of key blocks were range from 0 01 to 390 98 kn and most of them were smaller than 50 kn and f water had a great impact on the stability of the slope especially for sampling window 3 in summary the studied slope was stable on the whole but there existed some local small key blocks

holocene paleoceanography and glacial history of the west spitsbergen area euro arctic margin two sediment cores from the west spitsbergen area euro arctic margin md99 2304 and md99 2305 have been investigated for paleoceanographic proxies including benthic and planktonic foraminifera benthic foraminiferal stable isotopes and ice rafted debris core md99 2304 is located on the upper continental margin reflecting variations in the influx of atlantic water in the west spitsbergen current core md99 2305 is located in van mijenfjord picturing variations in tidewater glacier activity as well as fjordocean circulation changes surface water warmer than today was present on the margin as soon as the van mijenfjord was deglaciated by 11 200 cal years bp relatively warm water invaded the fjord bottom almost immediately after the deglaciation a relatively warm early holocene was followedby an abrupt cooling at 8800 cal years bp on the continental margin another cooling in the fjord record 8000 4000 cal years bp is documented by an increase in ice rafted debris and an increase in benthic foraminiferal d 18 o the ird record indicates that central spitsbergen never was completely deglaciated during the holocene relatively cool andstable cond itions similar to the present were establishedabout 4000 cal years bp

a highly unstable holocene climate in the subpolar north atlantic evidence from diatoms a composite record lo09 14 of three sediment cores from the subpolar north atlantic reykjanes ridge was investigated in order to assess surface ocean variability during the last 11 kyr the core site is today partly under the influence of the irminger current ic a branch of the north atlantic drift continuing northwestward around iceland however it is also proximal to the sub arctic front saf that may cause extra dynamic hydrographic conditions we used statistical methods applied to the fossil assemblages of diatoms to reconstruct quantitative sea surface temperatures ssts our investigations give evidence for different regional signatures of holocene surface oceanographic changes in the north atlantic core lo09 14 reveal relatively low and highly variable ssts during the early holocene indicating a weak ic and increased advection of subpolar water over the site a mid holocene thermal optimum with a strong ic occurs from 7 5 to 5 kyr and is followed by cooler and more stable late holocene surface conditions several intervals throughout the holocene are dominated by the diatom species rhizosolenia borealis which we suggest indicates proximity to a strongly defined convergence front most likely the saf several coolings reflecting southeastward advection of cold and ice bearing waters occur at 10 4 9 8 8 3 7 9 6 4 4 7 4 3 and 2 8 kyr the cooling events recorded in the lo09 14 ssts correlate well with both other surface records from the area and the nadw reductions observed at odp site 980 indicating a surface deepwater linkage through the holocene

environmental changes off north iceland during the deglaciation and the holocene foraminifera diatoms and stable isotopes abstract a combined study of foraminifera diatoms and stable isotopes in marine sediments off north iceland records major changes in sea surface conditions since about 15 800 cal years yr bp results are presented from two gravity cores obtained at about 400 m water depth from two separate sedimentary basins on each side of the submarine kolbeinsey ridge the chronology of the sedimentary record is based partly on ams 14c dates partly on the vedde and the saksunarvatn tephra markers as well as the historical hekla ad 1104 tephra during the regional deglaciation the planktonic foraminiferal assemblages are characterised by consistently high percentages of sinistrally coiled neogloboquadrina pachyderma however major environmental variability is reflected by changes in stable isotope values and diatom assemblages low 18o values indicate a strong freshwater peak as well as possible brine formation by sea ice freezing during a pre bolling interval greenland stadial 2 corresponding to the heinrich 1 event the foraminifera suggest a strong concurrent influence of relatively warm and saline atlantic water and both the foraminifera and the diatoms suggest mixing of cold and warm water masses similar but weaker environmental signals are observed during the younger dryas greenland stadial 1 around the level of the vedde ash each freshwater peak is succeeded by an interval of severe cooling both at the beginning of the bolling allerod interstadial complex greenland interstadial 1 and during the preboreal presumably associated with the onset of intense deep water formatiom in the nordic seas the holocene thermal optimum between 10 200 and about 7000 cal years yr bp is interrupted by a marked cooling of the surface waters around 8200 cal yr bp this cold event is clearly expressed by a pronounced increase in the percentages of sinistrally coiled n pachyderma corresponding to a temperature decrease of about 3 c a general cooling in the area is indicated after 7000 6000 cal yr bp both by the diatom data and by the planktonic foraminiferal data after a severe cooling around 6000 cal yr bp the planktonic foraminiferal assemblages suggest a warmer interval between 5500 and 4500 cal yr bp minor temperature fluctuations are reflected both in the foraminiferal and in the diatom data in the upper part of the record but the time resolution of the present data is not high enough to pick up details in environmental changes through the late holocene

