Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-r6qrq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T11:02:24.382Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Ice-Sheet Initiation and Climatic Influences of Expanded Snow Cover in Arctic Canada

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Larry D. Williams
Larry D. Williams*
Affiliation:
School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, U.K.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

It has been suggested that the Laurentide Ice Sheet originated with extensive perennial snow cover, and that the snow cover affected climate so as to aid ice-sheet development. In this study, a large increase in extent of October 1st snow cover in the Canadian Arctic from 1967–1970 to 1971–1975 is compared to changes in October means of other climate variables. Over the area of snow-cover expansion, mean surface air temperature decreased by up to 3°C, mean 500-mbar height was lowered by over 60 m, and precipitation was increased by up to a factor of two. These effects, if applied to the entire summer, together with the temperature change computed by Shaw and Donn for a Northern Hemisphere summer insolation minimum (the Milankovich effect), can account for glacierization of the Central Canadian Arctic.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 10 , Issue 2 , September 1978 , pp. 141 - 149
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

Adam, D.P., 1969. Ice ages and the thermal equilibrium of the Earth. Interim Research Report No. 15. Department of Geochronology, University of Arizona, Tucson. Google Scholar
Adam, D.P., 1975. Ice ages and the thermal equilibrium of the Earth, II. Quaternary Research. 5, 161-171.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andrews, J.T., Barry, R.G., Davis, P.T., Dyke, A.S., Ives, J.D., Mahaffy, M., Williams, L.D., Wright, C., 1975. The Laurentide Ice Sheet: Problems of the mode and speed of inception. Proceedings of the WMO/IAMAP Symposium on Long-term Climatic Fluctuations. Norwich, 18–23 August 1975 World Meteorological Organization, 87-94 Geneva.Google Scholar
Andrews, J.T., Mahaffy, M.A.W., 1976. Growth rate of the Laurentide Ice Sheet and sea level lowering (with emphasis on the 115,000 BP sea level low). Quaternary Research. 6, 167-183.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barry, R.G., Andrews, J.T., Mahaffy, M.A., 1975. Continental ice sheets: Conditions for growth. Science. 190, 979-981.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bird, J.B., 1967. The Physiography of Arctic Canada. Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore. Google Scholar
Bowling, S.A., 1975. Possible significance of recent weather and circulation anomalies in northeastern Canada for the initiation of continental glaciation. Weller, G., Bowling, S.A., Climate of the Arctic. Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, 91-97.Google Scholar
Brinkmann, W.A.R., Barry, R.G., 1972. Paleoclimatological aspects of the synoptic climatology of Keewatin, Northwest Territories, Canada. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 11, 77-91.Google Scholar
Broecker, W.S., van Donk, J., 1970. Insolation changes, ice volumes, and the O18 record in deep-sea cores. Reviews of Geophysics and Space Physics. 8, 169-198.Google Scholar
Brooks, C.E.P., 1926. Climate Through the Ages. R. 147. Coleman, New York. Google Scholar
Croll, J., 1875. Climate and Time in Their Geological Relations: A Theory of Secular Changes of the Earth's Climate. Appleton, New York.Google Scholar
Dickson, R.R., Lamb, H.H., Malmberg, S.-A., Colebrook, J.M., 1975. Climatic reversal in northern North Atlantic. Nature. 256, 479-482.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dickson, R.R., Posey, J., 1967. Maps of snow cover probability for the Northern Hemisphere. Monthly Weather Review. 95, 347-353.Google Scholar
Dickson, R.R., Namias, J., 1976. North American influences on the circulation and climate of the North Atlantic sector. Monthly Weather Review. 104, 1255-1265.Google Scholar
Flohn, H., 1974. Background of a geophysical model of the initiation of the next glaciation. Quaternary Research. 4, 395-404.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hare, F.K., 1971. Snow cover problems near the arctic tree-line of North America. Kevo Subarctic Research Station Reports. 8, 31-40.Google Scholar
Hays, J.D., Imbrie, J., Shackleton, N.J., 1976. Variations in the earth's orbit: Pacemaker of the Ice Ages. Science. 194, 1121-1132.Google Scholar
