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Alpine glaciers are sensitive indicators of changes in climate, and their ubiquity in mountainous regions make them valuable proxies for terrestrial climate reconstructions worldwide. However, the timing and extent of glacier change across the South American mid-latitudes through the Holocene are still poorly constrained relative to their counterparts in the Northern Hemisphere. Here we report a new 10Be surface exposure-based chronology of moraines recording a series of progressively less-extensive glacier advances of Glaciar Torre (Argentina, 49.3°S/73.0°W) since the Last Glacial Maximum, with expansions culminating at 17,600 ± 900, 13,500 ± 500, 9700 ± 400, 6900 ± 200, 6100 ± 300, 4500 ± 200, and 530 ± 60 yr BP. The declining magnitude of Holocene glacier expansions parallels a gradual rise in local summer insolation intensity during the Holocene, while individual advances occurred during inferred negative Southern Annular Mode (SAM)-like states at centennial to millennial timescales. These observations suggest that (i) summer insolation intensity modulated antiphased trends in glacier extent in the polar hemispheres during the Holocene, and that (ii) centennial-scale ‘SAM-like’ temperature and precipitation anomalies paced glacier fluctuations throughout Patagonia. Given the persistence of the inferred ’SAM-like’ anomalies throughout the Holocene, the modern measured trend towards positive SAM index conditions could mark the onset of a fundamental shift in the climate of the Southern Hemisphere midlatitudes that warrants consideration in projections of future climate.

We undertook geomorphological mapping in conjunction with 10Be surface-exposure dating in a previously unstudied sector of the left-lateral moraine sequence of the ice-age Pukaki glacier in the Southern Alps of New Zealand. The mapping and dating approach enabled the identification of six distinct moraine belts that were formed during maxima of glacier extent during the last glaciation. The chronology implies that ice recession occurred during Northern Hemisphere Heinrich stadials, while expansion occurred between Heinrich stadials. The ages of the moraine belts identified here are 44,000 ± 1000 yrs; 41,800 ± 1100 yrs; 36,450 ± 940 yrs 26,730 ± 740 yrs; 20,030 ± 460 yrs; and 18,000 ± 400 yrs. This moraine chronology is consistent with previous dating results from other sectors of the Pukaki moraine sequence, except that the c. 44,000 yr old moraine belt has not previously been detected elsewhere in the Pukaki moraines. Collectively with previously published 10Be chronologies from the Pukaki glacier, and the adjacent Ohau glacier valley, the results demonstrate that there were several millennial-scale episodes of ice advance to full-glacial extent, and subsequent ice recession, during Marine Isotope Stages 3 and 2. This millennial-scale pulsebeat of oscillations of the Pukaki and Ohau glaciers in sympathy with the North Atlantic Heinrich episodes is further emphasized by rapid ice recession in the Southern Alps early in the last glacial termination, coeval with the onset of Heinrich stadial 1 (HS 1) in the Northern Hemisphere. That this pattern is widespread in mid-latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere is highlighted by similar chronologies of glacier variation for Andean ice lobes in the Chilean Lake District of South America.

The sensitivity of mountain glaciers to small-scale climate fluctuations makes records of their past extent among the best proxies for identifying spatio-temporal climate variability. Here we build on the few existing Holocene records of local glacier change in Greenland by using three independent geochronological methods—proglacial lake sediment analysis, cosmogenic 10Be surface-exposure dating, and in situ 14C burial modeling—to reconstruct continuous records of Holocene glacier variability on Nuussuaq, West Greenland. 10Be ages of perched boulders indicate eastern Nuussuaq was deglaciated between ∼11.0 and 10.5 ka. Radiocarbon-dated sediments from two lakes on Nuussuaq contain mineral-rich layers between ∼9.6 and 9.0 and ∼8.7–8.0 cal ka BP that may be correlative with nearby ice sheet moraines deposited in the early Holocene. Multiple proxies for glacier size indicate frequent, high-amplitude glacier fluctuations superimposed on net glacier growth during the late Holocene, with significant ice expansion phases at ∼3.7 ka, 2.8 ka, and throughout the past ∼2 ka. Mean 10Be ages from five nested moraine crests confirm that local glacier extents on Nuussuaq culminated during both the Little Ice Age [∼1470 C.E. (n = 3) and 1750 C.E. (n = 3)] and the preceding centuries (∼520–1320 C.E.; n = 11). Results reveal that local glaciers on Nuussuaq episodically advanced and retreated at centennial timescales throughout the Holocene, most likely in response to regional climate changes in West Greenland superimposed on the progressive insolation-driven cooling trend in the Northern Hemisphere. Our new 10Be moraine chronologies coupled with other glacier-size proxies corroborate an emerging pattern of significant summer cooling and glacier expansion in the centuries prior to the Little Ice Age in the Arctic.

