Articles | Volume 4, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-4-191-2022
© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-4-191-2022
© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
07 Apr 2022
Research article |
| 07 Apr 2022
| 07 Apr 2022
Cosmogenic ages indicate no MIS 2 refugia in the Alexander Archipelago, Alaska
Department of Geology, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14260, USA
Jason P. Briner
Department of Geology, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14260, USA
James F. Baichtal
Tongass National Forest, Thorne Bay, AK 99919, USA
Alia J. Lesnek
School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, CUNY Queens College,
Flushing, NY 11367, USA
Joseph M. Licciardi
Department of Earth Sciences, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824, USA
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Jacob T. H. Anderson, Nicolás E. Young, Allie Balter-Kennedy, Karlee K. Prince, Caleb K. Walcott-George, Brandon L. Graham, Joanna Charton, Jason P. Briner, and Joerg M. Schaefer
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2780, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2780, 2025
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We investigated retreat of the Greenland Ice Sheet during the last deglaciation by dating glacial deposits exposed as the ice margin retreated. Our results from eastern and northeastern Greenland reveal ice margin retreat rates of 43 m/yr and 28 m/yr at two marine-terminating outlet glaciers. These retreat rates are consistent with late glacial and Holocene estimates across East Greenland, and are comparable to modern retreat rates observed in northeastern and northwestern Greenland.
Caleb K. Walcott-George, Allie Balter-Kennedy, Jason P. Briner, Joerg M. Schaefer, and Nicolás E. Young
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Understanding the history and drivers of Greenland Ice Sheet change is important for forecasting future ice sheet retreat. We combined geologic mapping and cosmogenic nuclide measurements to investigate how the Greenland Ice Sheet formed the landscape of Inglefield Land, northwestern Greenland. We found that Inglefield Land was covered by warm- and cold-based ice during multiple glacial cycles and that much of Inglefield Land is an ancient landscape.
Karlee K. Prince, Jason P. Briner, Caleb K. Walcott, Brooke M. Chase, Andrew L. Kozlowski, Tammy M. Rittenour, and Erica P. Yang
Geochronology, 6, 409–427, https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-6-409-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-6-409-2024, 2024
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We fill a spatial data gap in the ice sheet retreat history of the Laurentide Ice Sheet after the Last Glacial Maximum and investigate a hypothesis that the ice sheet re-advanced into western New York, USA, at ~13 ka. With radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating, we find that ice began retreating from its maximum extent after 20 ka, but glacial ice persisted in glacial landforms until ~15–14 ka when they finally stabilized. We find no evidence of a re-advance at ~13 ka.
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Clim. Past, 20, 91–106, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-91-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-91-2024, 2024
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Available data suggest that Alaska was not as cold as many of the high-latitude areas of the Northern Hemisphere during the Last Ice Age. These results come from isolated climate records, climate models, and data synthesis projects. We used the extents of mountain glaciers during the Last Ice Age and Little Ice Age to show precipitation gradients across Alaska and provide temperature data from across the whole state. Our findings support a relatively warm Alaska during the Last Ice Age.
Jason P. Briner, Caleb K. Walcott, Joerg M. Schaefer, Nicolás E. Young, Joseph A. MacGregor, Kristin Poinar, Benjamin A. Keisling, Sridhar Anandakrishnan, Mary R. Albert, Tanner Kuhl, and Grant Boeckmann
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The 7.4 m of sea level equivalent stored as Greenland ice is getting smaller every year. The uncertain trajectory of ice loss could be better understood with knowledge of the ice sheet's response to past climate change. Within the bedrock below the present-day ice sheet is an archive of past ice-sheet history. We analyze all available data from Greenland to create maps showing where on the ice sheet scientists can drill, using currently available drills, to obtain sub-ice materials.
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EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3113, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3113, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Climate of the Past (CP).