the 8k event cause and consequences of a major holocene abrupt climate change abstract a prominent abrupt climate event about 8200 years ago brought generally cold and dry conditions to broad northern hemisphere regions especially in wintertime in response to a very large outburst flood that freshened the north atlantic changes were much larger than typical climate variability before and after the event with anomalies up to many degrees contributing to major displacement of vegetative patterns this 8k event provides a clear case of cause and effect in the paleoclimatic realm and so offers an excellent opportunity for model testing the response to north atlantic freshening has the same general anomaly pattern as observed for older events associated with abrupt climate changes following north atlantic freshening and so greatly strengthens the case that those older events also reflect north atlantic changes the north atlantic involvement in the 8k event helps in estimating limits on climate anomalies that might result in the future if warming caused ice melt and hydrologic cycle intensification at high latitudes lead to major changes in north atlantic circulation few model experiments have directly addressed the 8k event and most studies of proxy records across this event lack the time resolution to fully characterize the anomalies so much work remains to be done

freshwater outbursts to the oceans from glacial lake agassiz and their role in climate change during the last deglaciation abstract lake agassiz was the largest lake in north america during the last deglaciation as the laurentide ice sheet lis retreated large volumes of water stored in this proglacial lake were episodically released into the oceans these waters were variably routed to the gulf of mexico arctic ocean north atlantic ocean and hudson bay during this period the three largest cooling events in the northern hemisphere closely followed 4 of the 5 largest outbursts from lake agassiz 1 the younger dryas which was preceded by a release of 9500 km 3 2 the preboreal oscillation preceded by releases of 9300 km 3 and 5900 km 3 and 3 the 8 2 ka cold event preceded by a 163 000 km 3 outburst these are respectively fluxes of 0 30 sv 0 29 sv 0 19 sv and 5 2 sv if released in 1 year because the influx of freshwater reaching the north atlantic ocean can inhibit thermohaline circulation partly depending on whether the ocean was in a glacial interglacial or transitional mode of circulation we believe that at least these large outbursts from lake agassiz may have provided the triggers for changes in ocean circulation and in turn for widespread climate change

asynchronous climate change between new zealand and the north atlantic during the last deglaciation climatic fluctuations recorded in antarctica and greenland during the last deglaciation 18 10 ka differ markedly in their timing it remains controversial whether local climate fluctuations recorded in southern mid latitudes relate primarily to northern or southern polar records we present multiproxy results from new zealand that show strong evidence for a minor cooling or slowdown in the rate of warming at the time of the north atlantic late glacial interstadial the younger dryas chronozone in new zealand was a period of resumed warming and increased westerly airflow differences between the hemispheres at this time were probably due to a reorganization of the thermohaline circulation system and associated changes in the meridional temperature gradient