We present 32 new cosmogenic 10Be exposure ages from a moraine sequence deposited during the Wisconsinan glaciation in the Swift River valley, Revelation Mountains, western Alaska Range. 10Be ages from an early Wisconsinan [Marine Isotope Stage 4] moraine average 59.7 ± 3.6 ka (n = 9; excluding one outlier), and 10Be ages from a late Wisconsinan [Marine Isotope Stage 2] terminal moraine, inboard moraines, and two recessional end moraines average 21.3 ± 0.8 ka (n = 3; excluding two outliers), 20.2 ± 1.0 ka (n = 7; excluding three young outliers), 19.6 ± 1.0 ka (n = 2; excluding one outlier) and 17.7 ± 0.8 ka (n = 4; excluding two outliers), respectively. The early Wisconsinan moraine age coincides with the close of MIS 4, consistent with previous chronologies from Beringia. Whereas Southern Hemisphere glaciers retreated prior to the onset of Heinrich Stadial 6 (64–60 ka), the MIS 4 glacier advance in the Swift River valley terminated at the close of Heinrich Stadial 6, possibly in response to abrupt North Atlantic warming. Our late Wisconsinan ages indicate significant initial glacier retreat between ca. 21.3–17.7 ka (prior to any significant increase in CO2) likely in response to amplified warming from rising insolation. Preservation of MIS 4 moraines in Beringia has traditionally been ascribed to limited MIS 2 glacier advance modulated by low regional moisture availability, stemming from the exposed Bering Land Bridge. However, we hypothesize that atmospheric re-organization forced by the Laurentide Ice Sheet resulted in relatively higher temperatures and drier conditions in Beringia during MIS 2 than MIS 4, allowing for the preservation of early Wisconsinan moraines.

The last deglaciation of the Laurentide Ice Sheet in northern Quebec and Labrador led to the formation of several glacial lakes that drained into Ungava Bay and the nearby Labrador Sea. Assessing the potential impact of their drainage on ocean surface conditions and climate, however, is limited by the few existing age constraints on ice retreat and associated evolution of these lakes. Here we report 21 10Be ages from shorelines and an outburst flood landform formed by Lake Naskaupi, one of the largest glacial lakes in this region. The results indicate that the lake drained from its full extent at 8300 ± 300 a, suggesting that it may have contributed to the freshwater forcing initiated by the drainage of Lake Agassiz-Ojibway that caused the 8.2-ka cold event. Additionally, the results provide important constraints on the position of the ice margin of the Labrador Sector during its retreat across this region.

Iniciativa Cientifica Milenio NC120066 FONDECYT 11121280 1160488 1151469 CONICYT USA 2013-0035 NSF-BCS 1263474 Fulbright

Beryllium-10 has become the premiere cosmogenic nuclide for quantifying Earth-surface process. Routine measurement of 10Be at the ≤ 2–3% precision level, coupled with precise 10Be production-rate calibrations, now allow for 10Be-based records of glacier and ice-sheet change to be reliably compared to independent records of climate variability. Here, we review efforts over the last 10+ years to characterize the Holocene behavior of ice sheets and glaciers fringing Baffin Bay using in situ 10Be. Hundreds of 10Be measurements present a detailed picture of ice-margin migration through the early Holocene. Widespread net deglaciation was interrupted by ice-margin readvances or stillstands, marked by modes of moraine deposition, near the end of the Younger Dryas (12.9–11.7 ka BP), 10.4–10.2 ka BP, 9.3 ka BP, and 8.2 ka BP, with perhaps additional widespread moraine deposition occurring ca. 9.7 ka BP and 7.3 ka BP. Modes of moraine deposition encompass independent and glaciologically distinct ice masses – the Greenland and Laurentide ice sheets and local alpine glaciers situated on Baffin Island and western Greenland – providing a robust, albeit discontinuous, record of widespread climatic changes in the Baffin Bay region in the early Holocene. Periods of glacier advance coincide with abrupt cooling events documented in Summit Greenland ice cores indicating that i) Baffin Bay ice masses largely followed the pattern of temperature change displayed in Greenland ice cores, ii) abrupt cooling events were of sufficient magnitude and duration to briefly synchronize the behavior of independent and glaciologically distinct ice masses across Baffin Bay despite varying degrees of dynamical influence, and iii) centennial-scale synchronization of ice masses requires that abrupt temperature changes recorded at Summit Greenland also occurred during the summertime within glacier ablation zones. Advancements in 10Be methodology combined with an environment conducive towards developing 10Be-based records of ice-margin change has resulted in ice-margin reconstructions that identify a potentially fundamental negative feedback mechanism inherent to melting ice sheets in the Baffin Bay region – elevated and episodic meltwater delivery into the Labrador Sea results in a decrease in the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation and regional cooling, which, in turn, drives a brief reversal of deglaciation. Under the right conditions 10Be can be used to develop centennial-scale, climatically relevant records of glacier and ice-sheet change.

