Coupled climate-glacier modelling of the last glaciation in the Alps
Our limited knowledge of the climate prevailing over Europe during former glaciations is the main obstacle to reconstruct the past evolution of the ice coverage over the Alps by numerical modelling. To address this challenge, we perform a two-step modelling approach: First, a regional climate model...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press
2023-12-01
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| Series: | Journal of Glaciology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0022143023000746/type/journal_article |
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| author | Guillaume Jouvet Denis Cohen Emmanuele Russo Jonathan Buzan Christoph C. Raible Wilfried Haeberli Sarah Kamleitner Susan Ivy-Ochs Michael A. Imhof Jens K. Becker Angela Landgraf Urs H. Fischer |
| author_facet | Guillaume Jouvet Denis Cohen Emmanuele Russo Jonathan Buzan Christoph C. Raible Wilfried Haeberli Sarah Kamleitner Susan Ivy-Ochs Michael A. Imhof Jens K. Becker Angela Landgraf Urs H. Fischer |
| author_sort | Guillaume Jouvet |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Our limited knowledge of the climate prevailing over Europe during former glaciations is the main obstacle to reconstruct the past evolution of the ice coverage over the Alps by numerical modelling. To address this challenge, we perform a two-step modelling approach: First, a regional climate model is used to downscale the time slice simulations of a global earth system model in high resolution, leading to climate snapshots during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and the Marine Isotope Stage 4 (MIS4). Second, we combine these snapshots and a climate signal proxy to build a transient climate over the last glacial period and force the Parallel Ice Sheet Model to simulate the dynamical evolution of glaciers in the Alps. The results show that the extent of modelled glaciers during the LGM agrees with several independent key geological imprints, including moraine-based maximal reconstructed glacial extents, known ice transfluences and trajectories of erratic boulders of known origin and deposition. Our results highlight the benefit of multiphysical coupled climate and glacier transient modelling over simpler approaches to help reconstruct paleo glacier fluctuations in agreement with traces they have left on the landscape. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-012a3edf744c4462aea7bc63582f3b11 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 0022-1430 1727-5652 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2023-12-01 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Glaciology |
| spelling | doaj-art-012a3edf744c4462aea7bc63582f3b112025-08-20T02:33:44ZengCambridge University PressJournal of Glaciology0022-14301727-56522023-12-01691956197010.1017/jog.2023.74Coupled climate-glacier modelling of the last glaciation in the AlpsGuillaume Jouvet0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8546-8459Denis Cohen1Emmanuele Russo2Jonathan Buzan3Christoph C. Raible4Wilfried Haeberli5Sarah Kamleitner6Susan Ivy-Ochs7Michael A. Imhof8https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2780-0732Jens K. Becker9Angela Landgraf10Urs H. Fischer11Institute of Earth Surface Dynamics, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland Department of Geography, University of Zurich, Zurich, SwitzerlandCoSci LLC, Orlando, FL, USA Department of Earth and Environmental Science, New Mexico Tech, Socorro, NM, USAClimate and Environmental Physics, University of Bern, Sidlerstrasse 5, 3012 Bern, Switzerland Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Bern, Hochschulstrasse 4, 3012 Bern, Switzerland Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science (IAC), ETH Zurich, Universitätstrasse 16, 8092 Zürich, SwitzerlandClimate and Environmental Physics, University of Bern, Sidlerstrasse 5, 3012 Bern, Switzerland Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Bern, Hochschulstrasse 4, 3012 Bern, SwitzerlandClimate and Environmental Physics, University of Bern, Sidlerstrasse 5, 3012 Bern, Switzerland Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Bern, Hochschulstrasse 4, 3012 Bern, SwitzerlandDepartment of Geography, University of Zurich, Zurich, SwitzerlandLaboratory of Ion Beam Physics, ETH Zurich, 8093 Zurich, SwitzerlandLaboratory of Ion Beam Physics, ETH Zurich, 8093 Zurich, SwitzerlandLaboratory of Hydraulics, Hydrology and Glaciology, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, SwitzerlandNagra, Wettingen, SwitzerlandNagra, Wettingen, SwitzerlandNagra, Wettingen, SwitzerlandOur limited knowledge of the climate prevailing over Europe during former glaciations is the main obstacle to reconstruct the past evolution of the ice coverage over the Alps by numerical modelling. To address this challenge, we perform a two-step modelling approach: First, a regional climate model is used to downscale the time slice simulations of a global earth system model in high resolution, leading to climate snapshots during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and the Marine Isotope Stage 4 (MIS4). Second, we combine these snapshots and a climate signal proxy to build a transient climate over the last glacial period and force the Parallel Ice Sheet Model to simulate the dynamical evolution of glaciers in the Alps. The results show that the extent of modelled glaciers during the LGM agrees with several independent key geological imprints, including moraine-based maximal reconstructed glacial extents, known ice transfluences and trajectories of erratic boulders of known origin and deposition. Our results highlight the benefit of multiphysical coupled climate and glacier transient modelling over simpler approaches to help reconstruct paleo glacier fluctuations in agreement with traces they have left on the landscape.https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0022143023000746/type/journal_articleglacier modellingmorainepaleoclimate |
| spellingShingle | Guillaume Jouvet Denis Cohen Emmanuele Russo Jonathan Buzan Christoph C. Raible Wilfried Haeberli Sarah Kamleitner Susan Ivy-Ochs Michael A. Imhof Jens K. Becker Angela Landgraf Urs H. Fischer Coupled climate-glacier modelling of the last glaciation in the Alps Journal of Glaciology glacier modelling moraine paleoclimate |
| title | Coupled climate-glacier modelling of the last glaciation in the Alps |
| title_full | Coupled climate-glacier modelling of the last glaciation in the Alps |
| title_fullStr | Coupled climate-glacier modelling of the last glaciation in the Alps |
| title_full_unstemmed | Coupled climate-glacier modelling of the last glaciation in the Alps |
| title_short | Coupled climate-glacier modelling of the last glaciation in the Alps |
| title_sort | coupled climate glacier modelling of the last glaciation in the alps |
| topic | glacier modelling moraine paleoclimate |
| url | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0022143023000746/type/journal_article |
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