Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T12:12:37.365Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Postglacial Temperature Anomalies and Glacial Isostasy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

K. J. Tinkler
K. J. Tinkler*
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario, L2S 3A1 Canada
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The isostatic depression of an ice-free land surface, originally caused by glacial ice, ought to be converted into a change in mean annual temperature according to the usual value for the environmental lapse rate, 6.5°C/1000 m. Calculations are undertaken to show the temperature changes, relative to present values at a site, that can be expected from this effect during the retreat of a major continental ice sheet. It is concluded that when restrained rebound is taken into account temperatures relative to the present could vary from 0°C at the start of deglaciation to about +2.32°C at the final disappearance of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. The decay of the warmer-than-present temperatures towards their current values is controlled, in this model, by isostatic recovery of the land surface. Variance estimates are built into the model and suggest that the anomaly might be as small as 0.75°C or as large as 4.0°C depending on the choice of values for crucial components such as maximum ice thickness, the proportion of isostatic deformation, and the amount of restrained rebound achieved by the time a site become ice free.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 19 , Issue 3 , May 1983 , pp. 293 - 301
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

Beckinsale, R.P.. 1965. Climatic change: A critique of modern theories. 1–30. Essays in Geography for Austin Miller. Whittow, J.B., Wood, P.D.. Univ. Reading, Reading, U.K. 1–30.Google Scholar
Brotchie, J.F., Silvester, R.. 1969. On crustal flexure. Journal of Geophysical Research 74. 5240–5252.Google Scholar
Bryson, R.A., Wendland, W.M.. 1967. Tentative climatic patterns for some late-glacial and post-glacial episodes in central North America. Land, Life and Water. Mayer-Oakes, W.J.. Univ. Manitoba Press, Manitoba, Canada.Google Scholar
H.M.S.O, . 1977. Meteorological Glossary. H.M.S.O, London.Google Scholar
Hughes, T.J.. 1981. Numerical reconstruction of Palaeo-Ice Sheets. The Last Great Ice Sheets. Denton, G.H., Hughes, T.J.. Wiley, New York. 221–261.Google Scholar
Hughes, T.J., Denton, G.H., Anderson, B.G., Schilling, D.H., Fastook, J.L., Lingle, C.S.. 1981. The last great ice sheets: A global view. The Last Great Ice Sheets. Denton, G.H., Hughes, T.J.. Wiley, New York. 275–317.Google Scholar
Neiburger, M., Edinger, J.G., Bonner, W.D.. 1982. Understanding our Atmospheric Environment. Freeman, San Francisco.Google Scholar
Paterson, W.S.B.. 1972. Laurentide Ice Sheet: Estimated volumes during the Late Wisconsin. Reviews of Geophysics and Space Physics 10. 885–917.Google Scholar
Sugden, D.E.. 1977. Reconstruction of the morphology, dynamics and thermal characteristics of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. Arctic and Alpine Research 9. 21–47.Google Scholar