Abstract
The primary aim of this report is to give an overview of the Holocene environmental and climatic changes in Greenland and to describe the development of the periglacial environment during the Holocene. Special emphasis is given to the influence of the ice sheet on its surroundings, both in terms of time (with respect to the response of the biosphere to deglaciation or ice sheet proximity) and in space (through the influence of the ice sheet on the regional climate, more specifically on temperature and aridity). Published records are reviewed, and regional trends are summarized. A range of different natural archives is available for such studies, including ice-core data, marine records, and continental sources of information, including peat profiles and lacustrine records. Because of the high number of lakes in all ice-free areas of Greenland, the lacustrine records offer the opportunity to get a spatial overview of past changes in environment and climate as well. This report focuses on (palaeo-) ecological studies, as it is intended to assemble basic information for future studies on adaptation of the biosphere to changes in climate. There is a bias towards pollen- and macro-remain-based reconstructions of past changes, as these dominate performed palaeoecological studies in
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Engels, Stefan;
Helmens, Karin
[1]
- Dept. of Physical Geography and Quaternary Geology, Stockholm Univ., Stockholm (Sweden)
Citation Formats
Engels, Stefan, and Helmens, Karin.
Holocene environmental changes and climate development in Greenland.
Sweden: N. p.,
2010.
Web.
Engels, Stefan, & Helmens, Karin.
Holocene environmental changes and climate development in Greenland.
Sweden.
Engels, Stefan, and Helmens, Karin.
2010.
"Holocene environmental changes and climate development in Greenland."
Sweden.
@misc{etde_1004336,
title = {Holocene environmental changes and climate development in Greenland}
author = {Engels, Stefan, and Helmens, Karin}
abstractNote = {The primary aim of this report is to give an overview of the Holocene environmental and climatic changes in Greenland and to describe the development of the periglacial environment during the Holocene. Special emphasis is given to the influence of the ice sheet on its surroundings, both in terms of time (with respect to the response of the biosphere to deglaciation or ice sheet proximity) and in space (through the influence of the ice sheet on the regional climate, more specifically on temperature and aridity). Published records are reviewed, and regional trends are summarized. A range of different natural archives is available for such studies, including ice-core data, marine records, and continental sources of information, including peat profiles and lacustrine records. Because of the high number of lakes in all ice-free areas of Greenland, the lacustrine records offer the opportunity to get a spatial overview of past changes in environment and climate as well. This report focuses on (palaeo-) ecological studies, as it is intended to assemble basic information for future studies on adaptation of the biosphere to changes in climate. There is a bias towards pollen- and macro-remain-based reconstructions of past changes, as these dominate performed palaeoecological studies in Greenland; unfortunately, only a limited number of studies exist that include more modern proxies such as diatoms or chironomids (climate-indicators), but where available in the literature, these have been included. The report starts with an introduction where the current climatic and biological zonation of Greenland is discussed together with an overview of the geology of Greenland (on the full geological timescale) in order to put the following sections in perspective. Chapter 2 discusses the ice sheet history of Greenland from the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) onward where special emphasis is given to the spatial variability of deglaciation at the onset of the Holocene. To enhance the readability of this chapter, we decided to divide Greenland in 4 geographical regions, which is also done in Chapter 3. Chapter 3 forms the major part of this report, and provides summaries of reconstructions of temperature, precipitation, vegetation and other climatic and environmental parameters. These climate reconstructions are most often based on different climate-indicators, both biological (i.e. organisms, e.g. diatoms) and geochemical (e.g. oxygen isotopes or Pb-pollution). Unfortunately, major parts of Greenland have not been investigated in detail with respect to Holocene environmental development, inevitably leading to gaps in our overview. Also, a lot of information was available from e.g. the Greenland ice-core records, but we only summarize the most relevant papers in this report. Chapter 4 continues with an introduction to the so-called 'transfer function approach', where the development of training sets and mathematical techniques are discussed, followed by an overview of the work that has been done in Greenland. Chapter 5 summarizes the period right after deglaciation as reconstructed from many lake-records, and discusses delayed responses of parts of the vegetation}
place = {Sweden}
year = {2010}
month = {Dec}
}
title = {Holocene environmental changes and climate development in Greenland}
author = {Engels, Stefan, and Helmens, Karin}
abstractNote = {The primary aim of this report is to give an overview of the Holocene environmental and climatic changes in Greenland and to describe the development of the periglacial environment during the Holocene. Special emphasis is given to the influence of the ice sheet on its surroundings, both in terms of time (with respect to the response of the biosphere to deglaciation or ice sheet proximity) and in space (through the influence of the ice sheet on the regional climate, more specifically on temperature and aridity). Published records are reviewed, and regional trends are summarized. A range of different natural archives is available for such studies, including ice-core data, marine records, and continental sources of information, including peat profiles and lacustrine records. Because of the high number of lakes in all ice-free areas of Greenland, the lacustrine records offer the opportunity to get a spatial overview of past changes in environment and climate as well. This report focuses on (palaeo-) ecological studies, as it is intended to assemble basic information for future studies on adaptation of the biosphere to changes in climate. There is a bias towards pollen- and macro-remain-based reconstructions of past changes, as these dominate performed palaeoecological studies in Greenland; unfortunately, only a limited number of studies exist that include more modern proxies such as diatoms or chironomids (climate-indicators), but where available in the literature, these have been included. The report starts with an introduction where the current climatic and biological zonation of Greenland is discussed together with an overview of the geology of Greenland (on the full geological timescale) in order to put the following sections in perspective. Chapter 2 discusses the ice sheet history of Greenland from the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) onward where special emphasis is given to the spatial variability of deglaciation at the onset of the Holocene. To enhance the readability of this chapter, we decided to divide Greenland in 4 geographical regions, which is also done in Chapter 3. Chapter 3 forms the major part of this report, and provides summaries of reconstructions of temperature, precipitation, vegetation and other climatic and environmental parameters. These climate reconstructions are most often based on different climate-indicators, both biological (i.e. organisms, e.g. diatoms) and geochemical (e.g. oxygen isotopes or Pb-pollution). Unfortunately, major parts of Greenland have not been investigated in detail with respect to Holocene environmental development, inevitably leading to gaps in our overview. Also, a lot of information was available from e.g. the Greenland ice-core records, but we only summarize the most relevant papers in this report. Chapter 4 continues with an introduction to the so-called 'transfer function approach', where the development of training sets and mathematical techniques are discussed, followed by an overview of the work that has been done in Greenland. Chapter 5 summarizes the period right after deglaciation as reconstructed from many lake-records, and discusses delayed responses of parts of the vegetation}
place = {Sweden}
year = {2010}
month = {Dec}
}