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The study analyzed temperature-sensitive bacterial membrane lipids in Holocene Lake sediments from southwestern Greenland. Temperature maxima in five lakes occurred between 7000–5000 years ago, at a coastal site between 5000–3000 years ago, and at an inland site, far from the coast and the Greenland Ice Sheet, between 9000–7000 years ago. Local temperature variations, influenced by the ice sheet and ocean, likely caused discrepancies in the temperature time series.
Jacob T. H. Anderson, Nicolás E. Young, Allie Balter-Kennedy, Karlee K. Prince, Caleb K. Walcott-George, Brandon L. Graham, Joanna Charton, Jason P. Briner, and Joerg M. Schaefer
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We investigated retreat of the Greenland Ice Sheet during the last deglaciation by dating glacial deposits exposed as the ice margin retreated. Our results from eastern and northeastern Greenland reveal ice margin retreat rates of 43 m/yr and 28 m/yr at two marine-terminating outlet glaciers. These retreat rates are consistent with late glacial and Holocene estimates across East Greenland, and are comparable to modern retreat rates observed in northeastern and northwestern Greenland.
Caleb K. Walcott-George, Allie Balter-Kennedy, Jason P. Briner, Joerg M. Schaefer, and Nicolás E. Young
The Cryosphere, 19, 2067–2086, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-2067-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-2067-2025, 2025
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Understanding the history and drivers of Greenland Ice Sheet change is important for forecasting future ice sheet retreat. We combined geologic mapping and cosmogenic nuclide measurements to investigate how the Greenland Ice Sheet formed the landscape of Inglefield Land, northwestern Greenland. We found that Inglefield Land was covered by warm- and cold-based ice during multiple glacial cycles and that much of Inglefield Land is an ancient landscape.
Joseph P. Tulenko, Sophie A. Goliber, Renette Jones-Ivey, Justin Quinn, Abani Patra, Kristin Poinar, Sophie Nowicki, Beata M. Csatho, and Jason P. Briner
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Ghub is an online platform that hosts tools, datasets and educational resources related to ice sheet science. These resources are provided by ice sheet researchers and allow other researchers, students, educators, and interested members of the general public to analyze, visualize and download datasets that researchers use to study past and present ice sheet behavior. We describe how users can interact with Ghub, showcase some available resources, and describe the future of the Ghub Project.
Alia J. Lesnek, Joseph M. Licciardi, Alan J. Hidy, and Tyler S. Anderson
Geochronology, 6, 475–489, https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-6-475-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-6-475-2024, 2024
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We present an improved workflow for extracting and measuring chlorine isotopes in rocks and minerals. Experiments on seven geologic samples demonstrate that our workflow provides reliable results while offering several distinct advantages over traditional methods. Most notably, our workflow reduces the amount of isotopically enriched chlorine spike used per rock sample by up to 95 %, which will allow researchers to analyze more samples using their existing laboratory supplies.
Benjamin A. Keisling, Joerg M. Schaefer, Robert M. DeConto, Jason P. Briner, Nicolás E. Young, Caleb K. Walcott, Gisela Winckler, Allie Balter-Kennedy, and Sridhar Anandakrishnan
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2427, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2427, 2024
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Understanding how much the Greenland ice sheet melted in response to past warmth helps better predicting future sea-level change. Here we present a framework for using numerical ice-sheet model simulations to provide constraints on how much mass the ice sheet loses before different areas become ice-free. As observations from subglacial archives become more abundant, this framework can guide subglacial sampling efforts to gain the most robust information about past ice-sheet geometries.
Karlee K. Prince, Jason P. Briner, Caleb K. Walcott, Brooke M. Chase, Andrew L. Kozlowski, Tammy M. Rittenour, and Erica P. Yang
Geochronology, 6, 409–427, https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-6-409-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-6-409-2024, 2024
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We fill a spatial data gap in the ice sheet retreat history of the Laurentide Ice Sheet after the Last Glacial Maximum and investigate a hypothesis that the ice sheet re-advanced into western New York, USA, at ~13 ka. With radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating, we find that ice began retreating from its maximum extent after 20 ka, but glacial ice persisted in glacial landforms until ~15–14 ka when they finally stabilized. We find no evidence of a re-advance at ~13 ka.
