HR: 0800h
AN: C11A-0077 [Abstracts]
TI: Was there a 1930's Meltdown of Greenland Glaciers?
AU: Box, J E
EM: jason.greenland@gmail.com
AU: * Herrington, A
EM: adamrhster@gmail.com
AB:
While climate warming is suggested to have caused acceleration of Greenland Ice Sheet outlet glaciers, recent
warming, however, is not without precedent. Examination of Greenland's meteorological
stations confirms that 1920s through 1940s surface-air temperature anomalies were at least as equal in
magnitude to the recent "global warming" decade, yet observations have
not yet been compiled to confirm a similar glacier response. Mining The Ohio State University Libraries, this work
compiles historical observations of glacier front positions and surface velocities from maps, photographs and
other documentary evidence from mid 19th century Arctic expeditions. Of the glaciers reviewed, an acceleration
and retreat indeed occurred between 1920 and 1940. The research put forth is thus consistent with a dynamical
response in Greenland's outlet glaciers to the "roaring
twenties" warming.
DE: 0726 Ice sheets
SC: Cryosphere [C]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting