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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 7, NUMBER 7, JULY 1994

PROFESSIONAL PUBLICATIONS... PALEOCLIMATOLOGY

Item #d94jul60

"The Last Deglaciation Event in the Eastern Central Arctic Ocean," R. Stein (A. Wegener Inst. Polar & Mar. Res., Columbusstr., 27568 Bremerhaven, Ger.), S.-I. Nam et al., Science, 264(5159), Apr. 29, 1994.

Presents accelerator mass spectrometry 14C-dated isotope and carbon records that may yield new information for late Quaternary paleoceanographic reconstructions in the central Arctic Ocean and their significance for the global climate system.

Item #d94jul61

"Changes in Atmospheric Circulation and Ocean Ice Cover over the North Atlantic During the Last 41,000 Years," P.A. Mayewski (Inst. Study Earth, Oceans & Space, Univ. New Hampshire, Durham NH 03824), L.D. Meeker et al., ibid., 263(5154), 1747-1751, Mar. 25, 1994.

High-resolution, multivariate chemical records from a central Greenland ice core reveal a change over the last 41,000 years in the size and intensity of the circulation system transporting air masses to Greenland. Iceberg discharge events correlate with expansions of ocean ice cover and increases in the polar circulation index. Climate modeling should include aerosol loadings and variations in ocean ice cover as documented in ice cores.

Item #d94jul62

"Sensitivity of the Ice-Divide Position in Greenland to Climate Change," S. Anandakrishnan (Earth Syst. Sci. Ctr., Pennsylvania State Univ., Univ. Pk. PA 16802), R.B. Alley, E.D. Waddington, Geophys. Res. Lett., 21(6), 441-444, Mar. 15, 1994.

Used simple steady-state calculations to show that lateral divide migration of 10-50 km and elevation change of 100 m is sufficient on glacial-interglacial time scales to affect model dating.

Item #d94jul63

"The Timing of High Sea Levels over the Past 200,000 Years," C.D. Gallup (Dept. Geol. & Geophys., Univ. Minnesota, Minneapolis MN 55455), R.L. Edwards, R.G. Johnson, Science, 263(5148), Feb. 11, 1994.

The 230Th ages and 234U/238U ratios for corals in Barbados suggest that, for the last three interglacial and two intervening interstadial periods, sea level peaked at or after peaks in summer insolation in the Northern Hemisphere. This pattern supports changes in Earth's orbital geometry as a cause of glacial-interglacial cycles.

Item #d94jul64

"CO2 and Glacial Cycles," B. Saltzman (Dept. Geol. & Geophys., Yale Univ., POB 6666, New Haven CT 06511), M. Verbitsky, Nature, 367(6462), 419, Feb. 3, 1994.

Tests predicted ice-CO2 phase relationships using two widely accepted, independent measures of CO2 and ice volume.

Item #d94jul65

"Two-Hundred-Year Record of Biogenic Sulfur in a South Greenland Ice Core (20D)," P.-Y. Whung (RSMAS, 4600 Rickenbacker Cswy., Miami FL 33149), E.S. Saltzman et al., J. Geophys. Res., 99(D1), 1147-1156, Jan. 20, 1994.

Methanesulfonic acid (MSA) measurements show no evidence for a strong dependence of dimethyl sulfide (DMS) emissions on sea surface temperature during the last century, and no indication that the yield of MSA from DMS oxidation was altered by increased NOx levels over the North Atlantic.

Item #d94jul66

"Tropospheric Rivers: A One-Year Record and a Possible Application to Ice Core Data," R.E. Newell (Dept. Earth, Atmos. & Planetary Sci., Mass. Inst. Technol., Cambridge MA 02139), Y. Zhu, Geophys. Res. Lett., 21(2), 113-116, Jan. 15, 1994.

Examination of the global morphology of tropospheric rivers of atmospheric humidity from June 1991 to May 1992 indicates that water vapor involved in ice core formation may have evaporated from surface water bodies with different temperature and salinity characteristics.

Item #d94jul67

"A High-Resolution Record of Atmospheric CO2 Content from Carbon Isotopes in Peat," J.W.C. White (Inst. Arctic & Alpine Res., Box 450, Univ. Colorado, Boulder CO 80309), P. Ciais et al., Nature, 367(6459), 153-156, Jan. 13, 1994.

Presents a new method for reconstructing atmospheric CO2 concentration using the 13C/12C ratio (Ù13C) in mosses and sedges in peat. The method provides a resolution of about a decade, much higher than is possible from ice cores.

Item #d94jul68

"Ice-Age Tropics Revisited," D.M. Anderson (CMDL, NOAA, 325 Broadway, Boulder CO 80303), R.S. Webb, Nature, 367(6458), Jan. 6, 1994.