Joseph P. Tulenko, Jason P. Briner, Nicolás E. Young, and Joerg M. Schaefer
Clim. Past, 20, 625–636, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-625-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-625-2024, 2024
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We take advantage of a site in Alaska – where climate records are limited and a former alpine glacier deposited a dense sequence of moraines spanning the full deglaciation – to construct a proxy summer temperature record. Building on age constraints for moraines in the valley, we reconstruct paleo-glacier surfaces and estimate the summer temperatures (relative to the Little Ice Age) for each moraine. The record suggests that the influence of North Atlantic climate forcing extended to Alaska.
Caleb K. Walcott, Jason P. Briner, Joseph P. Tulenko, and Stuart M. Evans
Clim. Past, 20, 91–106, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-91-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-91-2024, 2024
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Available data suggest that Alaska was not as cold as many of the high-latitude areas of the Northern Hemisphere during the Last Ice Age. These results come from isolated climate records, climate models, and data synthesis projects. We used the extents of mountain glaciers during the Last Ice Age and Little Ice Age to show precipitation gradients across Alaska and provide temperature data from across the whole state. Our findings support a relatively warm Alaska during the Last Ice Age.
Gifford H. Miller, Simon L. Pendleton, Alexandra Jahn, Yafang Zhong, John T. Andrews, Scott J. Lehman, Jason P. Briner, Jonathan H. Raberg, Helga Bueltmann, Martha Raynolds, Áslaug Geirsdóttir, and John R. Southon
Clim. Past, 19, 2341–2360, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-2341-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-2341-2023, 2023
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Receding Arctic ice caps reveal moss killed by earlier ice expansions; 186 moss kill dates from 71 ice caps cluster at 250–450, 850–1000 and 1240–1500 CE and continued expanding 1500–1880 CE, as recorded by regions of sparse vegetation cover, when ice caps covered > 11 000 km2 but < 100 km2 at present. The 1880 CE state approached conditions expected during the start of an ice age; climate models suggest this was only reversed by anthropogenic alterations to the planetary energy balance.
Brandon L. Graham, Jason P. Briner, Nicolás E. Young, Allie Balter-Kennedy, Michele Koppes, Joerg M. Schaefer, Kristin Poinar, and Elizabeth K. Thomas
The Cryosphere, 17, 4535–4547, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-4535-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-4535-2023, 2023
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Glacial erosion is a fundamental process operating on Earth's surface. Two processes of glacial erosion, abrasion and plucking, are poorly understood. We reconstructed rates of abrasion and quarrying in Greenland. We derive a total glacial erosion rate of 0.26 ± 0.16 mm per year. We also learned that erosion via these two processes is about equal. Because the site is similar to many other areas covered by continental ice sheets, these results may be applied to many places on Earth.
Jason P. Briner, Caleb K. Walcott, Joerg M. Schaefer, Nicolás E. Young, Joseph A. MacGregor, Kristin Poinar, Benjamin A. Keisling, Sridhar Anandakrishnan, Mary R. Albert, Tanner Kuhl, and Grant Boeckmann
The Cryosphere, 16, 3933–3948, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3933-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3933-2022, 2022
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Short summary
The 7.4 m of sea level equivalent stored as Greenland ice is getting smaller every year. The uncertain trajectory of ice loss could be better understood with knowledge of the ice sheet's response to past climate change. Within the bedrock below the present-day ice sheet is an archive of past ice-sheet history. We analyze all available data from Greenland to create maps showing where on the ice sheet scientists can drill, using currently available drills, to obtain sub-ice materials.
