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Postglacial Temperature Anomalies and Glacial Isostasy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

K. J. Tinkler
K. J. Tinkler*
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario, L2S 3A1 Canada
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Abstract

The isostatic depression of an ice-free land surface, originally caused by glacial ice, ought to be converted into a change in mean annual temperature according to the usual value for the environmental lapse rate, 6.5°C/1000 m. Calculations are undertaken to show the temperature changes, relative to present values at a site, that can be expected from this effect during the retreat of a major continental ice sheet. It is concluded that when restrained rebound is taken into account temperatures relative to the present could vary from 0°C at the start of deglaciation to about +2.32°C at the final disappearance of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. The decay of the warmer-than-present temperatures towards their current values is controlled, in this model, by isostatic recovery of the land surface. Variance estimates are built into the model and suggest that the anomaly might be as small as 0.75°C or as large as 4.0°C depending on the choice of values for crucial components such as maximum ice thickness, the proportion of isostatic deformation, and the amount of restrained rebound achieved by the time a site become ice free.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 19 , Issue 3 , May 1983 , pp. 293 - 301
Copyright
University of Washington

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