the preboreal oscillation around the nordic seas terrestrial and lacustrine responses the occurrence of an early preboreal climatic cooling oscillation pbo in lacustrine and glacial records from northwest europe iceland and greenland is reviewed and documented the often subtle response of the proxy records to this oscillation in combination with its short duration make it difficult to detect owing to its chronostratigraphic position between the 10 000 9900 and 9600 9500 14 c plateaux c 11 300 11 150 calendar yr bp it is also difficult to 14 c date with precision we find that the vegetation response to the pbo varies between sites and regions in contrast to the pioneer vegetation in iceland and southern sweden the expanding birch pine forest in germany denmark was more susceptible to deteriorating growing conditions the combined lacustrine tree ring and glacial records imply that the pbo was characterised by cool and humid conditions throughout northwestern and central europe this is documented by vegetation changes decreased aquatic production increased soil erosion increased 2 h and 13 c content in tree rings readvances or stillstands of the ice sheet in norway and finland and ingression of brackish water into the baltic icelandic proxy records from lake sediments and glacial moraines imply cooler conditions than during the previous preboreal period but not as extreme as during the younger dryas greenland records suggest that the early preboreal was characterised by ice readvances as an effect of cool climate and increased precipitation in relation to the younger dryas it was not until the end of the pbo that climate was warm enough to melt the land based ice sheet this preboreal oscillation found on both sides of the nordic seas is interpreted as an effect of increased freshwater forcing on the thermohaline circulation in the nordic seas which is implied by a simultaneous and distinct rise in the atmospheric 14 c 12 c ratio a slow down of the thermohaline circulation may tempor arily have pushed the polar front further south 1997 by john wiley sons ltd preboreal oscillation thermohaline circulation lacustrine records glacial records chronology

holocene century scale temperature variability from west greenland lake records synchronous changes in high resolution loss on ignition profiles from widely separated shallow arctic lakes in west greenland suggest that sedimentary records of lake productivity provide a sensitive century scale time series of variability in surface air temperatures throughout the holocene ice cover greatly reduces biological activity in arctic lakes and the common productivity response among lakes is attributed to air temperature controlled variations in the length of the ice cover period comparison with the greenland oxygen isotope records from summit ice cores demonstrates that the inferred temperature fluctuations in the lakes closely follow the century scale fluctuations in the greenland ice core project 18 o record but correlate less well with the greenland ice sheet project 2 record low altitude continental lake records thus not only confirm features of holocene atmospheric temperature variability otherwise seen only in high altitude ice cores from central greenland but also highlight discrepancies between the ice core time series the combined lake and ice core data provide corroborative evidence for an intrinsically unstable holocene climate in greenland including the 8200 yr b p event that is currently recognized as the most pronounced holocene climatic cooling with possible global significance our finding of a link between paleoproductivity and surface air temperature has important implications for reconstructing natural climate variability in areas where such information is still rare the results illustrate the large potential of paleolimnological studies in the arctic

atlantic surface water inflow to the nordic seas during the pleistocene holocene transition mid late younger dryas and pre boreal periods 12 450 10 000 a bp the inflow of atlantic water to the nordic seas from mid late younger dryas to earliest holocene 12 450 10 000 a bp is reconstructed on the basis of a high resolution core link14 from 346 m water depth on the east faroe shelf we have analysed the distribution of planktic and benthic foraminifera stable isotopes and ice rafted debris ird and calculated absolute temperatures and salinities by transfer functions during the investigated time period there was almost continuous inflow of atlantic water to the nordic seas deposition of ird during the mid late younger dryas and pre boreal coolings indicates the presence of melting icebergs and that summer sea surface temperatures were low the east west temperature gradient across the faroe shetland channel was much steeper than today the cold conditions around the faroe islands are attributed to stronger east greenland and east icelandic currents than at present the near continuous inflow of atlantic water is consistent with published evidence suggesting that deep convection took place in the nordic seas although the convection sites probably had shifted to a more easterly position than at present around the time of deposition of the saksunarvatn tephra c 10 350 a bp sea surface temperatures increased to the present level

cyclic variation and solar forcing of holocene climate in the alaskan subarctic high resolution analyses of lake sediment from southwestern alaska reveal cyclic variations in climate and ecosystems during the holocene these variations occurred with periodicities similar to those of solar activity and appear to be coherent with time series of the cosmogenic nuclides 14c and 10be as well as north atlantic drift ice our results imply that small variations in solar irradiance induced pronounced cyclic changes in northern high latitude environments they also provide evidence that centennial scale shifts in the holocene climate were similar between the subpolar regions of the north atlantic and north pacific possibly because of sun ocean climate linkages

