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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 6, NUMBER 11, NOVEMBER 1993

PROFESSIONAL PUBLICATIONS...
PALEOCLIMATOLOGY: GENERAL

Item #d93nov32

"Continuous Measurements of Hydrogen Peroxide, Formaldehyde, Calcium and Ammonium Concentrations Along the New GRIP Ice Core from Summit, Central Greenland," K. Fuhrer (Phys. Inst., Univ. Bern, Sidlerstr. 5, Bern 3012, Switz.), A. Neftel et al., Atmos. Environ., 27A(12), 1873-1880, 1993.

Examines simultaneous variations in the four measured species, which show considerable changes in the Earth's climate system on time scales of only a few decades.

Item #d93nov33

"Evaluating the Role of Climate Cooling in Iceberg Production and the Heinrich Events," J. Oerlemans (Inst. Marine & Atmos. Res., Utrecht Univ., Princetonplein 5, 3584 CC Utrecht, Neth.), Nature, 364(6440), 783-786, Aug. 26, 1993.

The use of a model of the Laurentide ice sheet, driven by variations in insolation, suggests that documented periods of massive iceberg discharge into the North Atlantic during the Pleistocene were not a response to climatic cooling.

Item #d93nov34

"A d13C Record of Late Quaternary Climate Change from Tropical Peats in Southern India," R. Sukumar (Ctr. Ecol. Sci., Indian Inst. Sci., Bangalore-560 012, India), R. Ramesh et al., ibid., 364(6439), 703-706, Aug. 19, 1993.

The high-altitude record analyzed yields a clear climate signal from the last glacial maximum, and indicates an arid phase 6-3.5 kyr ago. A short, wet phase 600 years ago suggests that the Medieval Warm Period may have extended over the entire Northern Hemisphere.

Item #d93nov35

"Geologic Methane as a Source for Post-Glacial CO₂ Increases: The Hydrocarbon Pump Hypothesis," C. Loehle (Environ. Res. Div., Argonne Nat. Lab., Argonne IL 60439), Geophys. Res. Lett., 20(14), 1415-1418, July 23, 1993.

Using a simple dynamic model, the hydrocarbon pump, evaluates the hypothesis that historical CO₂ levels could have been governed by releases of methane from clathrates and as natural gas. This is likely; confirming evidence is presented.

Item #d93nov36

"Reconstructing Sea Surface Temperature and Salinity Using d18O and Alkenone Records," F. Rostek (Lab. Géol. Quaternaire, CNRS, Marseille, France), G. Ruhland et al., Nature, 364(6435), 319-321, July 22, 1993.

Uses a newly developed technique for deriving paleotemperatures, based on the abundance ratios of unsaturated alkenones in phytoplankton algae, to extend the reconstruction of the Indian monsoon to 170 kyr, and to demonstrate the potential of the approach for reconstructing paleosalinity.

Item #d93nov37

"Greenland Ice Core 'Signal' Characteristics: An Expanded View of Climate Change," P.A. Mayewski (Glacier Res., Inst. Earth/Oceans/Space, Univ. New Hampshire, Durham NH 03824), L.D. Meeker et al., J. Geophys. Res., 98(D7), 12,839-12,847, July 20, 1993.

Analyzes major ions in the ice core from the present to 670 A.D. to examine N and S cycling, volcanic emissions, sea salt, and terrestrial influences, using trend and non-stationary spectral analysis techniques. Finds periodic processes, which change in frequency and "turn on" and "turn off" with other climate transitions, such as the Little Ice Age and Medieval Warm Period.

Item #d93nov38

Two items from Clim. Change, 24(3), July 1993:

"Sub-Milankovitch Palaeoclimatic Events: Their Recognition and Correlation," N. Roberts (Dept. Geog., Loughborough Univ. Technol., Loughborough, Leicestershire LE11 3TU, UK), 175-178. A guest editorial on the need to establish whether events such as the Little Ice Age were regional or global in extent before their causes can be understood.

"Synchronized Changes in Regional Water Balance since the Mid-Holocene," M. Magaritz (Dept. Environ. Sci., Weizmann Inst. Sci., Rehovot 76100, Israel), 179-185. Presents four records showing short-lived oscillations in parameters related to water balance during the past 7,000 years, that are not restricted to times of major climatic transitions and that rival those predicted to occur by various models during the next century.

