Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-vfjqv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T18:30:25.324Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Geological records of changes in wind regime over south Greenland since the Medieval Warm Period: a tentative reconstruction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2009

Antoon Kuijpers  and
Naja Mikkelsen
Antoon Kuijpers
Affiliation:
Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, Øster Voldgade 10, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark
Naja Mikkelsen
Affiliation:
Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, Øster Voldgade 10, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Published marine sediment core records and new information from terrestrial aeolian deposits from the surroundings of Igaliku Fjord, south Greenland, have been used for a tentative reconstruction of multi-decadal to centennial scale changes in the intensity of regional atmospheric circulation since the Medieval Warm Period. The marine data show that aeolian activity over southern Greenland was generally enhanced in the Medieval Warm Period between c. AD 900 and c. AD 1300. The preliminary data from the onshore aeolian deposits suggest that wind activity was strongest after AD 1000, reaching a peak close to AD 1300, after which atmospheric circulation intensity decreased. A comparison with the marine data shows that this decrease coincides with increased advection of Polar Water by the East Greenland Current at the beginning of the Little Ice Age. The aeolian sediment record suggests foehn wind activity displaying multi-decadal oscillations in the range of known north Atlantic climate oscillations. The intensity of erosional processes in south Greenland has previously often been attributed to farming activities initiated after AD 1000 by the Norse who disappeared a few hundred years later. Our findings suggest, however, that erosion in this area is mainly related to marked variations in wind strength.

Type
Research Article
Information
Polar Record , Volume 45 , Issue 1 , January 2009 , pp. 1 - 8
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

