Reconstructing glacier-based climates of LGM Europe and Russia ? Part 2: A dataset of LGM climates derived from degree-day modelling of palaeo glaciers

R. Allen (1) , M. J. Siegert (2) , A. J. Payne (1)

1 School of Geographical Sciences [Bristol]
2 School of Geosciences [Edinburgh]

The study of European and Russian Quaternary glacial-geological evidence during the last 15 years has generated sufficient to data to use former glacial extent as a proxy for Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) climate at a continental scale. Utilisation of such data is relevant for two reasons. First, continental to global scale proxy reconstructions of past climate are an important tool in the assessment of retrospective general circulation model (GCM) simulations. Second, the development of a multi-proxy approach will result in a more robust proxy based climate signal. A new and independent dataset of 36 LGM climate estimates derived from European and Russian mountain regions is presented in this paper. A simple glacier-climate model was used to establish the optimum LGM climate conditions for each region from a suite of over 4000 model climates using the principle of zero cumulative mass balance. Clear regional trends are present in the reconstructed LGM climates; temperature anomalies north of the Alps are 2°C and 5°C larger than those in the western and eastern Mediterranean, respectively. In Russia the model results suggest that both the Arctic Urals and Puterana Plateau were probably glaciated by small mountain glaciers during the LGM.

Domaines: Interfaces continentales, environnement; Sciences de la Terre

R. Allen, M. J. Siegert, A. J. Payne. Reconstructing glacier-based climates of LGM Europe and Russia ? Part 2: A dataset of LGM climates derived from degree-day modelling of palaeo glaciers. Climate of the Past Discussions, 2007, 3 (5), pp.1167-1198. ⟨hal-00298201⟩