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Global Climate Change Digest
A Guide to Information on Greenhouse Gases and Ozone Depletion
Published July 1988 through June 1999

FROM VOLUME 5, NUMBER 11, NOVEMBER 1992

PROFESSIONAL PUBLICATIONS...
TREND ANALYSIS: CRYOSPHERE

Item #d92nov32

"Lake Ice Records Used to Detect Historical and Future Climatic Changes," D.M. Robertson (Water Resour., USGS, Madison WI 53719), R.A. Ragotzkie, J.J. Magnuson, Clim. Change, 21(4), 407-427, Aug. 1992.

Examines the relationship between air temperature and the dates of freezing and ice breakup in Lake Mindota, Wisconsin, which has the longest uninterrupted record of lake ice available in North America. Since 1979, ice breakup has occurred earlier in the spring and may indicate shifts in climatic patterns associated with global warming. The relationships are used to project how ice cover on the lake should respond to future climate change.

Item #d92nov33

"Variability in Sea-Ice Thickness over the North Pole from 1977 to 1990," A.S. McClaren (Lamont-Doherty Geolog. Observ., Palisades NY 10964), J.E. Walsh et al., Nature, 358(6383), 224-226, July 16, 1992.

Measurements of the subsurface ice thickness taken during submarine cruises since 1977, the most extensive set of such data in the central Arctic at the same season and location, show considerable interannual variability. This variability limits the confidence that can be placed in any trends observed in sea ice thickness since the late 1970s, showing the need for reliable baseline data.

Item #d92nov34

"Changes in Ice Cover Thickness and Lake Level of Lake Hoare, Antarctica: Implications for Local Climatic Change," R.A. Wharton Jr. (Desert Res. Inst., POB 60220, Reno NV 89506), C.P. McKay et al., J. Geophys. Res., 97(C3), 3503-3513, Mar. 15, 1992.

Reports ten years of ice thickness and air temperature measurements at this perennially ice-covered lake. Peak summer temperatures have been above 0 ° C for a progressively longer time each year since 1972. The lakes in this area may be excellent for evaluating regional warming trends in Antarctica.

Item #d92nov35

"Glacier Fluctuations on South Georgia during the 1970s and Early 1980s," J.E. Gordon (Scottish Natural Heritage, 2-5 Anderson Pl., Edinburgh EH6 5NP, UK), R.J. Timmis, Antarctic Sci., 4(2), 215-226, 1992.

Located strategically between South America and the Antarctic Peninsula, South Georgia Island is potentially important for establishing glacier-climate relationships. Baseline surveys of ice front positions and ice surface profiles show recent changes in several types of glacier, finding glacial recession associated with the climatic warming since 1950.