Robust glacial chronologies are needed to address the fundamental questions of when and why Ice Age climates begin and end. Well-preserved glacial deposits left by large ice sheet lobes adjacent to Estrecho de Magallanes (53°S; Chile) in southernmost South America provide a unique opportunity to reconstruct the timing and fine structure of the last two major glaciations, as well as the last termination. We present a new precise 10Be surface exposure dataset of 34 moraine boulders directly tied to a recently published, high resolution glacial geomorphic map of the deposits left by the Magallanes lobe. We find that the southern section of the Patagonian Ice Sheet was more extensive during Marine Isotope Stage 4 (MIS 4) than during MIS 2, representing the first direct dating of the MIS 4 glacier culmination in South America. Similar to the MIS 2 glacial maxima, within MIS 4 there were multiple advances that we date (n = 6 samples) to between 67.5 ± 2.1 and 62.1 ± 2.0 ka. A similarly timed MIS 4 advance was identified in New Zealand, indicating that this is a hemisphere-wide glacier-climate signal, which is further corroborated by South Atlantic and Pacific temperature proxy records. Inboard of the MIS 4 moraine complex, we date a sequence of geomorphically distinct MIS 2 moraines that represent separate major periods of glacial stability. The MIS 2 maximum extent occurred by 27.4 ± 0.8 ka (n = 4; arithmetic mean, with the standard error of the mean and 3% propagated production rate error) and was followed by at least four more full glacial culminations at 25.7 ± 0.8 (n = 3), 23.9 ± 0.8 (n = 5), 19.1 ± 0.7 (n = 3), and 18.1 ± 0.6 ka (n = 3), which represent periods when the glacier was in equilibrium with the climate for long enough to form major moraines. About 18 km inboard, this sequence is followed by smaller-scale recessional moraine crests, deposited on drumlinized terrain rather than a moraine drift, that we date to 18.0 ± 0.8 ka, indicating the glacier was in net retreat at this time. Tentative results from a 2D ice sheet model suggest that the Magallanes lobe may have reached mapped inner and outer MIS 2 moraines from a climate with approximately 4.5 °C and 5.5 °C cooler summers, respectively, assuming ∼25% less annual precipitation, relative to modern climate. We hypothesize that during the last glacial cycle, shifts in the subtropical and subantarctic fronts, and related ocean-atmosphere patterns, explain MIS 4 to 2 glacial behavior in the southern mid-latitudes.