Item #d93nov39

"Evidence from Western North America for Rapid Shifts in Climate During the Last Glacial Maximum," B.D. Allen (Dept. Earth & Plan. Sci., Univ. New Mexico, Albuquerque NM 87131), R.Y. Anderson, Science, 260(5116), 1920-1923, June 25, 1993.

Presents evidence for strong, rapid pulsations of freshwater stream discharges based on deposits of quartz sand in a saline lake. The largest pulses lasted only a few decades.

Item #d93nov40

Two items from Nature, 363(6431), June 24, 1993:

"Not Just a Lot of Hot Air," M. Chandler (NASA Goddard Inst. Space Studies, 2880 Broadway, New York NY 10025), 673-674. At the spring American Geophysical Union meeting, a group discussed how the study of past warm climates holds lessons for future warming.

Correspondence on the need for independent dating and comparison of ice cores, 666.

Item #d93nov41

"Paleoatmospheric Signatures in Neogene Fossil Leaves," J. Van Der Burgh, H. Visscher (Lab. Paleobot., Utrecht Univ., Heidelberglaan 2, 3584 CS Utrecht, Neth.) et al., Science, 260(5115), 1788-1790, June 18, 1993.

Experiments and observation of vegetation over the past 200 years have shown that increased atmospheric CO₂ results in a decreased number of leaf stomata. Evidence from fossil stomatal frequencies shows that this relation can be applied as a bioindicator for changes in CO₂ levels during the past 10 million years.

Item #d93nov42

"A Model Study of Atmospheric Temperatures and the Concentrations of Ozone, Hydroxyl and Some Other Photochemically Active Gases During the Glacial, the Pre-Industrial Holocene and the Present," P.J. Crutzen (Div. Atmos. Chem., M. Planck Inst. Chem., POB 3060, D-6500 Mainz, Ger.), C. Brühl, Geophys. Res. Lett., 20(11), 1047-1050, June 7, 1993.

A surprising result of the model analysis is that, despite large changes in atmospheric contents of CO₂, CH₄ and N₂O, total ozone and tropospheric OH hardly changed between the glacial and pre-industrial holocene.

Item #d93nov43

Special issue: "Quaternary Earth System Changes," Global Plan. Change, 7(1-3), May 1993 (Elsevier). Contains 19 invited, reviewed papers from a symposium of the INQUA Congress (Beijing, 1991) organized as a contribution to the IGBP. A common theme of the papers is the potential application to future climatic changes. Topics fall into four categories: terrestrial and vegetation changes during the glacial and non-glacial climatic cycle; behavior of the fluid envelopes (water cycle, sea level, monsoon circulation); long records from ice cores and boreholes; and rapid changes ranging from El Niño to periods of a few thousand years.

Item #d93nov44

"Arctic Climate Variations Studied," L. Brubaker (College Forest Resour., Univ. Washington, Seattle WA 98195), Eos, 74(21), 242, May 25, 1993. A synopsis of the NSF program, Paleoclimates of Arctic Lakes and Estuaries (PALE), including a related meeting in Vladivostok.

Item #d93nov45

"Differences of the Atmospheric CH₄ Concentration Between the Arctic and Antarctic Regions in Pre-Industrial/Pre-Agricultural Era," T. Nakazawa (Ctr. Atmos. Ocean Studies, Tohoku Univ., Sendai, 980 Japan), T. Machida et al., Geophys. Res. Lett., 20(10), 943-946, May 21, 1993.

Comparison of air in ice cores from Greenland and Antarctica suggests that natural CH₄ sources had been stronger in the Northern Hemisphere.

Item #d93nov46

Two items from Science, 260(5110), May 14, 1993:

"How Ice Age Climate Got the Shakes," R.A. Kerr, 890-892. A comprehensive news feature concerning recent paleostudies (such as the following paper) showing evidence of rapid climatic fluctuations.

