Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-xfwgj Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-17T11:06:47.989Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A chironomid-based reconstruction of summer temperatures in NW Iceland since AD 1650

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

P.G. Langdon ,
C.J. Caseldine ,
I.W. Croudace ,
S. Jarvis ,
S. Wastegård  and
T.C. Crowford
P.G. Langdon*
Affiliation:
School of Geography, University of Southampton, Highfield, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK
C.J. Caseldine
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, University of Exeter, Cornwall Campus, Treliever Road, Penryn, Cornwall TR10 9EZ, UK
I.W. Croudace
Affiliation:
National Oceanography Centre Southampton, School of Ocean and Earth Sciences, University of Southampton, Waterfront Campus, European Way, Southampton SO14 3ZH, UK
S. Jarvis
Affiliation:
National Oceanography Centre Southampton, School of Ocean and Earth Sciences, University of Southampton, Waterfront Campus, European Way, Southampton SO14 3ZH, UK
S. Wastegård
Affiliation:
Department of Physical Geography and Quaternary Geology, Stockholm University, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
T.C. Crowford
Affiliation:
School of Geography, University of Southampton, Highfield, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK
*
⁎Corresponding author.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Few studies currently exist that aim to validate a proxy chironomid-temperature reconstruction with instrumental temperature measurements. We used a reconstruction from a chironomid percentage abundance data set to produce quantitative summer temperature estimates since AD 1650 for NW Iceland through a transfer function approach, and validated the record against instrumental temperature measurements from Stykkishólmur in western Iceland. The core was dated through Pb-210, Cs-137 and tephra analyses (Hekla 1693) which produced a well-constrained dating model across the whole study period. Little catchment disturbance, as shown through geochemical (Itrax) and loss-on-ignition data, throughout the period further reinforce the premise that the chironomids were responding to temperature and not other catchment or within-lake variables. Particularly cold phases were identified between AD 1683–1710, AD 1765–1780 and AD 1890–1917, with relative drops in summer temperatures in the order of 1.5–2°C. The timing of these cold phases agree well with other evidence of cooler temperatures, notably increased extent of Little Ice Age (LIA) glaciers. Our evidence suggests that the magnitude of summer temperature cooling (1.5–2°C) was enough to force LIA Icelandic glaciers into their maximum Holocene extent, which is in accordance with previous modelling experiments for an Icelandic ice cap (Langjökull).

Keywords

IcelandChironomidLittle Ice Age (LIA)Summer temperatureLake sediment
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 75 , Issue 3 , May 2011 , pp. 451 - 460
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andresen, C.S., Bond, G., Kuijpers, A., Knutz, P.C., and Björck, S. Holocene climate variability at multidecadal time scales detected by sedimentological indicators in a shelf core NW off Iceland. Marine Geology 214, (2005). 323–338.Google Scholar
Andrews, J.T., Belt, S.T., Olafsdottir, S., Massé, G., and Vare, L.L. Sea ice and marine climate variability for NW Iceland/Denmark Strait over the last 2000 cal. yr BP. The Holocene 19, (2009). 775–784.Google Scholar
Appleby, P.G., and Oldfield, F. The calculation of 210Pb dates assuming a constant rate of supply of unsupported 210Pb to the sediment. Catena 5, (1978). 1–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Axford, Y., Miller, G.H., Geirsdóttir, Á., and Langdon, P.G. Holocene temperature history of northern Iceland inferred from subfossil midges. Quaternary Science Reviews 26, 3344 (2007). 3358 Google Scholar
Axford, Y., Geirsdóttir, Á., Miller, G.H., and Langdon, P.G. Climate of the Little Ice Age and the past 2000 years in Northeast Iceland inferred from chironomids and other lake sediment proxies. Journal of Paleolimnology 41, (2009). 7–24.Google Scholar
