Ice Cores from the St. Elias Mountains, Yukon, Canada

A major achievement in research supported by the Kluane Lake Research Station was the recovery, in 2001 – 02, of a suite of cores from the icefields of the central St. Elias Mountains, Yukon, by teams of researchers from Canada, the United States, and Japan. This project led to the development of parallel, long (103 – 104 year) ice-core records of climate and atmospheric change over an altitudinal range of more than 2 km, from the Eclipse Icefield (3017 m) to the ice-covered plateau of Mt. Logan (5340 m). These efforts built on earlier work recovering single ice cores in this region. Comparison of these records has allowed for variations in climate and atmospheric composition to be linked with changes in the vertical structure and dynamics of the North Pacific atmosphere, providing a unique perspective on these changes over the Holocene. Owing to their privileged location, cores from the St. Elias Icefields also contain a remarkably detailed record of aerosols from various sources around or across the North Pacific. In this paper we review major scientific findings from the study of St. Elias Mountain ice cores, focusing on five main themes: (1) The record of stable water isotopes (δ18O, δD), which has unique characteristics that differ from those of Greenland, other Arctic ice cores, and even among sites in the St. Elias; (2) the snow accumulation history; (3) the record of pollen, biomass burning aerosol, and desert dust deposition; (4) the record of long-range air pollutant deposition (sulphate and lead); and (5) the record of paleo-volcanism. Our discussion draws on studies published since 2000, but based on older ice cores from the St. Elias Mountains obtained in 1980 and 1996

Arctic · Atmospheric Circulation · Climatology · Earth science · Geography · Geomorphology · Holocene · Ice core · Ice sheet · Physical geography · Snow · Climate change and permafrost · Cryospheric studies and observations · Geology · Geology and Paleoclimatology Research · Oceanography

• Chronology and glass chemistry of tephra and cryptotephra horizons from lake sediments in northern Alaska, USA

  Open Access•Alistair Monteath, Alistair J Monteath et al.•Quaternary Research•2017

  Añadir item

• A Short and Somewhat Personal History of Yukon Glacier Studies in the Twentieth Century

  Open Access•Garry K C Clarke•ARCTIC•2014

  Añadir item

• Holocene thermal maximum in the western Arctic (0–180°W)

  Open Access•D S Kaufman, Thomas A Ager et al.•Quaternary Science Reviews•2004

  Añadir item

• Major features and forcing of high‐latitude northern hemisphere atmospheric circulation using a 110,000‐year‐long glaciochemical series

  Open Access•Paul A Mayewski, L David Meeker et al.•Journal of Geophysical Research:…•1997

  Añadir item

• Tropical Climate Instability

  Open Access•Lonnie G Thompson, Tandong Yao et al.•Science•1997

  Añadir item

• Recent Warming Reverses Long-Term Arctic Cooling

  Open Access•Darrell S Kaufman, David P Schneider et al.•Science•2009

  Añadir item

• The Pacific Decadal Oscillation

  Open Access•Nathan J Mantua, Steven R Hare•Journal of Oceanography•2002

  Añadir item

• Insolation values for the climate of the last 10 million years

  Open Access•Alfons Berger, Marie‐France Loutre et al.•Quaternary Science Reviews•1991

  Añadir item

• A synchronized dating of three Greenland ice cores throughout the Holocene

  Open Access•Bo Vinther, B M Vinther et al.•Journal of Geophysical Research:…•2006

  Añadir item

• Holocene climate variability

  Open Access•Paul A Mayewski, Eelco E Rohling et al.•Quaternary Research•2004

  Añadir item

• Formal subdivision of the Holocene Series/Epoch

  Open Access•Mike Walker, M J C Walker et al.•Journal of Quaternary Science•2012

  Añadir item

• Potential Alteration by Climate Change of the Forest-Fire Regime in the Boreal Forest of Central Yukon Territory

  Open Access•V M McCoy, C R BURN•ARCTIC•2010

  Añadir item

• Effects of the White River Ash Event and Climate Change on Aquatic Ecosystems in the Southwest Yukon

  Open Access•Joan Bunbury•ARCTIC•2009

  Añadir item

• Drought effects on large fire activity in Canadian and Alaskan forests

  Open Access•Jingfeng Xiao, Qianlai Zhuang•Environmental Research Letters•2007

  Añadir item

• Enhanced Late Holocene Enso/PDO expression along the margins of the eastern North Pacific

  Open Access•John A Barron, Lesleigh Anderson•Quaternary International•2011

  Añadir item

• Solid electrical conductivity (ECM) from four Agassiz ice cores, Ellesmere Island NWT, Canada

  Open Access•Jiancheng Zheng, Akira Kudo et al.•The Holocene•1998

  Añadir item

• A 1000-yr record of forest fire activity from Eclipse Icefield, Yukon, Canada

  Open Access•Kaplan Yalcin, Cameron P Wake et al.•The Holocene•2006

  Añadir item

• Holocene development of Boreal forests and fire regimes on the Kenai Lowlands of Alaska

  R Scott Anderson, Douglas J Hallett et al.•The Holocene•2006

  Añadir item

• Carbon sequestration in western Canadian peat highly sensitive to Holocene wet-dry climate cycles at millennial timescales

  Open Access•Zicheng Yu, I Campbell et al.•The Holocene•2003

  Añadir item

• Age, Extent and Climatic Significance of the c. 3400 BP Aniakchak Tephra, Western Alaska, USA

  Open Access•James E Begét, James Begét et al.•The Holocene•1992

  Añadir item

• Connecting the Atlantic-sector and the north Pacific (Mt Logan) ice core stable isotope records during the Holocene

  Open Access•David Fisher, David A Fisher•The Holocene•2011

  Añadir item

• The Mt Logan Holocene—late Wisconsinan isotope record

  Open Access•David Fisher, E C Osterberg et al.•The Holocene•2008

  Añadir item

• Northern Athapaskan Oral Traditions and the White River Volcano

  D Wayne Moodie, A J W Catchpole et al.•Ethnohistory•1992

  Añadir item