"A Large Drop in Atmospheric 14C/12C and Reduced Melting in the Younger Dryas, Documented with 230Th Ages of Corals," R.L. Edwards (Isotope Lab., Dept. Geol., Univ. Minnesota, Minneapolis MN 55455), J.W. Beck et al., 962-968. The observed drop coincides with greatly reduced rates of sea level rise. Results support the hypothesis that diversion of meltwater from the Mississippi to the St. Lawrence River triggered the Younger Dryas event.

Item #d93nov47

"Dendrohydrology and Long-Term Hydrologic Phenomena," H.A. Loaiciga (Dept. Geog., Univ. California, Santa Barbara CA 93106), L. Haston, J. Michaelsen, Rev. Geophys., 31(2), 151-171, May 1993.

Reviews some fundamental aspects of dendrohydrology, with a perspective on its value to hydrologists in pursuit of an understanding of long-term hydrologic and climatic spatial-temporal behavior.

Item #d93nov48

Two items from Nature, 362(6421), Apr. 15, 1993:

Correspondence on the Devils Hole/Milankovitch theory contradiction, p. 596.

"Variations in Mercury Deposition to Antarctica over the Past 34,000 Years," G.M. Vandal (Dept. Marine Sci., Univ. Connecticut, Avery Point, Groton CT 06340), W.F. Fitzgerald, et al., 621-623. Ice core analysis shows that Hg was strikingly elevated during the last glacial maximum when oceanic productivity may have been higher than today, and that Antarctic Hg may serve as a paleoproductivity indicator.

Item #d93nov49

"Correspondence on dating the Devil's Hole calcite vein, Science, 259(5101), 1626-1627, Mar. 1993.

Item #d93nov50

"Late Quaternary Coccoliths at the North Pole: Evidence of Ice-Free Conditions and Rapid Sedimentation in the Central Arctic Ocean," G. Gard (Dept. Geol., Stockholm Univ., S-106 91 Stockholm, Swed.), Geology, 21(3), 227-230, Mar. 1993.

The possible occurrence of ice-free conditions during the past 7,000 years of the Holocene is suggested by calcerous nanofossils from 39 sites. (For discussion of the paper and some alternative interpretations see New Scientist, p. 16, Apr. 10, 1993.)

Item #d93nov51

"Abrupt Climate Change and Transient Climates During the Paleogene--A Marine Perspective," J.C. Zachos (Earth Sci. Board, Univ. California, Santa Cruz CA 95064), K.C. Lohmann et al., J. Geol., 101(2), 191-213, Mar. 1993.

High-latitude sequences recently collected by the Ocean Drilling Program indicate that periods of rapid climate change often culminated in brief transient climates, with more extreme conditions than subsequent long-term climates. Implications for atmospheric CO₂ levels are discussed.

Item #d93nov52

"Mid-Depth Circulation of the Subpolar North Atlantic During the Last Glacial Maximum," D.W. Oppo (Woods Hole Oceanog. Inst., Woods Hole MA 02543), S.J. Lehman), Science, 259(5098), 1148-1152, Feb. 19, 1993.

Carbon isotope data from benthic foraminifera show that the North Atlantic deep waters originating in the southern ocean did not ventilate, as has been suggested, but were overlain by waters from the polar North Atlantic.

Item #d93nov53

"The Age of the Air in the Firn and the Ice at Summit, Greenland," J. Schwander (Phys. Inst., Univ. Bern, CH-3012, Bern, Switz.), J.-M. Barnola et al., J. Geophys. Res., 98(D2), 2831-2838, Feb. 20, 1993.

Measurements of CO₂, CH₄, CFC-11, CFC-12 and other species in air samples from a drill hole in the firn overlying ice were used to test diffusion models to investigate the dating of air bubbles trapped in ice.

Item #d93nov54

"A Previously Unrecognized Late-Glacial Cold Event in Eastern North America," A.J. Levesque (Dept. Biol., Univ. New Brunswick, Bag. No. 45111, Fredericton NB E3B 6E1, Can.), F.E. Mayle et al., Nature, 361(6413), 623-626, Feb. 18, 1993. (Erratum. See ibid., 363(6425), 188, May 13, 1993.)

Presents evidence for a short but intense cold period in eastern North America, pre-dating the Younger Dryas, based on the organic, pollen and midge content of lake sediments.

