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Autumn snowfall and hydroclimatic variability during the past millennium inferred from the varved sediments of meromictic Lake A, northern Ellesmere Island, Canada

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Jessica D. Tomkins ,
Scott F. Lamoureux ,
Dermot Antoniades  and
Warwick F. Vincent
Jessica D. Tomkins*
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada K7L 3N6
Scott F. Lamoureux
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada K7L 3N6
Dermot Antoniades
Affiliation:
Centre for Northern Studies (CEN), Laval University, Quebec City, QC, Canada G1V 0A6
Warwick F. Vincent
Affiliation:
Centre for Northern Studies (CEN), Laval University, Quebec City, QC, Canada G1V 0A6
*
*Corresponding author. Present address: Polar Continental Shelf Program, Natural Resources Canada, 615 Booth Street, Room 487, Ottawa, ON, Canada K1A 0E9. Fax: + 1 613 947 1611. E-mail: Jessica.Tomkins@NRCan.gc.ca
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Abstract

We examined the hydroclimatic signal in a record of annual lamina (varve) thickness from High Arctic Lake A, Ellesmere Island (83°00.00′N, 75°30.00′W). In this unglacierized catchment, nival melt is the dominant source for meltwater and transport of sediment to the lake, and autumn snowfall is highly influential on varve thickness through the amount of snow available for melt in the following year. For the period during which climatic data are available, varve thickness in Lake A was significantly correlated (r = 0.50, p < 0.01) with the cumulative snowfall from August to October (ASO) during the previous year and to a lesser extent, ASO mean daily temperature (r = 0.39, p < 0.01) at Alert, Nunavut (175 km east). The varve thickness record, interpreted as a proxy record of ASO snowfall and by extension, ASO temperature, indicated above-mean conditions during five periods of the past millennium, including most of the 20th century. These results corresponded well to other available high-resolution proxy climate records from the region, with some discrepancies prior to AD 1500 and during the period AD 1700–1900.

Keywords

VarvesLaminaeSedimentologyPaleoclimateSnowfallHigh Arctic
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 74 , Issue 2 , September 2010 , pp. 188 - 198
Copyright
University of Washington

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