Barley, E.M., Walker, I.R., Kurek, J., Cwynar, L.C., Mathewes, R.W., Gajewski, K., and Finney, B.P. A northwest North American training set: distribution of freshwater midges in relation to air temperature and lake depth. Journal of Paleolimnology 36, (2006). 295–314.Google Scholar
Battarbee, R.W. Palaeolimnological approaches to climate change, with special regard to the biological record. Quaternary Science Reviews 19, (2000). 107–124.Google Scholar
Bradwell, T. A new lichenometric dating curve for southwest Iceland. Geografiska Annaler 83A, (2001). 91–101.Google Scholar
Bradwell, T. Lichenometric dating in southeast Iceland: the size-frequency approach. Geografiska Annaler 86A, (2004). 31–41.Google Scholar
Brodersen, K.P., and Quinlan, R. Midges as palaeoindicators of lake productivity, eutrophication and hypolimnetic oxygen. Quaternary Science Reviews 25, (2006). 1995–2012.Google Scholar
Brooks, S.J. Late-glacial fossil midge stratigraphies (Insecta: Diptera: Chironomidae) from the Swiss Alps. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 159, (2000). 261–279.Google Scholar
Brooks, S.J. Fossil midges (Diptera: Chironomidae) as palaeoclimatic indicators for the Eurasion region. Quaternary Science Reviews 25, (2006). 1894–1910.Google Scholar
Brooks, S.J., and Birks, H.J.B. The dynamics of Chironomidae (Insecta: Diptera) assemblages in response to environmental change during the past 700 years on Svalbard. Journal of Paleolimnology 31, (2004). 483–498.Google Scholar
Brooks, S.J., Langdon, P.G., and Heiri, O. The identification and use of Palaearctic Chironomidae Larvae in Palaeoecology. QRA Technical Guide No. 10. (2007). Quaternary Research Association, London. 276 pp.Google Scholar
Caseldine, C.J., Geirsdóttir, Á., and Langdon, P.G. Efstadalsvatn—a multi-proxy study of a Holocene lacustrine sequence from NW Iceland. Journal of Paleolimnology 30, (2003). 55–73.Google Scholar
Caseldine, C.J., Langdon, P.G., and Holmes, N. Early Holocene climate variability and the timing and extent of the Holocene Thermal Maximum (HTM) in Northern Iceland. Quaternary Science Reviews 25, (2006). 2314–2331.Google Scholar
Castañeda, I.S., Smith, L.M., Kristjánsdóttir, G.B., and Andrews, J.T. Temporal changes in Holocene δ18O records from the northwest and central North Iceland shelf. Journal of Quaternary Science 19, (2004). 321–334.Google Scholar
Croudace, I., Rindby, A., and Rothwell, R. ITRAX: description and evaluation of a new multi function X-ray core scanner. Rothwell, R.G. New techniques in sediment core analysis. Geological Society London Special Publication 267, (2006). 51–63.Google Scholar
Dean, W.E. Jr. Determination of carbonate and organic matter in calcareous sediments and sedimentary rocks by loss on ignition: comparison with other methods. Journal of Sediment Petrology 44, (1974). 242–248.Google Scholar
Dearing, J.A. Landscape change and resilience theory: a palaeoenvironmental assessment from Yunnan, SW China. The Holocene 18, (2008). 117–127.Google Scholar
Doner, L. Late-Holocene paleoenvironments of northwest Iceland from lake sediments. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 193, (2003). 535–560.Google Scholar
Dugmore, A.J., Larsen, G., and Newton, A.J. Seven tephra isochrones in Scotland. The Holocene 5, (1995). 257–266.Google Scholar
Dugmore, A.J., Newton, A.J., Larsen, G., and Cook, G.T. Tephrochronology, environmental change, and the Norse colonisation of Iceland. Environmental Archaeology 5, (2000). 21–34.Google Scholar
Dugmore, A.J., Church, M.J., Mairs, K.A., McGovern, T.H., Perdikaris, S., and Vesteinsson, O. Abandoned farms, volcanic impacts, and woodland management: revisiting Þjórsárdalur, the "Pompeii of Iceland". Arctic Anthropology 44, (2007). 1–11.Google Scholar
Eiríksson, J., Bartels-Jónsdóttir, H.B., Cage, A.G., Gudmundsdóttir, E.R., Klitgaard-Kristensen, D., Marret, F., Rodrigues, T., Abrantes, F., Austin, W.E.N., Jiang, H., Knudsen, K.-L., and Sejrup, H.-P. Variability of the North Atlantic Current during the last 2000 years based on shelf bottom water and sea surface temperatures along an open ocean/shallow marine transect in western Europe. The Holocene 16, (2006). 1017–1029.Google Scholar
Esper, J., Cook, E.R., and Schweingruber, F.H. Low-frequency signals in long tree-ring chronologies and the reconstruction of past temperature variability. Science 295, (2002). 2250–2253.Google Scholar