Item #d93nov55

"Reconstructing Past Oceanic Temperatures from Marine Organic Biogeochemistry, Chemical Fossils and Molecular Stratigraphy," S.G. Wakeham (Skidaway Inst. Oceanog., Savannah, Ga.), Environ. Sci. Technol., 27(1), 28-33, Jan. 1993.

A featured review of how organic biomarkers, such as alkenone distributions in marine sediments, are proving useful in reconstructing climatic history.

Item #d93nov56

"Aquifers as Archives of Paleoclimate," J. Ch. Fontes (Lab. Hydrol., Univ. Paris-Sud, France), M. Stute et al., Eos, 74, 21-22, Jan. 12, 1993.

Report of a meeting (Lamont-Doherty Observatory, Palisades, N.Y., May 1992) on applying isotopic methods to derive information on climate change during the last 30,000 years from the groundwater archive.

Item #d93nov57

"Cold Surface Ocean Ventilation and Its Effect on Atmospheric CO₂," R.S. Keir (GEOMAR, Forschungszentrum für Marine Geowissenschaften, C. Albrechts Univ., Kiel, Ger.), J. Geophys. Res., 98(C1), 849-856, Jan. 15, 1993.

Examines the potential for greater air-sea exchange rates in the northern Atlantic to decrease atmospheric CO₂ during the ice ages using a simple model of the solubility pump.

Item #d93nov58

"Reconstruction and Analysis of Spring Rainfall over the Southeastern U.S. for the Past 1000 Years," D.W. Stahle (Tree Ring Lab., Univ. Arkansas, Fayetteville Ark.), M.K. Cleaveland, Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 73(12), 1947-1961, Dec. 1992.

Presents millenium-long reconstructions of spring rainfall totals from bald cypress, in an effort to dispel some of the doubts about interpreting climatic history from tree-ring data.

Item #d93nov59

"A High-Resolution Record of Holocene Climate Change in Speleothem Calcite from Cold Water Cave, Northeast Iowa," J.A. Dorale, L.A. González (Dept. Geol., Univ. Iowa, Iowa City IA 52242), et al., Science, 258(5088), 1626-1630, Dec. 4, 1992.

Demonstrates the feasibility of extracting a high-resolution climatic record from speleothem calcite.

Item #d93nov60

"Climate Reconstruction Based on Biological Indicators," D.W. Woodcock (Dept. Geog., Univ. Hawaii, 2424 Maile Way, Honolulu HI 96822), Quart. Rev. Biol., 67(4), 457-477, Dec. 1992.

Reviews the major approaches to estimating past climate from biological data. Although completeness and continuity make marine records the most important baseline source of information on global change, terrestrial records establish the complete range of climate variability.

Item #d93nov61

"Mapping Eastern North American Vegetation Change of the Past 18 ka: No-Analogs and the Future," J.T. Overpeck (Paleoclim. Prog., NOAA, 325 Broadway, Boulder CO 80303), R.S. Webb, T. Webb III, Geology, 20(12), 1071-1074, Dec. 1992.

A new series of paleovegetation maps, based on the method of modern analogs and an extensive data base of modern and fossil pollen data, suggest that possible future climate changes could force complex changes in natural vegetation, including the development of biomes without modern analogs.

Item #d93nov62

"Iceberg Calving and the Glacioclimatic Record," C.R. Warren (Dept. Geog., Univ. Edinburgh, Drummond St., Edinburgh EH8 9XP, UK), Progr. Phys. Geog., 16(3), 253-282, Sep. 1992.

Reviews the factors influencing iceberg calving, and concludes that it is rarely possible to make reliable inferences about climate from oscillations in iceberg calving or in marine ice sheets.

Item #d93nov63

"Paleoclimate Determination from Cave Calcite Deposits," M. Gascoyne (Appl. Geosci. Branch, Atomic Energy Canada, Pinawa, Man., R0E 1L0, Can.), Quat. Sci. Rev., 11(6), 609-632, 1992.

Reviews relevant techniques, particularly U-series and stable isotopes, and illustrates the possible time resolution and complexities of interpretation using previously unpublished results from dated calcites from caves in northern England.