Joshua K. Cuzzone, Nicolás E. Young, Mathieu Morlighem, Jason P. Briner, and Nicole-Jeanne Schlegel
The Cryosphere, 16, 2355–2372, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2355-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2355-2022, 2022
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We use an ice sheet model to determine what influenced the Greenland Ice Sheet to retreat across a portion of southwestern Greenland during the Holocene (about the last 12 000 years). Our simulations, constrained by observations from geologic markers, show that atmospheric warming and ice melt primarily caused the ice sheet to retreat rapidly across this domain. We find, however, that iceberg calving at the interface where the ice meets the ocean significantly influenced ice mass change.
Douglas P. Steen, Joseph S. Stoner, Jason P. Briner, and Darrell S. Kaufman
Geochronology Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-2021-19, https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-2021-19, 2021
Publication in GChron not foreseen
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Paleomagnetic data from Cascade Lake (Brooks Range, Alaska) extend the radiometric-based age model of the sedimentary sequence extending back 21 kyr. Correlated ages based on prominent features in paleomagnetic secular variations (PSV) diverge from the radiometric ages in the upper 1.6 m, by up to about 2000 years at around 4 ka. Four late Holocene cryptotephra in this section support the PSV chronology and suggest the influence of hard water or aged organic material.
Svend Funder, Anita H. L. Sørensen, Nicolaj K. Larsen, Anders A. Bjørk, Jason P. Briner, Jesper Olsen, Anders Schomacker, Laura B. Levy, and Kurt H. Kjær
Clim. Past, 17, 587–601, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-587-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-587-2021, 2021
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Cosmogenic 10Be exposure dates from outlying islets along 300 km of the SW Greenland coast indicate that, although affected by inherited 10Be, the ice margin here was retreating during the Younger Dryas. These results seem to be corroborated by recent studies elsewhere in Greenland. The apparent mismatch between temperatures and ice margin behaviour may be explained by the advection of warm water to the ice margin on the shelf and by increased seasonality, both caused by a weakened AMOC.
Nicolás E. Young, Alia J. Lesnek, Josh K. Cuzzone, Jason P. Briner, Jessica A. Badgeley, Alexandra Balter-Kennedy, Brandon L. Graham, Allison Cluett, Jennifer L. Lamp, Roseanne Schwartz, Thibaut Tuna, Edouard Bard, Marc W. Caffee, Susan R. H. Zimmerman, and Joerg M. Schaefer
Clim. Past, 17, 419–450, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-419-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-419-2021, 2021
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Retreat of the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) margin is exposing a bedrock landscape that holds clues regarding the timing and extent of past ice-sheet minima. We present cosmogenic nuclide measurements from recently deglaciated bedrock surfaces (the last few decades), combined with a refined chronology of southwestern Greenland deglaciation and model simulations of GrIS change. Results suggest that inland retreat of the southwestern GrIS margin was likely minimal in the middle to late Holocene.
Joseph P. Tulenko, William Caffee, Avriel D. Schweinsberg, Jason P. Briner, and Eric M. Leonard
Geochronology, 2, 245–255, https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-2-245-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-2-245-2020, 2020
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We investigate the timing and rate of retreat for three alpine glaciers in the southern Rocky Mountains to test whether they followed the pattern of global climate change or were majorly influenced by regional forcing mechanisms. We find that the latter is most likely for these glaciers. Our conclusions are based on a new 10Be chronology of alpine glacier retreat. We quantify retreat rates for each valley using the BACON program in R, which may be of interest for the audience of Geochronology.
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Short summary
We present a record of ice retreat from the northern Alexander Archipelago, Alaska. During the last ice age (~ 26 000–19 000 years ago), these islands were covered by the Cordilleran Ice Sheet. We tested whether islands were ice-free during the last ice age for human migrants moving from Asia to the Americas. We found that these islands became ice-free between ~ 15 100 years ago and ~ 16 000 years ago, and thus these islands were not suitable for human habitation during the last ice age.
We present a record of ice retreat from the northern Alexander Archipelago, Alaska. During the...