synchronized terrestrial atmospheric deglacial records around the north atlantic on the basis of synchronization of three carbon 14 c 14 dated lacustrine sequences from sweden with tree ring and ice core records the absolute age of the younger dryas preboreal climatic shift was determined to be 11 450 to 11 390 80 years before the present a 150 year long cooling in the early preboreal associated with rising delta 14 c values is evident in all records and indicates an ocean ventilation change this cooling is similar to earlier deglacial coolings and box model calculations suggest that they all may have been the result of increased freshwater forcing that inhibited the strength of the north atlantic heat conveyor although the younger dryas may have begun as an anomalous meltwater event

early holocene climate variability and the timing and extent of the holocene thermal maximum htm in northern iceland the magnitude and timing of holocene maximum warmth in the arctic and sub arctic has been the subject of considerable recent interest particularly in the context of future climate change although lying at a crucial location in the north atlantic close to significant atmospheric and oceanic boundaries terrestrial holocene climatic data from iceland are few and predominantly derive from glacial and palaeoecological evidence here we present new datasets from trollaskagi based on chironomid inferred temperatures ci t using sub fossil chironomids from the same lake sediments supplemented by pollen data july air temperatures have been derived using an icelandic training set and the data suggest optimal temperatures at sea level up to 1 5 c above current levels around 8 k cal yr bp a time when birch woodland was well developed in trollaskagi but when woodland had still not fully developed in the more isolated nw peninsula our data thus suggest that optimal summer warmth did not occur in iceland until 8 kcal yr bp at the earliest possibly lasting until 6 7 kcal yr bp the amount of warming for july was therefore at least 1 5 c but possibly up to 2 3 c higher than the 1961 1990 average on the basis of the tree line data comparison with data from elsewhere in adjacent arctic regions greenland and eastern arctic canada show peak warmth to be later in iceland and less pronounced it also appears that there were enhanced temperature gradients during the first half of the holocene between the two study areas trollaskagi and the nw peninsula and that they influenced patterns of vegetation colonisation with current spatial temperature patterns only developing as holocene climate deteriorated after around 6 kcal yr bp

irregular glacial interstadials recorded in a new greenland ice core the greenland ice sheet offers the most favourable conditions in the northern hemisphere for obtaining high resolution continuous time series of climate related parameters profiles of 18o 16o ratio along three previous deep greenland ice cores1 3 seemed to reveal irregular but well defined episodes of relatively mild climate conditions interstadials during the mid and late parts of the last glaciation but there has been some doubt as to whether the shifts in oxygen isotope ratio were genuine representations of changes in climate rather than artefacts due to disturbed stratification here we present results from a new deep ice core drilled at the summit of the greenland ice sheet where the depositional environ ment and the flow pattern of the ice are close to ideal for core recovery and analysis the results reproduce the previous findings to such a degree that the existence of the interstadial episodes can no longer be in doubt according to a preliminary timescale based on stratigraphic studies the interstadials lasted from 500 to 2 000 years and their irregular occurrence suggests complexity in the behaviour of the north atlantic ocean circulation

high resolution analyses of an early holocene climate event may imply decreased solar forcing as an important climate trigger early holocene lacustrine tree ring ice core and marine records reveal that the northern hemisphere underwent a short cooling event at 10 300 calendar yr b p 9100 14 c yr b p the records were compared on a common high resolution time scale and show that the event lasted less than 200 yr with a cooling peak of 50 yr and the event coincides with a distinct holocene thermohaline disturbance recognized in the north atlantic ocean in spite of wellknown freshwater forcings at the time of the event the negligible difference between the modeled d 14 c record based on the gisp2 greenland ice sheet project 2 10 be data and the measured values does not allow for detectable d 14 c changes related to global ocean ventilation we can however show that the onset of the cooling coincides with the onset of one of the largest holocene 10 be flux peaks this finding may imply that the climate system is more

complexity of holocene climate as reconstructed from a greenland ice core glaciochemical time series developed from summit greenland indicate that the chemical composition of the atmosphere was dynamic during the holocene epoch concentrations of sea salt and terrestrial dusts increased in summit snow during the periods 0 to 600 2400 to 3100 5000 to 6100 7800 to 8800 and more than 11 300 years ago the most recent increase and also the most abrupt coincides with the little ice age these changes imply that either the north polar vortex expanded or the meridional air flow intensified during these periods and that temperatures in the mid to high northern latitudes were potentially the coldest since the younger dryas event