Discusses discrepancies between marine and terrestrial indicators of tropical climate during the last glacial period, and between model simulations and observations.

Item #d94jul69

"High-Resolution Paleoclimate Records from Monsoon Asia," R.S. Bradley (Dept. Geol. & Geog., Univ. Massachusetts, Amherst MA 01003), D. Sheu, W. Wang, Eos, 74(51), 601, 603-604, Dec. 21, 1993.

Reports on a meeting (Taipei, Taiwan; April 1993) that addressed high-resolution climate records for the past 2000 years. Papers will be published in a special issue of Terrestrial, Atmospheric and Oceanic Research.

Item #d94jul70

"Global Younger Dryas?" R.Alley (Earth Syst. Sci. Ctr., Pennsylvania State Univ., Univ. Pk. PA 16802), G. Bond, et al., ibid., 74(50), 587-589, Dec. 14, 1993.

Reports on a workshop (Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory; April 1993) on how components of the biosphere, ocean, atmosphere, and cryosphere interact on short timescales. Such information provides an example of past climate fluctuation that is relevant for future climate change.

Item #d94jul71

Two items from Nature, 366(6454), Dec. 2, 1993:

"Ancient Tropical Methane," F.A. Street-Perrott (Environ. Change Unit, Univ. Oxford, Oxford OX1 3TB, UK), 411-412. Comments on the research context of the following paper, which provides evidence for a strong feedback between the biosphere and climate on a timescale of centuries.

Item #d94jul72

"Synchronous Changes in Atmospheric CH4 and Greenland Climate Between 40 and 8 kyr BP," J. Chappellaz (Lab. Glac. & Geophys. l'Environ., BP 96, 38402 St.-Martin-d'Heres Cedex, France), T. Blunier et al., 443-445. A high-resolution record of atmospheric methane indicates that large changes in its concentration during the last deglaciation correlated with variations in Greenland climate. Variations on the hydrologic cycle at low latitudes may be responsible for variations in both methane and Greenland temperature during the interstadials.

Item #d94jul73

"Northern Hemisphere Concentrations of Methane and Nitrous Oxide Since 1800: Results from the Mt. Logan and 20D Ice Cores," J.E. Dibb (Inst. Study Earth, Oceans & Space, Univ. New Hampshire, Durham NH 03824), R.A. Rasmussen et al., Chemosphere, 27(12), 2413-2423, Dec. 1993.

New data for 1802 to 1960 agree with previous ice core studies, showing accelerating increases in concentration of both gases since 1900. The Mt. Logan records may be the first for trace gases from alpine glacial ice (as opposed to ice sheets such as in Greenland).

Item #d94jul74

"Atmospheric Methane, Record from a Greenland Ice Core Over the Last 1000 Year," T. Blunier (Phys. Inst., Univ. Bern, Sidlerstr. 5, 3012 Bern, Switz.), J.A. Chappellaz et al., Geophys. Res. Lett. 20(20), 2219-2222, Oct. 22, 1993.

The beginning of the anthropogenic methane increase can be set between 1750 and 1800. Specific reasons are hard to deduce, but population data from China suggest that humans may have influenced the methane cycle before industrialization.

Item #d94jul75

"Isotopic Evidence for Reduced Productivity in the Glacial Southern Ocean," A. Shemesh (Dept. Environ. Sci. & Energy Res., Weizmann Inst. Sci., Rehovot 76100, Israel), S.A. Macko et al., Science, 262(5132), Oct. 15, 1993.

Carbon and nitrogen isotope records from deep-sea sediment cores show that primary production during the last glacial maximum was lower than during the Holocene, in conflict with the hypothesis that the low CO2 concentrations were introduced by an increase in the efficiency of the high latitude biological pump. Instead, different oceanic sectors may have had high glacial productivity, or other mechanisms not involving the biological pump may have been the primary cause of low glacial atmospheric CO2 concentrations.

Item #d94jul76

"Secular Trends in High Northern Latitude Temperature Reconstructions Based on Tree Rings," R.D. D'Arrigo (Tree-Ring Lab., Lamont-Doherty Earth Observ., Palisades NY 10964), G.C. Jacoby, Clim. Change, 25(2), 163-177, Oct. 1993. (See GCCD, p. 6, Mar. 1994)

"The First Greenland Ice Core Record of Methanesulfonate [MSA] and Sulfate over a Full Glacial Cycle," M.E. Hansson (Dept. Meteor., Stockholm Univ., S-106 91 Stockholm, Swed.), E.S. Saltzman, Geophys. Res. Lett., 20(12), 1163-1166, June 18, 1993.

Presents the first Northern Hemisphere record of MSA and the first continuous record of non-seasalt sulfate. The records contrast sharply with those of the Southern Hemisphere, with a decrease in MSA concentration with the advance of glaciation, but an increase in non-seasalt sulfate concentration.