Flowers, G.E., Björnsson, H., Geirsdóttir, Á., Miller, G.H., and Clarke, G.K.C. Glacier fluctuation and inferred climatology of Langjökull ice cap through the Little Ice Age. Quaternary Science Reviews 26, (2007). 2337–2353.Google Scholar
Flynn, W.W. Determination of low levels of polonium-210 in environmental materials. Analytica Chimica Acta 43, (1968). 221–227.Google Scholar
Gathorne-Hardy, F.J., Erlendsson, E., Langdon, P.G., and Edwards, K.J. Lake sediment evidence for late-Holocene climate change and landscape erosion in western Iceland. Journal of Paleolimnology 42, (2009). 413–426.Google Scholar
Geirsdóttir, Á., Miller, G.H., Axford, Y., and Ólafsdóttir, S. Holocene and latest Pleistocene climate and glacier fluctuations in Iceland. Quaternary Science Reviews 28, (2009). 2107–2118.Google Scholar
Geirsdóttir, Á., Miller, G.H., Thordarson, T., and Ólafsdóttir, K. A 2000 year record of climate variations reconstructed from Haukadalsvatn, West Iceland. Journal of Paleolimnology 41, (2009). 95–115.Google Scholar
Grove, J.M. The Little Ice Age. (1988). Methuen, London. 498 pp Google Scholar
Hanna, E., Jónsson, T., Ólafsson, J., and Valdimarsson, H. Icelandic coastal sea-surface temperature records constructed: putting the pulse on air-sea-climate interactions in the northern North Atlantic. Part 1: comparison with HadISST1 open ocean surface temperatures and prelimuinary analysis of long-term patterns and anomalies of SSTs around Iceland. Journal of Climate 19, (2006). 5652–5666.Google Scholar
Heiri, O., Lotter, A.F., Hausmann, S., and Kienast, F. A chironomid-based Holocene summer air temperature reconstruction from the Swiss Alps. The Holocene 13, (2003). 477–484.Google Scholar
Holmes, N., (2006). Evaluating the use of subfossil chironomids for the reconstruction of Holocene climate in N and NW Iceland. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK., 374 pp.Google Scholar
Hrafnsdóttir, Th. Diptera 2 (Chironomidae). Zoology of Iceland III 48b, (2005). 1–169.Google Scholar
Jiang, H., Eiríksson, J., Schulz, M., Knudsen, K.L., and Seidenkrantz, M.S. Evidence for solar forcing of sea-surface temperature on the North Icelandic Shelf during the late Holocene. Geology 33, (2005). 73–76.Google Scholar
Jiang, H., Ren, J., Knudsen, K.L., Eiríksson, J., and Ran, L. Summer sea-surface temperatures and climate events on the North Icelandic shelf through the last 3000 years. Chinese Science Bulletin 52, (2007). 789–796.Google Scholar
Juggins, S. C2 User guide. Software for ecological and palaeoecological data analysis and visualisation. (2003). University of Newcastle, UK.Google Scholar
Kirkbride, M.P., and Dugmore, A.J. Responses of mountain ice caps in central Iceland to Holocene climate change. Quaternary Science Reviews 25, (2006). 1692–1707.Google Scholar
Korhola, A., Birks, H.J.B., Olander, H., and Blom, T. Chironomids, temperature and numerical models: a reply to Seppälä. The Holocene 11, (2001). 615–622.Google Scholar
Langdon, P.G., Barber, K.E., and Lomas-Clarke (previously Morriss), S.H. Reconstructing climate and environmental change in Northern England through chironomid and pollen analyses: evidence from Talkin Tarn, Cumbria. Journal of Paleolimnology 32, (2004). 197–213.Google Scholar
Langdon, P.G., Ruiz, Z., Brodersen, K.P., and Foster, I.D.L. Assessing lake eutrophication using chironomids: understanding the nature of community response in different lake types. Freshwater Biology 51, (2006). 562–577.Google Scholar
Langdon, P.G., Holmes, N., and Caseldine, C.J. Environmental controls on modern chironomid faunas from NW Iceland and implications for reconstructing climate change. Journal of Paleolimnology 40, (2008). 273–293.Google Scholar
Larocque, I., and Hall, R.I. Chironomids as quantitative indicators of mean July air temperature: validation by comparison with century-long meteorological records from northern Sweden. Journal of Paleolimnology 29, (2003). 475–493.Google Scholar
Larocque, I., Hall, R.I., and Grahn, E. Chironomids as indicators of climate change: a 100-lake training set from a subarctic region of northern Sweden (Lapland). Journal of Paleolimnology 26, (2001). 307–322.Google Scholar