continental climate response to orbital forcing from biogenic silica records in lake baikal changes in insolation caused by periodic changes in the earth s orbital parameters provide the primary forcing for global ice ages1 6 but it is not clear to what extent the climates in continental interiors are controlled directly by regional variations in insolation and to what extent they are driven instead by the highly nonlinear response of the oceans and ice sheets here we investigate this question using the record of biogenic silica in lake baikal as a proxy for climate change in this high latitude mid continental region we find a good correlation between this record and that of marine oxygen isotopes4 over the past 250 kyr the baikal record exhibits both a strongly nonlinear component manifested in a 100 kyr periodicity and weaker direct insolation components manifested in the 41 kyr obliquity and 23 and 19 kyr precession orbital cycles these results show that even though extreme continental climates such as this are influenced directly by insolation variations they are dominated by the nonlinear rhythm of the oceans and ice sheets

response of the high latitude northern hemisphere to orbital climate forcing evidence from the nordic seas sediment cores from the nordic greenland iceland and norwegian seas provide evidence that this area acts as an initial responder to the forcing effect of orbitally driven changes in insolation on the climate system as postulated by j imbrie et al the 18 o record of the cores documents a widespread initial deglacial signal in the area between 15 and 13 ka 1000 yr before other deglacial signals from other parts of the northern hemisphere an even earlier meltwater event has been dated to 16 090 185 yr b p north of iceland at the initial rise of northern hemisphere insolation after the last glacial maximum during the period with lowered surface salinities the nordic seas were still cold reconstructions of the surface water conditions of the area show that as the summer insolation values of the northern hemisphere reached half of maximum values a sea ice free corridor opened along norway at 13 4 ka nearly contemporaneous fluctuations of the polar front and the sea surface temperatures with the insolation changes indicate that the nordic seas are very sensitive to insolation forcing especially in regions close to the sea ice margin a decrease in sea surface temperature and an increase in the areal extent of sea ice cover since 7 ka indicate that the area is currently on the way to glacial conditions supporting the predictions made earlier by j imbrie et al

early holocene terrestrial climatic variability along a north atlantic island transect palaeoceanographic implications a synthesis of the early holocene climatic development in the north atlantic region is presented based on three previously published lake records from southern greenland lake n14 iceland lake torfadalsvatn and the faroe islands lake lykkjuvotn the interval 11500 8500 cal bp has been divided into five phases with respect to the inferred strength of the north atlantic current nac and irminger currents ic phase 1 11 500 10 750 cal bp was characterised by the first establishment of the nac and ic in the vicinity of the studied sites interrupted by the preboreal oscillation around 11 200cal bp phase 2 10 750 10 100 cal bp was marked by a further warming step in southern greenland rather concordant with a change into colder and more variable winters on the faroe islands it is proposed that this could partly be related to a series of melt water outbursts disturbing the thermohaline circulation in the eastern atlantic ocean resulting in a warming trend in the western region during phase 3 10 100 9400cal bp the strength of the ic reaching northwestern iceland intensified a more stable regime in surface circulation was established at the onset of phase 4 9400 8900 cal bp in southern greenland and was followed by a change towards further warm conditions on iceland at the onset of phase 5 8900 8500 cal bp c 2007 elsevier ltd all rights reserved

the 8 2 kyr bp event simulated by a global atmosphere sea ice ocean model seven freshwater perturbation experiments were performed with a global atmosphere sea ice ocean model to study the mechanism behind the 8 2 kyr bp holocene cooling event these experiments differed in initial state and duration of the applied freshwater pulse while the amount of freshwater was kept constant 4 67x10 14 m 3 one of the scenarios with freshwater added to the labrador sea at a rate of 0 75 sv during 20 years resulted in weakening of the north atlantic thermohaline circulation during 320 years and surface cooling varying from 1 to 5 degreesc over adjacent continents this result is consistent with proxy data suggesting that a meltwater induced weakening of the thermohaline circulation caused the event moreover our results indicate that the time scale of the meltwater release and the initial state are important as both have a strong effect on the magnitude and duration of the produced model response