Ives, J.D., 1957. Glaciation of the Torngat Mountains. Arctic. 10, 67-87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ives, J.D., 1962. Indications of recent extensive glacierization in north-central Baffin Island, N. W. T.. Journal of Glaciology. 4, 197-205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ives, J.D., Andrews, J.T., Barry, R.G., 1975. Growth and decay of the Laurentide Ice Sheet and comparisons with Fenno-Scandinavia. Naturwissenschaften. 62, 118-125.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kukla, G.J., Kukla, H.J., 1972. Insolation regime of interglacials. Quaternary Research. 2, 412-424.Google Scholar
Kukla, G.J., Kukla, H.J., 1974. Increased surface albedo in the northern hemisphere. Science. 183, 709-714.Google Scholar
Lamb, H.H., 1955. Two-way relationship between the snow or ice limit and 1000-500 mb thicknesses in the overlying atmosphere. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society. 81, 172-189.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lamb, H.H., Woodroffe, A., 1970. Atmospheric circulation during the last ice age. Quaternary Research. 1, 29-58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loewe, F., 1971. Considerations on the origin of the Quaternary ice sheet of North America. Arctic and Alpine Research. 3, 331-344.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Namias, J., 1963. Surface-atmosphere interactions as fundamental causes of drought and other climatic fluctuations. Proceedings of the WMO/UNESCO Rome 1961 Symposium on Changes of Climate. UNESCO, Paris, 345-359.Google Scholar
Namias, J., 1972. Experiments in objectively predicting some atmospheric and oceanic variables for the winter of 1971–1972. Journal of Applied Meteorology. 11, 1164-1174.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Namias, J., 1975. The sea as a primary generator of short-term climatic anomalies. Proceedings of the WMO/IAMAP Symposium on Long-term Climatic Fluctuations. Norwich, 18–23 August 1975 WMO No. 421. World Meteorological Organization, 331-340 Geneva.Google Scholar
Potter, J.G., 1965. Snow Cover. Department of Transport, Meteorological Branch, Toronto, Canada. Google Scholar
Rogers, J.C., 1976. Sea surface temperature anomalies in the eastern North Pacific and associated wintertime atmospheric fluctuations over North America, 1960–1973. Monthly Weather Review. 104, 985-993.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saltzmann, B., Vernekar, A.D., 1971. Note on the effect of earth orbital radiation variations on climate. Journal of Geophysical Research. 76, 4195-4197.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sawyer, J.S., 1965. Notes on the possible physical causes of long-term weather anomalies. WMO-IUGG Symposium on Research and Development Aspects of Long Range Forecasting. WMO No. 162. World Meteorological Organization, 227-248 Geneva.Google Scholar
Schneider, S.H., Dickinson, R.E., 1974. Climate Modeling. Reviews of Geophysics and Space Physics. 12, 447-493.Google Scholar
Sellers, W.D., 1970. The effect of changes in the earth's obliquity on the distribution of mean annual sea level temperatures. Journal of Applied Meteorology. 9, 960.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shaw, D.M., Donn, W.L., 1968. Milankovitch radiation variations: A quantitative evaluation. Science. 162, 1270-1272.Google Scholar
Suarez, M.J., Held, I.M., 1976. Modelling climatic response to orbital parameter variations. Nature. 263, 46-47.Google Scholar
van Loon, H., Rogers, J.C., 1978. The seesaw in winter temperatures between Greenland and northern Europe: I. General description. Monthly Weather Review. submitted.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Veeh, H.H., Chappell, J.M.A., 1970. Astronomic theory of climatic change: support from New Guinea. Science. 167, 862-865.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wiesnet, D.R., Matson, M., 1976. A possible forecasting technique for winter snow cover in the Northern Hemisphere and Eurasia. Monthly Weather Review. 104, 828-835.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, J., 1975. The influence of snow cover on the atmospheric circulation and its role in climatic change: An analysis based on results from the NCAR global circulation model. Journal of Applied Meteorology. 14, 137-152.Google Scholar
Williams, L.D., 1975. Effect of insolation changes on late summer snow cover in northern Canada. Proceedings of the WMO/IAMAP Symposium on Long-term Climatic Fluctuations. Norwich, 18–23 August 1975 WMO No. 421. World Meteorological Organization, 287-292 Geneva.Google Scholar
Williams, L. D., (in press).The Little Ice Age glaciation level on Baffin Island, arctic Canada. . Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology . , in press..Google Scholar