HR: 1340h
AN: PP43A-0624    [Abstracts]
TI: Modelling the Climate of Last Glacial Maximum Europe Through Reconstructions of Glacial Mass Balances
AU: * Allen, R
EM: robert.allen@bristol.ac.uk
AU: Siegert, M
EM: m.j.siegert@bris.ac.uk
AU: Payne, T
EM: a.j.payne@bristol.ac.uk
AB: The state of a glacier and its equilibrium line are closely related to local and regional climatic conditions. Any alterations to the climate will cause fluctuations in the glacier system. Numerical models that use glaciological and meteorological inputs to calculate glacier mass balance can therefore be used to quantify climatic differences between time periods with known differences in glaciological condition. During the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) southern Europe became glaciated with a range of ice cap and mountain glacier systems. Mass balance models constrained by records of glacial extent can be used to estimate glacial condition and equilibrium line altitude. By modelling both the present day and Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) conditions across Europe potential anomalies in climatic parameters, such as temperature and precipitation, can be derived. This modelling approach provides a new method of deriving palaeoclimate estimates in both times and spaces where a palaeo-glaciological record is present. The results can be compared to other palaeoclimate reconstructions especially General Circulation Models (GCM's).
DE: 1610 Atmosphere (0315, 0325)
SC: Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology [PP]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting