Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T14:29:59.387Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The influence of föhn winds on Glacial Lake Washburn and palaeotemperatures in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica, during the Last Glacial Maximum

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 March 2017

M.K. Obryk ,
P.T. Doran ,
E.D. Waddington  and
C.P. Mckay
M.K. Obryk*
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Portland State University, Portland, OR 97219, USA Department of Geology and Geophysics, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA
P.T. Doran
Affiliation:
Department of Geology and Geophysics, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA
E.D. Waddington
Affiliation:
Earth and Space Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
C.P. Mckay
Affiliation:
Space Science Division, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035, USA
*
[email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Large glacial lakes, including Glacial Lake Washburn, were present in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica, during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) despite a colder and drier climate. To address the mechanism capable of generating enough meltwater to sustain these large lakes, a conceptual model was developed based on the warming potential of infrequent contemporary föhn winds. The model suggests that föhn winds were capable of generating enough meltwater to sustain large glacial lakes during the LGM by increasing degree days above freezing (DDAF) and prolonging the melt season. A present-day relationship between infrequent summer föhn winds and DDAF was established. It is assumed that the Taylor Dome ice core record represents large-scale palaeoclimatic variations for the McMurdo Dry Valleys region. This analysis suggests that because of the warming influence of the more frequent föhn winds, summer DDAF in the McMurdo Dry Valleys during the LGM were equivalent to present-day values, but this enhanced summer signal is not preserved in the annually averaged ice core temperature record.

Keywords

degree days above freezinghydrological modellingLGM
Type
Physical Sciences
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 29 , Issue 5 , October 2017 , pp. 457 - 467
Check for updates
Copyright
© Antarctic Science Ltd 2017 

