| Title | Ice cores from the St. Elias Mountains, Yukon, Canada: their significance for climate, atmospheric composition and volcanism in the North Pacific region |
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| Author | Zdanowicz, C ;
Fisher, D; Bourgeois, J; Demuth, M; Zheng, J; Mayewski, P;
Kreutz, K; Osterberg, E; Yalcin, K; Wake, C; Steig, E J; Froese, D; Goto-Azuma, K |
| Source | Arctic vol. 67, no. 5, 2014 p. 35-57, https://doi.org/10.14430/arctic4352  Open Access |
| Image |  |
| Year | 2014 |
| Alt Series | Earth Sciences Sector, Contribution Series 20130041 |
| Publisher | The Arctic Institute of North America |
| Document | serial |
| Lang. | English; English |
| Media | paper; on-line; digital |
| File format | pdf |
| Province | Yukon |
| NTS | 115B/05; 115B/06; 115B/11; 115B/12; 115B/13; 115B/14; 115C/07; 115C/08; 115C/09; 115C/10; 115C/15; 115C/16 |
| Area | St. Elias Mountains; Eclipse Icefield |
| Lat/Long WENS | -141.0000 -139.0000 61.0000 60.2500 |
| Subjects | environmental geology; Nature and Environment; ice; pollen analyses; core analysis; drill core analyses; isotopes; oxygen isotopes; stable isotope studies; pollution; volcanism; climate effects; Air
pollution |
| Illustrations | location maps; tables; graphs |
| Program | Climate Change Geoscience Essential Climate Variable Monitoring |
| Released | 2014 01 18 |
| Abstract | A major achievement in research supported by the Kluane Lake Research Station was the recovery, in 2001 - 02, of a suite of cores from the icefields of the central St. Elias Mountains, Yukon, by teams
of researchers from Canada, the United States, and Japan. This project led to the development of parallel, long (103 - 104 year) ice-core records of climate and atmospheric change over an altitudinal range of more than 2 km, from the Eclipse Icefield
(3017 m) to the ice-covered plateau of Mt. Logan (5340 m). These efforts built on earlier work recovering single ice cores in this region. Comparison of these records has allowed for variations in climate and atmospheric composition to be linked with
changes in the vertical structure and dynamics of the North Pacific atmosphere, providing a unique perspective on these changes over the Holocene. Owing to their privileged location, cores from the St. Elias Icefields also contain a remarkably
detailed record of aerosols from various sources around or across the North Pacific. In this paper we review major scientific findings from the study of St. Elias Mountain ice cores, focusing on five main themes: (1) The record of stable water
isotopes (d18O, dD), which has unique characteristics that differ from those of Greenland, other Arctic ice cores, and even among sites in the St. Elias; (2) the snow accumulation history; (3) the record of pollen, biomass burning aerosol, and desert
dust deposition; (4) the record of long-range air pollutant deposition (sulphate and lead); and (5) the record of paleo-volcanism. Our discussion draws on studies published since 2000, but based on older ice cores from the St. Elias Mountains
obtained in 1980 and 1996. |
| Summary | (Plain Language Summary, not published)
The measurement of key climate and atmospheric variables contained on the surface of and within glaciers and ice caps provides unique information on the
state and evolution of the Earth's cold regions and their relationship with geophysical process far and near. Because glaciers are, on the one-hand, distant from direct anthropogenic influences but, on the other hand, affected by the global and
regional circulation of moisture, energy fluxes and contaminants, they provide unique perspectives on climate changes, their manifestations and their impacts on human and natural systems. These perspectives include those for water in the atmosphere
and surface waters, and tracking changes in the intensity and trajectory of atmospheric circulation that impacts everything from local and regional weather patterns to run-off frequency and intensity; and the service these provide to water resources,
ecological flows, water for industry and municipalities. |
| GEOSCAN ID | 292576 |
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