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

Andresen, C.S., Bond, G., Kuijpers, A., Knutz, P.C., and Björck, S.. 2005. Holocene climate variability at multidecadal time-scales detected by sedimentological indicators in a shelf core NW off Iceland. Marine Geology 214: 323–338.Google Scholar
Arneborg, J., Heinemeier, J., Lynnerup, N., Nielsen, L.H., Rud, N., and Sveinbjørnsdottir, A.E.. 1999. Change of diet of the Greenland Vikings determined from stable carbon isotope analysis and 14C dating of bones. Radiocarbon 41: 157–168.Google Scholar
Bengtson, L., Hodges, K.I., Roeckner, E., and Brokopf, R.. 2006. On the natural variability of the pre-industrial European climate. Climate Dynamics 27: 743–760.Google Scholar
Bruun, D. 1895. Arkæologiske undersøgelser i Julianehaabs district. Meddelelser om Grønland 16 (3): 171–461.Google Scholar
Edwards, K.J., Schofield, J.E., and Mauquoy, D.. 2008. High resolution paleoenvironmental and chronological investigations of Norse landnám at Tasiusaq, Eastern Settlement, Green land. Quarternary Research 69: 1–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fredskild, B. 1978. Paleobotanical investigations of some peat deposits of Norse age at Qagissiarssuk, South Greenland. Meddelelser om Grønland 204: 1–41.Google Scholar
Fredskild, B. 1992. Erosion and vegetational changes in South Greenland caused by agriculture. Geografisk Tidsskrift 92: 14–21.Google Scholar
Hoffmann, G., Kuijpers, A., Thiede, J., and Shipboard, Party. 1999. Climate change and the Viking-age fjord environment of the Eastern Settlement, SW Greenland. Cruise report Poseidon cruise 243. Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Reports on Polar Research 333: 1–34.Google Scholar
Holm, G.F. 1883. Beskrivelse af ruiner i Julianehaabs distrikt der er undersøgte i aaret 1880. Meddelelser om Grønland 6 (3): 57–145.Google Scholar
Horsted, S.A. 1956. Hydrographic-biological investigations of the south-west Greenland prawn grounds. Meddelelser fra Danmarks Fiskeri-og Havundersøgelser 1: 61–116.Google Scholar
Hurrell, J.W. 1995. Decadal trends in the North Atlantic Oscillation and relationships to regional temperature and precipitation. Science 269: 676–679.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacobsen, N.K. 1987. Studies on soils and potential for soil erosion in the sheep farming area of South Greenland. Arctic and Alpine Research 19 (4): 498–507.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jakobsen, B.H. 1991. Soil resources and soil erosion in the Norse settlement area of Østerbygden in Southern Greenland. Acta Borealia 1: 56–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jensen, K.G. 2003. Holocene hydrographic changes in Greenland coastal waters. Copenhagen: Danmarks og Grønlands Geologiske Undersøgelse (Rapport 2003/58).Google Scholar
Jensen, K.G., Kuijpers, A., Koc, N., and Heinemeier, J.. 2004. Diatom evidence of hydrographic changes and ice conditions in Igaliku Fjord, South Greenland, during the past 1500 years. The Holocene 14 (2): 152–164.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kasper, J.N., and Allard, M.. 2001. Late Holocene climatic changes as detected by the growth and decay of ice wedges on the southern shore of Hudson Strait, northern Québec, Canada. The Holocene 11 (5): 563–577.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kuijpers, A., Abrahamsen, A., Hoffmann, G., Hühnerbach, V., Konradi, P., Kunzendorf, H., Mikkelsen, N., Thiede, J. and Weinrebe, W.. 1999. Climate change and the Viking age fjord environment of the Eastern Settlement, South Greenland. Bulletin of the Greenland Geological Survey (183): 61–67.Google Scholar
Lassen, S. J., Kuijpers, A., Kunzendorf, H., Hoffmann-Wieck, G., Mikkelsen, N., and Konradi, P.. 2004. Late Holocene Atlantic bottom-water variability in Igaliku Fjord, South Greenland, reconstructed from foraminifera faunas. The Holocene 14 (2): 165–171.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mikkelsen, N., Kuijpers, A., Lassen, S., and Vedel, J.. 2001. Marine and terrestrial investigations in the Norse Eastern Settlement, South Greenland. Bulletin of the Greenland Geological Survey (189): 65–69.Google Scholar
Roncaglia, L., and Kuijpers, A.. 2004. Palynofacies analysis and organic-walled dinoflagellate cysts in late Holocene sediments from Igaliku Fjord, South Greenland. The Holocene 14 (2): 172–184.Google Scholar
Sandgren, P., and Fredskild, B.. 1991. Magnetic measurements recording Late Holocene man-induced erosion in S. Greenland. Boreas 20: 315–331.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schlesinger, M.E., and Ramankutty, N.. 1994. An oscillation in the global climate system of period 65–70 years. Nature 367: 723–726.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stuiver, M., Grootes, P.M., and Braziunas, T.F. 1995. The GISP2δ18O climate record of the past 16,500 years and the role of the sun, ocean and volcanoes. Quaternary Research 44: 341–354.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M. and Polach, H.A.. 1977. Discussion, reporting of 14 C data. Radiocarbon 19 (3): 355–363.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stuiver, M., Reimer, P.J., Bard, E., Beck, J.W., Burr, G.S., Hughen, K.A., Kromer, B., Mccormac, G., Van Der Plicht, J. and Spurk, M.. 1998. INTCAL98 Radiocarbon Age Calibration, 24,000-0 cal BP. Radiocarbon 40 (3): 1041–1083.Google Scholar
Sutton, R.T., and Hodson, D.L.R.. 2005. Atlantic Ocean forcing of North American and European summer climate. Science 309: 115–118.Google Scholar
Vebæk, C. L. 1992. Vatnaverfi. An Inland district of the Eastern Settlement in Greenland. Meddelelser om Grønland (Man and Society) 17: 1–132.Google Scholar
Willemse, N.W, Koster, E.A., Hoogakker, B., and van Tatenhove, F.G.M.. 2003. A continuous record of Holocene aeolian activity in West Greenland. Quaternary Research 59: 322–334.Google Scholar
Wilson, R., Wiles, G., D'Arrigo, R., and Zweck, C.. 2007. Cycles and shifts: 1,300 years of multi-decadal temperature variability in the Gulf of Alaska. Climate Dynamics 28: 425–440.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Witon, E., Malmgren, B., Witkowski, A., and Kuijpers, A.. 2006. Holocene marine diatoms from the Faeroe Islands and their paleoceanographic implications. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 239: 487–509.Google Scholar