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

Andersen, D.T., Sumner, D.Y., Hawes, I., Webster-Brown, J. & McKay, C.P. 2011. Discovery of large conical stromatolites in Lake Untersee, Antarctica. Geobiology, 9, 280–293.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barrett, J.E., Gooseff, M.N. & Takacs-Vesbach, C. 2009. Spatial variation in soil active-layer geochemistry across hydrologic margins in polar desert ecosystems. Hydrology and Earth Systems Sciences, 13, 2349–2358.Google Scholar
Chinn, T.J. 1993. Physical hydrology of the dry valley lakes. Antarctic Research Series, 59, 1–51.Google Scholar
Denton, G.H. & Marchant, D.R. 2000. The geologic basis for a reconstruction of a grounded ice sheet in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica, at the Last Glacial Maximum. Geografiska Annaler - Physical Geography, 82A, 167–211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Doran, P.T., Dana, G.L., Hastings, J.T. & Wharton, R.A. Jr 1995. McMurdo Dry Valleys Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER): LTER automatic weather network (LAWN). Antarctic Journal of the United States, 30(5), 276–280.Google Scholar
Doran, P.T., McKay, C.P., Clow, G.D., Dana, G.L., Fountain, A., Nylen, T. & Lyons, W.B. 2002. Valley floor climate observations from the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica, 1986–2000. Journal of Geophysical Research - Atmospheres, 107, 10.1029/2001JD002045.Google Scholar
Doran, P.T., McKay, C.P., Fountain, A.G., Nylen, T., McKnight, D.M., Jaros, C. & Barrett, J.E. 2008. Hydrologic response to extreme warm and cold summers in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, East Antarctica. Antarctic Science, 20, 499–509.Google Scholar
Dugan, H.A., Obryk, M.K. & Doran, P.T. 2013. Lake ice ablation rates from permanently ice-covered Antarctic lakes. Journal of Glaciology, 59, 491–498.Google Scholar
Fountain, A., Lyons, W.B., Burkins, M.B., Dana, G.L., Doran, P.T., Lewis, K.J., McKnight, D., Moorhead, D.L., Parsons, A.N., Priscu, J.C., Wall, D.H., Wharton, R.A. & Virginia, R.A. 1999. Physical controls on the Taylor Valley ecosystem, Antarctica. BioScience, 49, 961–972.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gooseff, M.N., McKnight, D.M., Doran, P.T., Fountain, A.G. & Lyons, W.B. 2011. Hydrological connectivity of the landscape of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica. Geography Compass, 5, 666–681.Google Scholar
Grootes, P.M., Steig, E.J., Stuiver, M., Waddington, E.D. & Morse, D.L. 2001. The Taylor Dome Antarctic 18O record and globally synchronous changes in climate. Quaternary Research, 56, 289–298.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, B.L. & Denton, G.H. 1996. Deglacial chronology of the western Ross Sea. Antarctic Journal of the United States, 31(2), 78–80.Google Scholar
Hall, B.L. & Denton, G.H. 2000. Radiocarbon chronology of Ross Sea drift, eastern Taylor Valley, Antarctica: evidence for a grounded ice sheet in the Ross Sea at the Last Glacial Maximum. Geografiska Annaler - Physical Geography, 82A, 305–336.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, B.L., Denton, G.H. & Hendy, C.H. 2000. Evidence from Taylor Valley for a grounded ice sheet in the Ross Sea, Antarctica. Geografiska Annaler - Physical Geography, 82A, 275–303.Google Scholar
Hall, B.L., Denton, G.H., Overturf, B. & Hendy, C.H. 2002. Glacial Lake Victoria, a high-level Antarctic lake inferred from lacustrine deposits in Victoria Valley. Journal of Quaternary Science, 17, 697–706.Google Scholar
Hall, B.L., Denton, G.H., Fountain, A.G., Hendy, C.H. & Henderson, G.M. 2010. Antarctic lakes suggest millennial reorganizations of Southern Hemisphere atmospheric and oceanic circulation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 107, 21 355–21 359.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Higgins, S.M., Hendy, C.H. & Denton, G.H. 2000. Geochronology of Bonney Drift, Taylor Valley, Antarctica: evidence for interglacial expansions of Taylor Glacier. Geografiska Annaler - Physical Geography, 82A, 391–409.Google Scholar
Hinkley, T.K. & Matsumoto, A. 2001. Atmospheric regime of dust and salt through 75,000 years of Taylor Dome ice core: refinement by measurement of major, minor, and trace metal suites. Journal of Geophysical Research - Atmospheres, 106, 18 487–18 493.Google Scholar
Levy, J. 2013. How big are the McMurdo Dry Valleys? Estimating ice-free area using Landsat image data. Antarctic Science, 25, 119–120.Google Scholar
McGowan, H.A., Neil, D.T. & Speirs, J.C. 2014. A reinterpretation of geomorphological evidence for Glacial Lake Victoria, McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica. Geomorphology, 208, 200–206.Google Scholar
McKendry, I.G. & Lewthwaite, E.W.D. 1990. The vertical structure of summertime local winds in the Wright Valley, Antarctica. Boundary-Layer Meteorology, 51, 321–342.Google Scholar
Morse, D.L., Waddington, E.D. & Rasmussen, L.A. 2007. Ice deformation in the vicinity of an ice-core site at Taylor Dome, Antarctica, and a derived accumulation rate history. Journal of Glaciology, 53, 449–460.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morse, D.L., Waddington, E.D. & Steig, E.J. 1998. Ice age storm trajectories inferred from radar stratigraphy at Taylor Dome, Antarctica. Geophysical Research Letters, 25, 3383–3386.Google Scholar
Nylen, T.H., Fountain, A.G. & Doran, P.T. 2004. Climatology of katabatic winds in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, southern Victoria Land, Antarctica. Journal of Geophysical Research - Atmospheres, 109, 10.1029/2003JD003937.Google Scholar
Speirs, J.C., Steinhoff, D.F., McGowan, H.A., Bromwich, D.H. & Monaghan, A.J. 2010. Föhn winds in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica: the origin of extreme warming events. Journal of Climate, 23, 3577–3598.Google Scholar
Spigel, R.H. & Priscu, J.C. 1998. Physical limnology of the McMurdo Dry Valley lakes. Antarctic Research Series, 72, 153–187.Google Scholar
Steig, E.J., Morse, D.L., Waddington, E.D., Stuiver, M., Grootes, P.M., Mayewski, P.A., Twickler, M.S. & Whitlow, S.I. 2000. Wisconsinan and Holocene climate history from an ice core at Taylor Dome, western Ross Embayment, Antarctica. Geografiska Annaler - Physical Geography, 82A, 213–235.Google Scholar
Steinhoff, D.F., Bromwich, D.H. & Monaghan, A. 2013. Dynamics of the föhn mechanism in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica from Polar WRF. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 139, 1615–1631.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steinhoff, D.F., Bromwich, D.H., Speirs, J.C., McGowan, H.A. & Monaghan, A.J. 2014. Austral summer föhn winds over the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica from Polar WRF. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 140, 1825–1837.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M., Denton, G.H., Hughes, T.J. & Fastbrook, J.L. 1981. History of the marine ice sheet in West Antarctica during the last glaciation: a working hypothesis. In Denton, G.H. & Hughes, T.H., eds. The last great ice sheets. New York, NY: Wiley, 319–436.Google Scholar
Toner, J.D., Sletten, R.S. & Prentice, M.L. 2013. Soluble salt accumulations in Taylor Valley, Antarctica: implications for paleolakes and Ross Sea Ice Sheet dynamics. Journal of Geophysical Research - Earth Surface, 118, 198–215.Google Scholar
Waddington, E.D. & Morse, D.L. 1994. Spatial variations of local climate at Taylor Dome, Antarctica: implications for paleoclimate from ice cores. Annals of Glaciology, 20, 219–225.Google Scholar
Wagner, B., Melles, M., Doran, P.T., Kenig, F., Forman, S.L., Pierau, R. & Allen, P. 2006. Glacial and postglacial sedimentation in the Fryxell Basin, Taylor Valley, southern Victoria Land, Antarctica. Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology, 241, 320–337.Google Scholar
Wand, U., Schwarz, G., Bruggemann, E. & Brauer, K. 1997. Evidence for physical and chemical stratification in Lake Untersee (central Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica). Antarctic Science, 9, 43–45.Google Scholar
Wharton, R.A., McKay, C.P., Clow, G.D. & Andersen, D.T. 1993. Perennial ice covers and their influence on Antarctic lake ecosystems. Antarctic Research Series, 59, 53–70.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Obryk supplementary material

Table S1

Download Obryk supplementary material(File)
File 14.8 KB