Changes In Moisture Sources Research Articles

Seasonal deuterium excess in a Tien Shan ice core: Influence of moisture transport and recycling in Central Asia

Stable water isotope (δ18O, δD) data from a high elevation (5100 masl) ice core recovered from the Tien Shan Mountains, Kyrgyzstan, display a seasonal cycle in deuterium excess (d = δD − 8*δ18O) related to changes in the regional hydrologic cycle during 1994–2000. While there is a strong correlation (r2 = 0.98) between δ18O and δD in the ice core samples, the regression slope (6.9) and mean d value (23.0) are significantly different than the global meteoric water line values. The resulting time‐series ice core d profile contains distinct winter maxima and summer minima, with a yearly d amplitude of ∼15–20‰. Local‐scale processes that may affect d values preserved in the ice core are not consistent with the observed seasonal variability. Data from Central Asian monitoring sites in the Global Network of Isotopes in Precipitation (GNIP) have similar seasonal d changes. We suggest that regional‐scale hydrological conditions, including seasonal changes in moisture source, transport, and recycling in the Caspian/Aral Sea region, are responsible for the observed spatial and temporal d variability.

Holocene Lake-Effect Precipitation in Northern Michigan

Holocene sediments from Nelson Lake, on Michigan's eastern Upper Peninsula, provide isotopic, pollen, and charcoal evidence for a two-step sequence of changes in moisture source and increased lake-effect precipitation during the late Holocene. Between 8000 and 5300 cal yr B.P., a warm, dry climate and zonal atmospheric circulation produced enriched stable oxygen and carbon isotopic values in combination with high percentages of pine pollen and sustained influx of charcoal particles. After 5300 cal yr B.P., decreasing isotopic values in marl and increasing pollen percentages of mesic hardwoods and northern white cedar indicate increased meridional air flow and precipitation from cold winter storms generated in Alberta, Canada. After 3000 cal yr B.P., abrupt declines in values of δ13C and δ18O and increased pollen representation of hemlock, American beech, spruce, and aquatic plants indicate paludification from increased lake-effect snowfall. The moisture was derived from the Great Lakes and transported by Alberta cyclonic storms that were steered across Lakes Superior and Michigan by a southward shift in the modal winter position of the polar jet stream.

Pollen‐based biome reconstructions for Colombia at 3000, 6000, 9000, 12 000, 15 000 and 18 000 14C yr ago: Late Quaternary tropical vegetation dynamics

AbstractColombian biomes are reconstructed at 45 sites from the modern period extending to the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). The basis for our reconstruction is pollen data assigned to plant functional types and biomes at six 3000‐yr intervals. A reconstruction of modern biomes is used to check the treatment of the modern pollen data set against a map of potential vegetation. This allows the biomes reconstructed at past periods to be assessed relative to the modern situation. This process also provides a check on the a priori assignment of pollen taxa to plant functional types and biomes. For the majority of the sites, the pollen data accurately reflect the potential vegetation, even though much of the original vegetation has been transformed by agricultural practices. At 18 000 14C yr BP, a generally cool and dry environment is reflected in biome, assignments of cold mixed forests, cool evergreen forests and cool grassland–shrub; the latter extending to lower altitudes than presently recorded. This signal is strongly recorded at 15 000 and 12 000 14C yr BP, the vegetation at these times also reflecting a relatively cool and dry environment. At 9000 14C yr BP there is a shift to biomes thought to result from slightly cooler environmental conditions. This trend is reversed by 6000 14C yr BP; most sites, within a range of different environmental settings, recording a shift to more xeric biome types. There is an expansion of steppe and cool mixed‐forest biomes, replacing tropical dry forest and cool grassland–shrub biomes, respectively. These changes in biome assignments from the modern situation can be interpreted as a biotic response to mid‐Holocene climatic aridity. At 3000 14C yr BP the shift is mainly to biomes characteristic of slightly more mesic environmental conditions.There are a number of sites that do not change biome assignment relative to the modern reconstruction, although the affinities that these sites have to a specific biome do change. These ‘anomalies’ are interpreted on a site‐by‐site basis. Spatially constant, but differential response of the vegetation to climatic shifts are related to changes in moisture sources and the importance of edaphic controls on the vegetation. The Late Quaternary reconstruction of large‐scale vegetation dynamics in Colombia allows an understanding of the environmental controls on these to be developed. In particular, shifts in the character of the main climatic systems that influence Colombian vegetation are described. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Cool glacial temperatures and changes in moisture source recorded in oman groundwaters

Concentrations of atmospheric noble gases (neon, argon, krypton, and xenon) dissolved in groundwaters from northern Oman indicate that the average ground temperature during the Late Pleistocene (15,000 to 24,000 years before present) was 6.5 degrees +/- 0.6 degrees C lower than that of today. Stable oxygen and hydrogen isotopic groundwater data show that the origin of atmospheric water vapor changed from a primarily southern, Indian Ocean source during the Late Pleistocene to a dominantly northern, Mediterranean source today. The reduced northern water vapor source is consistent with a drier Last Glacial Maximum through much of northern Africa and Arabia.

Seasonal Precipitation Timing and Ice Core Records

This is a commentary on global circulation model experiments of moisture source changes in Greenland, urging caution in how they are applied because they have important implications for paleoclimate reconstruction from ice cores. The work comes from preliminary find is of a ice core (GISP2) of the authors. The authors conclude that at present anomalies in Greenland ice core records should not be interpreted solely in terms of source region variations. The combined use of oxygen 18, D and ionic species in the new Summit, Greenland cores should make it possible to answer empirically some of the questions raised by the GCM experiments as to the interpretation of oxygen 18 records in terms of temperature. 4 refs., 1 fig.