Larocque, I., Grosjean, M., Heiri, O., Bigler, C., and Blass, A. Comparison between chironomid inferred July temperatures and meteorological data AD 1850–2001 from varved Lake Silvaplana, Switzerland. Journal of Paleolimnology 41, (2009). 329–342.Google Scholar
Larsen, G., Dugmore, A., and Newton, A. Geochemistry of historical-age silicic tephras in Iceland. The Holocene 9, (1999). 463–471.Google Scholar
Larsen, G., Eiríksson, J., Knudsen, K., and Heinemeier, J. Correlation of Late Holocene terrestrial and marine tephra markers, north Iceland: implications for reservoir age changes. Polar Research 21, (2002). 283–290.Google Scholar
Lindegaard, C. Zoobenthos ecology of Thingvallavatn: vertical distribution, abundance, population dynamics and production. Oikos 64, (1992). 257–304.Google Scholar
Luoto, T.P., Nevalainen, L., and Sarmaja-Korjonen, K. Multiproxy evidence for the ‘Little Ice Age’ from Lake Hampträsk, Southern Finland. Journal of Paleolimnology 40, (2008). 1097–1113.Google Scholar
Luoto, T.P., Sarmaja-Korjonen, K., Nevalainen, L., and Kauppila, T. A 700 year record of temperature and nutrient changes in a small eutrophied lake in southern Finland. The Holocene 19, (2009). 1063–1072.Google Scholar
Massé, G., Rowland, S.J., Sicre, M.-A., Jacob, J., Jansen, E., and Belt, S.T. Abrupt climate changes for Iceland during the last millennium: evidence from high resolution sea ice reconstructions. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 269, (2008). 565–569.Google Scholar
McGovern, T.H., Vésteinsson, O., Friðriksson, A., Church, M., Lawson, I., Simpson, I.A., Einarsson, A., Dugmore, A., Cook, G., Perdikaris, S., Edwards, K.J., Thomson, A.M., Adderley, W.P., Newton, A., Lucas, G., Edvardsson, R., Aldred, O., and Dunbar, E. Landscapes of settlement in Northern Iceland: historical ecology of human impact and climate fluctuation on the millennial scale. American Anthropologist 109, (2007). 27–51.Google Scholar
Ogilvie, A.E.J. The past climate and sea-ice record from Iceland, Part 1: data to AD 1780. Climatic Change 6, (1984). 131–152.Google Scholar
Ogilvie, A.E.J. Local knowledge and travellers' tales: a selection of climatic observations in Iceland. Iceland—modern processes and past environments. Developments in Quaternary Science 5, (2005). Elsevier, Amsterdam-Boston-Heidelberg-London. 257–287.Google Scholar
Ogilvie, A.E.J., and Jónsson, T. “Little Ice Age” research: a perspective from Iceland. Climatic Change 48, (2001). 9–52.Google Scholar
Parker, D.E., Legg, T.P., and Folland, C.K. A new daily central England temperature series. International Journal of Climatology 12, (1992). 317–342.Google Scholar
Ritchie, J.C., and McHenry, J.T. Application of fallout Cs-137 for measuring soil erosion and sediment accumulation rates and patterns: a review. Journal of Environmental Quality 19, (1990). 215–233.Google Scholar
Robbins, J.A. Geochemical and geophysical applications of radioactive lead isotopes. Nriagu, J.O. Biochemistry of Lead. (1978). Elsevier, Amsterdam. 285–393.Google Scholar
Sayer, C.D., Davidson, T.A., Jones, J.I., and Langdon, P.G. Combining contemporary ecology and palaeolimnology to understand shallow lake ecosystem change. Freshwater Biology 55, 487 (2010). 499 Google Scholar
Stötter, J., Wastl, M., Caseldine, C., and Häberle, T. Holocene palaeoclimatic reconstructions in Northern Iceland: approaches and results. Quaternary Science Reviews 18, (1999). 457–474.Google Scholar
ter Braak, C.J.F., and Smilauer, P. CANOCO Reference Manual and User's Guide to Canoco for Windows: Software for Canonical Community Ordination (version 4.5.2). (1998). Microcomputer Power, Ithaca.Google Scholar
Turney, C.S.M. Extraction of rhyolitic component of Vedde microtephra from minerogenic lake sediments. Journal of Paleolimnology 19, (1998). 199–206.Google Scholar
Wastegård, S., and Davies, S.M. An overview of distal tephrostratigraphy in Northern Europe during the last 1000 years. Journal of Quaternary Science 24, (2009). 500–512.Google Scholar
Wastegård, S., Hall, V.A., Hannon, G.E., van den Bogaard, C., Pilcher, J.R., Sigurgeirsson, M.Á., and Hermanns-Audardóttir, M. Rhyolitic tephra horizons in northwestern Europe and Iceland from the AD 700s–800s: a potential alternative for dating first human impact. The Holocene 13, (2003). 277–283.Google Scholar