Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T19:41:52.209Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Water Balance of Britain, 50,000 yr B.P. to the Present Day

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

John G. Lockwood
John G. Lockwood*
Affiliation:
School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, United Kingdom
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Estimates made of lowland precipitation and evaporation in Britain during the last (Devensian) glaciation suggest that during the cold periods of the Devensian precipitation was probably low, between 260 and 370 mm/thermal maximum of the Upton Warren Interstadial lowland precipitation was probably in the range 450 to 650 mm/year. Two summer precipitation regimes are identified during the cold periods, one with high values and the other with low. The high summer precipitation variant leads to moist conditions with July and August precipitation values similar to those at the present day, and global circulation models suggest that the moist regime may have existed at the time of the maximum advance of the ice sheets. On the other hand, the low summer precipitation variant leads to a dry summer with wind action creating aeolian deposits, and this variant probably existed at earlier times in the glacial period. About 6500 yr B.P., in the Atlantic period, forest conditions probably caused increased evaporation which more than compensated for the increased precipitation of the time, causing low runoff conditions. The clearance of British forests by man since 6500 yr B.P. has probably led to an absolute increase in runoff values even though precipitation values have fallen.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 12 , Issue 3 , November 1979 , pp. 297 - 310
Copyright
University of Washington

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

Atkinson, T.C., Harmon, R.S., Smart, P.L., Waltham, A.C., (1978). Palaeoclimatic and geomorphic implications of 230Th/234U dates on speleotherms from Britain. Nature (London). 272, 24-28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bell, F.G., (1969). The occurrence of southern, steppe and halophyte elements in Weichselian (last-glacial) floras from southern Britain. New Phytologist. 68, 913-922.Google Scholar
Boulton, G.S., Jones, A.S., Clayton, K.M., Kenning, M.J., (1977). A British ice sheet model and patterns of glacial erosion and deposition in Britain. Shotton, F.W., British Quaternary Studies—Recent Advances. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 231-246.Google Scholar
Brown, R.J.E., Péwé, T.L., éwé, 1973. Distribution of permafrost in North America and its relationship to the environment: A review, 1963–1973. Permafrost, North American Contribution to Second International Conference on Permafrost. National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C, 71-100.Google Scholar
Carlson, R.F., Kane, D., (1975). Hydrology of Alaska's Arctic. Weller, G., Bowling, S.A., Climate of the Arctic. Geophysical Institute, Fairbanks, Alaska, 366-373.Google Scholar
Catt, J.A., (1977). Loess and coversands. Shotton, F.W., British Quaternary Studies: Recent Advances. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 221-229.Google Scholar
Clark, R.T., Newson, M.D., (1978). Some detailed water balance studies of research catchments. Proceedings Royal Society London A. 363, 21-42.Google Scholar
Coope, G.R., 1975a. Climatic fluctuations in northwest Europe since the last interglacial, indicated by fossil assemblages of coleoptera. Wright, A.E., Moseley, F., Ice-ages: ancient and modern. Geological Journal. 153-168 Special Issue 6.Google Scholar
Coope, G.R., 1975b. Mid-Weichselian climatic changes in western Europe, reinterpreted from coleopteran assemblages. Suggate, R.P., Cromwell, H.M., Quaternary Studies. Royal Society of New Zealand's Bulletin 13. 101-108.Google Scholar
Coope, G.R., (1977). Fossil coleopteran assemblages as sensitive indicators of climatic changes during the Devensian (last) cold stage. Philosophical Transactions Royal Society London B. 280, 313-337.Google Scholar
