Mineral dust and elemental black carbon records from an Alpine ice core (Colle Gnifetti glacier) over the last millennium

Thevenon, Florian; Anselmetti, Flavio S.; Bernasconi, Stefano M.; Schwikowski, Margit

doi:10.1029/2008jd011490

Cited by 83 publications

(110 citation statements)

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“…In particular, the Alps were surrounded by areas of intensive industrialization and BC emissions (24,25). Ice cores extracted at high elevations in the European Alps (25)(26)(27)(28) similarly reflect these increased emissions from Europe, with increased BC concentrations beginning between 1850 and 1870 and general increases thereafter until well into the 20th century (Fig. 2).…”

Section: Records Of Black Carbon In Icementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Summertime BC loading to the Colle Gnifetti glacier saddle (CG, elevation 4,455 m) on Monte Rosa in the Swiss-Italian Alps stepwise jumped from ∼7 μg·kg −1 before 1850 to ∼14 μg·kg −1 in the range 1850-1870, and maintained a general increase into the late 20th century (27), with a spike in the 1880s. Given that emissions were likely greater in winter/spring because of seasonal heating needs, the absolute magnitudes of BC deposition at the CG site should have been greater than the summertime values reported here.…”

Section: Records Of Black Carbon In Icementioning

confidence: 99%

“…In exposed settings, such as glaciers, net solar radiation accounts for the vast majority of the energy available for melt (19,22). The increase in absorbed solar energy by BC in snow is usually greater than the reduction in absorbed solar energy by snow resulting from atmospheric BC+organic carbon (the component of carbonaceous aerosols that only weakly absorbs light) dimming (23), particularly (26) and Colle Gnifetti ice core (27), and estimated BC emissions for Europe (24) and for France, Switzerland, Germany, and Italy (25).…”

Section: Records Of Black Carbon In Icementioning

confidence: 99%

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End of the Little Ice Age in the Alps forced by industrial black carbon

Painter

Flanner

Kaser

et al. 2013

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

169

134

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Glaciers in the European Alps began to retreat abruptly from their mid-19th century maximum, marking what appeared to be the end of the Little Ice Age. Alpine temperature and precipitation records suggest that glaciers should instead have continued to grow until circa 1910. Radiative forcing by increasing deposition of industrial black carbon to snow may represent the driver of the abrupt glacier retreats in the Alps that began in the mid-19th century. Ice cores indicate that black carbon concentrations increased abruptly in the mid-19th century and largely continued to increase into the 20th century, consistent with known increases in black carbon emissions from the industrialization of Western Europe. Inferred annual surface radiative forcings increased stepwise to 13-17 W·m −2 between 1850 and 1880, and to 9- etween the end of the 13th and the middle of the 19th centuries, glaciers in the European Alps were considerably larger than at present (1). Beginning around 1865, however, glaciers across the Alps retreated rapidly to lengths generally shorter than in the known range of the previous 500 y (1), continuing to present day with interruptions by only minor advances (Fig. 1). This relatively abrupt retreat from the mid-19th century maximum is often considered by glaciologists to be the end of the Little Ice Age (LIA) (1-3).Glaciologists have conjectured that increasing temperatures (4) and decreasing precipitation (2) caused the rapid observed retreat of glaciers throughout the Alps in the second half of the 19th century. However, such scenarios are inconsistent with temperature records and climate proxies for the Alps (5, 6). During the latter half of the 19th century and early 20th century, when glaciers were retreating rapidly, temperatures in the Alpine region were apparently cooler than in the late 18th to early 19th centuries (Fig. 2) and precipitation was largely unchanged (5-7). Glaciers subject to these climate forcings alone would have had positive mass balance and advanced (8), rather than retreated, as observed.The density of temperature and precipitation observations in the Alps before 1800 was less than one-third that after 1860, by which time the density reached near its current level (5). Nevertheless, with our current knowledge of the Alpine climate, climatologists consider the climatic end of the LIA to have come markedly later than the glaciological end, resulting in a paradox (2).Simulations of glacier-length variations using glacier flow and mass balance models forced with instrumental and proxy temperature and precipitation fail to match the timing and magnitude of the observed late 19th century retreat (8)(9)(10)(11)(12). Matches between simulations and observations have only been achieved when additional glacier mass loss is imposed after 1865, or when precipitation signals are generated that would fit the glacier retreat rather than using actual precipitation records (8,10,12,13). Therefore, explaining the glacier retreat with climatic variables requires climate forcings that are inco...

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Section: Records Of Black Carbon In Icementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Records Of Black Carbon In Icementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Records Of Black Carbon In Icementioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

End of the Little Ice Age in the Alps forced by industrial black carbon

Painter

Flanner

Kaser

et al. 2013

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

169

134

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“…Finally, this time period also coincides with a major change in the isotope composition of the carbonaceous aerosols (d 13 C black carbon ) deposited at Colle Gnifetti glacier (SwisseItalian Alps, 4455 m a.s.l. ; Thevenon et al, 2009).…”

Section: Deposition History Of Pollutantsmentioning

confidence: 99%

(Pre-) historic changes in natural and anthropogenic heavy metals deposition inferred from two contrasting Swiss Alpine lakes

Thevenon

Guédron

Chiaradia

et al. 2011

Quaternary Science Reviews

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112

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a b s t r a c tContinuous high-resolution sedimentary record of heavy metals (chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), lead (Pb), zinc (Zn), manganese (Mn), and mercury (Hg)), from lakes Lucerne and Meidsee (Switzerland), provides pollutant deposition history from two contrasting Alpine environments over the last millennia. The distribution of conservative elements (thorium (Th), scandium (Sc) and titanium (Ti)) shows that in absence of human disturbances, the trace element input is primarily controlled by weathering processes (i.e., runoff and erosion). Nonetheless, the enrichment factor (EF) of Pb and Hg (that are measured by independent methods), and the Pb isotopic composition of sediments from the remote lake Meidsee (which are proportionally more enriched in anthropogenic heavy metals), likely detect early mining activities during the Bronze Age. Meanwhile, the deposition of trace elements remains close to the range of natural variations until the strong impact of Roman activities on atmospheric metal emissions. Both sites display simultaneous increases in anthropogenic trace metal deposition during the Greek and Roman Empires (ca 300 BC to AD 400), the Late Middle Ages (ca AD 1400), and the Early Modern Europe (after ca AD 1600). However, the greatest increases in anthropogenic metal pollution are evidenced after the industrial revolution of ca AD 1850, at low and high altitudes. During the twentieth century, industrial releases multiplied by ca 10 times heavy metal fluxes to hydrological systems located on both sides of the Alps. During the last decades, the recent growing contribution of low radiogenic Pb further highlights the contribution of industrial sources with respect to wood and coal burning emissions.

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“…Therefore, diacids cannot be considered as specific tracers of biomass burning and are not discussed here. Although we did not measure black carbon in the present study, black carbon has been studied and discussed in ice cores (e.g., Kehrwald et al, 2010;McConnell et al, 2007;Thevenon et al, 2009). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%