variability and seasonality of north atlantic climate during the early holocene evidence from faroe island lake sediments based on their position in relation to major ocean currents palaeoclimatic archives in the faroe islands are expected to be sensitive recorders of variations in north atlantic circulation the multiproxy analysis magnetic susceptibility total carbon nitrogen and sulphur biogenic silica grains 255 mu m of a lacustrine record with both winter and summer climate indicators illustrates the variability of faroese climate during the early holocene c 11 300 10 240 cal yr bp and allows comparison with other records in the region our high resolution record suggests a period of predominantly winter cooling and increased storminess centred at c 11 150 cal yr bp followed by a period of stability between c 11 000 and 10 680 cal yr bp which correlates with a time when the north atlantic was particularly free of meltwater incursions after c 10 680 cal yr bp both winter and summer indicators show an increase in variability broadly synchronous with increased variability at other north atlantic sites within this time period a predominantly winter cooling centred at c 10 600 cal yr bp a winter summer cooling centred at c 10 450 cal yr bp and a winter summer cooling centred at c 10 300 cal yr bp are recorded these distinctive coolings correspond to periods of ice core delta o 18 inferred lowered atmospheric temperatures over greenland and the reoccurrence of meltwater outbursts at c 10 600 10 500 and 10 350 cal yr bp less

the chronology of the last deglaciation implications to the cause of the younger dryas event it has long been recognized that the transition from the last glacial to the present interglacial was punctuated by a brief and intense return to cold conditions this extraordinary event referred to by european palynologists as the younger dryas was centered in the northern atlantic basin evidence is accumulating that it may have been initiated and terminated by changes in the mode of operation of the northern atlantic ocean further it appears that these mode changes may have been triggered by diversions of glacial meltwater between the mississippi river and the st lawrence river drainage systems we report here accelerator mass spectrometry ams radiocarbon results on two strategically located deep sea cores one provides a chronology for surface water temperatures in the northern atlantic and the other for the meltwater discharge from the mississippi river our objective in obtaining these results was to strengthen our ability to correlate the air temperature history for the northern atlantic basin with the meltwater history for the laurentian ice sheet

late glacial to holocene environmental changes and climate variability evidence from voldafjorden western norway sedimentological micropalaeontological benthic foraminifers and dinoflagellate cysts stable isotope data and ams 14c datings on cores and surface samples in addition to acoustic data have been obtained from voldafjorden western norway based on these data the late glacial and holocene sedimentological processes and variability in circulation and fjord environments are outlined glacial marine sedimentation prevailed in the voldafjorden between 11 0 kyr and 9 2 kyr bp radiocarbon years in the later part of the allerod period and for the rest of the holocene there was deposition of fine grained normal marine sediments in the fjord basin turbidite layers recorded in core material and on acoustic profiles dated to ca 2 1 6 9 7 6 ca 9 6 and ca 11 0 kyr bp interrupted the marine sedimentation the event dated to between 6 9 and 7 6 kyr bp probably corresponds to a tsunami resulting from large scale sliding on the continental margin off norway the storegga tsunami during the later part of the allerod period voldafjorden had a strongly stratified water column with cold bottom water and warm surface water reaching interglacial temperatures during the summer seasons during the younger dryas cold event there was a return to arctic sea surface summer temperatures possibly with year round sea ice cover the entire benthic fauna being composed of arctic species the first strong holocene warming observed simultaneously in bottom and sea surface temperature proxies occurred at ca 10 1 kyr bp bottom water proxies indicate two cold periods possibly with 2 c lowering of temperatures at ca 10 0 pbo 1 and at 9 8 kyr bp pbo 2 these events may both result from catastrophic outbursts of baltic glacial lake water the remainder of the holocene experienced variability in basin water temperature indicated by oxygen isotope measurements with an amplitude of ca 2 c with cooler periods at ca 8 4 9 0 5 6 5 2 4 6 4 2 3 5 2 2 1 2 and 0 4 0 8 kyr bp changes in the fjord hydrology through the past 11 3 kyr show a close correspondence both in amplitude and timing of events recorded in cores from the norwegian sea region and the north atlantic these data suggest a close relationship between fjord environments and variability in large scale oceanic circulation copyright 2001 john wiley sons ltd