Gates, W.L., (1976). The numerical simulation of ice-age climate with a global general circulation model. Journal Atmospheric Sciences. 33, 1844-1873.Google Scholar
Gerasimov, I.P., (1964) Physical-Geographical Atlas of the World. Akademiia Nauk SSSR, Moscow. Google Scholar
Gerasimov, I.P., (1969). Degradation of the last European ice sheet. Wright, H.E., Quaternary Geology and Climate. National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C, 72-78.Google Scholar
Goh, K.C., (1975). The Influence of Topographic and Synoptic Factors on Rainfall Distributions in the Central Pennines. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis. University of Leeds. Google Scholar
Grichuk, 269.P., (1973). Vegetation. The Palaeogeography of Europe during the Late Pleistocene, Reconstruction and Models. 182-219 Moscow.Google Scholar
Grindley, J., (1972). Estimation and mapping of evaporation. World Water Balance. Vol. 1, IASH, Gentbrugge, 200-213.Google Scholar
Ives, J.D., (1974). Permafrost. Ives, J.D., Barry, R.G., Arctic and Alpine Environments. Methuen, London, 159-194.Google Scholar
Kaiser, K., (1969). The climate of Europe during the Quaternary ice age. Wright, H.E., Quaternary Geology and Climate. National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C, 10-37.Google Scholar
Lamb, H.H., (1977) Climate: Present, Past and Future. Methuen, London, Vol. 2: “Climatic History and the Future”.Google Scholar
Lydolph, P.E., (1977) Climates of the Soviet Union. Elsevier Scientific, Amsterdam. Google Scholar
Manabe, S., Hahn, D.G., (1977). Simulation of the tropical climate of an ice age. Journal of Geophysical Research. 82, 3889-3911.Google Scholar
Manley, G., (1975). Fluctuations of snowfall and persistence of snow cover in marginal-oceanic climates. Proceedings of the WMO/IAMAP Symposium on Long-Term Climatic Fluctuations. WMO, Geneva, 183-188.Google Scholar
Rouse, W.R., Mills, P.F., Stewart, R.B., (1977). Evaporation in high latitudes. Water Resources Research. 13, 909-914.Google Scholar
Sarnthein, M., (1978). Sand deserts during glacial maximum and climatic optimum. Nature (London). 272, 43-46.Google Scholar
Shcherbakova, E.Ya, (1961) Climate of the USSR. 5. Eastern Siberia. Gidrometeoizdat, Leningrad. Google Scholar
Shotton, F.W., (1977). The Devensian stage: Its development, limits and substages. Philosophical Transactions Royal Society London B. 280, 107-118.Google Scholar
Smith, L.P., (1976) The Agricultural Climate of England and Wales. HMSO, London. Google Scholar
Starkel, L., (1977). The palaeogeography of mid- and east Europe during the last cold stage, with west European comparisons. Philosophical Transactions Royal Society London B. 280, 351-372.Google Scholar
Thom, A.S., Oliver, H.R., (1977). On Penman's equation for estimating regional evaporation. Quarterly Journal Royal Meteorological Society. 103, 345-358.Google Scholar
Velitchko, A.A., (1974). Paragenesis of a cryogenic (periglacial) zone. Biuletyn Peryglacjalny. 24, 89-110.Google Scholar
Walker, E.R., Lake, R.A., (1975). Runoff in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Weller, G., Bowling, S.A., Climate of the Arctic. Geophysical Institute, Fairbanks, Alaska, 374-378.Google Scholar
Watson, E., (1977). The periglacial environment of Great Britain during the Devensian. Philosophical Transactions Royal Society London B. 280, 183-197.Google Scholar
West, R.G., (1977). Flora and Fauna: Early and middle Devensian flora and vegetation. Philosophical Transactions Royal Society London B. 280, 229-246.Google Scholar
Wetherald, R.T., Manabe, S., (1975). The effects of changing the solar constant on the climate of a general circulation model. Journal Atmospheric Sciences. 32, 2044-2059.Google Scholar
Williams, R.B.G., (1975). The British climate during the last glaciation: An interpretation based on periglacial phenomena. Wright, A.E., Moseley, F., Ice-ages: Ancient and modern. Geological Journal. 95-120 Special Issue 6.Google Scholar