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Short Note: A Recent Decline in Available Moisture in Northern Victoria Land, Antarctica

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 January 2017

Paul A. Mayewski  and
John W. Attig Jr.
Paul A. Mayewski
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire 03824, U.S.A.
John W. Attig Jr.
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, University of Maine, Orono, Maine 04473, U.S.A.
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Abstract

Evidence from two areas in northern Victoria Land, Antarctica demonstrate that available moisture has been declining since at least 1 265 B.P. The cause is not known.

Résumé

Résumé

Des indices sont rassemblés, recueillis depuis deux sites dans le Nord du Victoria Land en Antarctique, pour démontrer que des baisses dans l'alimentation en eau sont survenues depuis au moins 1 265 ans avant nos jours. La cause n'est pas connue.

Zusammenfassung

Zusammenfassung

Beobachtungen aus zwei Gebieten in Nord-Victoria-Land, Antarktika, weisen darauf hin, dass zumindest in den letzten 1 265 Jahren die verfügbare Feuchtigkeit abgenommen hat. Die bekannt Ursache ist nicht.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Glaciology , Volume 20 , Issue 84 , 1978 , pp. 593 - 594
Copyright
Copyright © International Glaciological Society 1978

Rennick Glacier (center point lat. 71° 15' S., long. 162° 30' E.) and its tributaries are currently receding. The grounding line is migrating inland (Reference Mayewski, Mayewski, Attig and Drewry.Mayewski and others, in press), and the area of local lakes and snow patches lias decreased.

Reference Skinner and RickerSkinner and Ricker (1968) observed that many small lakes in the Reeves Glacier area (center point lat. 74° 45' S., long. 162° 00' W.) were formerly as much as 0.3 m deeper. In the Rennick Glacier area lacustrine strandlines and algal peats show that the lakes were formerly more extensive. 14C dates from two samples of algal peats from 4 m and 2 m above current lake level are of 1 265 ± 130 B.P. (6x-4069) and 1 085 ±105 B.P. (6x-4068), respectively.

Reference Skinner and RickerSkinner and Ricker (1968) mention apparent decreases in the area of snowdrifts over the past century in the Reeves Glacier area. In the Rennick Glacier area, undated pro-talus ramparts stranded meters to tens of meters in front of snow-patches and snow ramps suggest similar decreases. Air photographs taken in 1962 and 1974 (Fig. 1) also show the decrease in snow cover on the walls of an easterly-facing bedrock embayment, west of Rennick Glacier. Similar examples exist elsewhere in the Rennick Glacier region.

Fig. 1. Example of changes in snow-patch distribution 1962-74 on the east-central side of the Morozumi Range, west side of Rennick Glacier. Photographic insert appears above photograph diagrammatically displayed. Photograph XAM 501904, November 1974, courtesy of U.S. Naval Support Force, Antarctica.

The cause of this decrease in available moisture is unknown. However, monitoring of lakes and snow-patches may yield data on short-term climatic changes which will be of particular value when used in conjunction with other climatic data, such as the Holocene glacial record and ocean-bottom data.

Acknowledgement

This information was collected as part of a field program in nothern Victoria Land (1974-75) supported by U.S. National Science Foundation grant DPP 74-15210.

References

Mayewski, P.A., and others. In press. Pattern of ice surface lowering for Rennick Glacier, northern Victoria Land, Antarctica, by Mayewski, P. A. Attig, J. W. Jr., and Drewry., D. J. Journal of Glaciology, Vol. 22, No. 86.Google Scholar
Skinner, D.N.B., and Ricker, J. 1968. The geology of the region between the Mawson and Priestley glaciers, north Victoria Land, Antarctica. Part I—basement meta-sedimentary and igneous rocks. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics, Vol. 11, No. 4, p. 1009-40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Figure 0

Fig. 1. Example of changes in snow-patch distribution 1962-74 on the east-central side of the Morozumi Range, west side of Rennick Glacier. Photographic insert appears above photograph diagrammatically displayed. Photograph XAM 501904, November 1974, courtesy of U.S. Naval Support Force, Antarctica.