improvement of photogrammetric jrc data distributions based on parabolic error models this research describes the influences of the focal length of lenses as well as camera to object distances that control the accuracy and precision of 3d photogrammetry models used for assessing joint roughness coefficients jrc a parabolic error model which is developed by a series of photogrammetric laboratory tests is used to improve the jrc data distributions obtained from the photogrammetry 3d models the influences of camera to object distances and focal lengths on the accuracy of jrc values are investigated in laboratory conditions a series of photogrammetry tests are performed under different conditions by varying the camera to object distances and the camera lens focal lengths the camera positions are controlled on a sliding device to increase the accuracy of geo referencing the results suggest the allowable photographic distances for the employed photogrammetry equipment e g camera and focal lengths of lenses to estimate jrc values through comparison with the manually measured values the root mean square error rmse of jrc functions which are correlated with the camera distances and the normalized jrc values are depicted as different size parabolic curves according to the employed focal lengths these models successfully improve on the accuracy of the originally obtained jrc distributions

the role of seasonality in abrupt climate change abstract a case is made that seasonality switches dominated by wintertime were instrumental in abrupt climate changes in the north atlantic region during the last glaciation and into the holocene the primary evidence comes from mismatches between mean annual temperatures from greenland ice cores in comparison with snowline changes in east greenland northern europe and north america the most likely explanation is a shutdown or reduction in strength of the conveyor this allows the spread of winter sea ice across the north atlantic thus causing the northern region to experience much colder winters because they mimic the greenland temperature rather than the snowline signal changes in the atlantic intertropical convergence zone and the asian monsoon may also share a winter linkage with greenland thus the paleoclimate record is consistent with the notion that a huge continental sector of the northern hemisphere stretching from greenland to asia was close to an extreme winter threshold during much of the last glaciation winter climate crossed this threshold repeatedly with marked changes in seasonality that may well have amplified and propagated a signal of abrupt change throughout the hemisphere and into the tropics

preboreal oscillation caused by a glacial lake agassiz flood the preboreal oscillation pbo has been attributed to increased meltwater but the source of the meltwater and causative mechanism of the pbo has remained elusive here we attribute the source to a massive meltwater discharge event from an abrupt drainage of glacial lake agassiz canada via the mackenzie river into the arctic ocean a maximum volume of 21 000 km 3 was discharged over a 1 5 3 yr period with a peakdischarge of 0 500 sverdrups sv equivalent to a 6 m rise in the arctic ocean or 0 062 m rise in global sea level the flood occurred at about 11 335 cal yr bp and was followed by a b0 042 sv flow until 10 750 cal yr bp when the southern outlet of lake agassiz reopened and diverted drainage to the mississippi river system we estimate that only 2 4 of the flood water would have frozen into sea ice within the beaufort region but coupled with increased river ice production during winter and thicker pack ice growth throughout the arctic ocean a thicker longer lasting and more extensive packice may have been flushed through fram strait the thicker and more extensive packice and freshened sea surface may have triggered the pbo by increasing albedo and generating a low salinity anomaly upon melting in the north atlantic thus decreasing the formation of north atlantic deep water r 2002 elsevier science ltd all rights reserved

large slip velocity of the surface rupture associated with the 1990 luzon earthquake we found more than fifty people who provided important information on coseismic fault motion of the 1990 luzon the philippines earthquake about thirty of them witnessed coseismic fault motion close to less than 30 m the surface rupture the average slip duration reported was about 1 s and some reported much less than 1 s which is surprisingly short compared with the predicted value of about 10 s for its size e g fault length 120 km slip 5 m according to scaling laws obtained from teleseismic studies teleseismic studies only obtain spatially and temporally averaged values of fault motion but actual coseismic fault slip has a high degree of spatial heterogeneity the large slip velocity over 10 m s obtained by our study suggests a very high local stress drop 100 mpa other important information from the eyewitness accounts is that the slip velocity seems to have been nearly constant implying that the fault slip is well described by a ramp function proposed by haskell