Two fundamental questions about the ice-age climate system await satisfactory resolution. First, if summer solar radiation intensity truly controls the orbital signature of the last glacial cycle, then why were major climatic shifts, including the last termination, globally synchronous? Second, what caused the millennial-scale climate oscillations superimposed on this cycle? We address these questions from a Southern Hemisphere perspective focused on mid-latitude mountain ice fields. We put particular emphasis on the last glacial termination, which involved both orbital-scale and millennial-scale climate elements and has generally well-resolved chronological control. Sustained retreat of mountain glaciers, documented by detailed mapping and chronology of glacial landforms in the Southern Alps and southern Andes, marked the termination of the last ice age, beginning ∼18 kyrs ago and involved a change from glacial to near-interglacial atmospheric temperature within a millennium or two. A rapid poleward shift of the Subtropical Front, delineating the northern margin of the Southern Ocean, ∼18 kyrs ago implies a concurrent poleward shift of the austral westerlies and leads us to hypothesize a southern origin for the dominant phase of the last glacial termination. Together with interhemispheric paleoclimate records and with results of coupled ocean-atmosphere climate modeling, these findings suggest a big, fast, and global end to the last ice age in which a southern-sourced warming episode linked the hemispheres. We posit that a shift in the Southern Ocean circulation and austral westerly wind system, tied to southern orbital forcing, caused this global warming episode by affecting the tropical heat engine and hence global climate. Central to this hypothesis, dubbed the ‘Zealandia Switch’, is the location of the Australia and Zealandia continents relative to Southern Hemisphere oceanic and atmospheric circulation. Coupled ocean-atmosphere climate modeling shows that the locus of the austral westerlies, whether in a more equatorward position representing a glacial-mode climate or in a poleward-shifted position marking interglacial-mode climate, has profound effects on oceanic and associated atmospheric linkages between the tropical Pacific and the Southern Ocean. Shifts in the austral westerlies have global climatic consequences, especially through resulting changes in the greenhouse gas content of the atmosphere and altered heat flux from the tropical Pacific into the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. We suggest that the last glacial termination was a global warming episode that led to extreme seasonality in northern latitudes by stimulating a flush of meltwater and icebergs into the North Atlantic from adjoining ice sheets. This fresh-water influx resulted in widespread North Atlantic sea ice that caused very cold boreal winters, thus amplifying the annual southward shift of the Intertropical Convergence Zone and the monsoonal rain belts. We further suggest that muted manifestations of the Zealandia Switch mechanism were responsible for smaller, recurring millennial-scale climate oscillations within the last glacial cycle.

The course of climatic events in Scotland and the broader North Atlantic region during the glacial termination has important implications for our understanding of the causes and mechanisms of abrupt climate change but remains in debate. One example is the timing of the late-glacial 'Loch Lomond Readvance' (LLR), during which an ice cap and numerous cirque glaciers were nourished in the Scottish Highlands. Exactly when the LLR occurred and culminated has been disputed for several decades and has been addressed via several different types of chronologic evidence (e.g., Lowe and Walker, 1976; Golledge et al., 2007; MacLeod et al., 2011; Bromley et al., 2014). Recently, Small and Fabel (2016) presented a suite of six 10Be surface-exposure ages from moraine ridges on Rannoch Moor, central Scottish Highlands, that questioned whether two different dating techniques - 10Be and 14C - yield the same result for the timing of final deglaciation of the Scottish ice cap. In that study, Small and Fabel (2016) concluded that the 10Be data show deglaciation occurred at the close of the Younger Dryas (YD) stadial (∼11.6 kyr), as much as a millennium later than the scenario presented by Bromley et al. (2014) based on minimum-limiting 14C data. While the issue of which, if either, is a more reliable age for deglaciation cannot be resolved fully in a short note, we comment on several points raised by Small and Fabel (2016) and suggest a means to resolve this question. peer-reviewed

Resolving patterns of tropical climate variability during and since the last glacial maximum (LGM) is fundamental to assessing the role of the tropics in global change, both on ice-age and sub-millennial timescales. Here, we present a10Be moraine chronology from the Cordillera Carabaya (14.3°S), a sub-range of the Cordillera Oriental in southern Peru, covering the LGM and the first half of the last glacial termination. Additionally, we recalculate existing 10Be ages using a new tropical high-altitude production rate in order to put our record into broader spatial context. Our results indicate that glaciers deposited a series of moraines during marine isotope stage 2, broadly synchronous with global glacier maxima, but that maximum glacier extent may have occurred prior to stage 2. Thereafter, atmospheric warming drove widespread deglaciation of the Cordillera Carabaya. A subsequent glacier resurgence culminated at ∼16,100 yrs, followed by a second period of glacier recession. Together, the observed deglaciation corresponds to Heinrich Stadial 1 (HS1: ∼18,000–14,600 yrs), during which pluvial lakes on the adjacent Peruvian-Bolivian altiplano rose to their highest levels of the late Pleistocene as a consequence of southward displacement of the inter-tropical convergence zone and intensification of the South American summer monsoon. Deglaciation in the Cordillera Carabaya also coincided with the retreat of higher-latitude mountain glaciers in the Southern Hemisphere. Our findings suggest that HS1 was characterised by atmospheric warming and indicate that deglaciation of the southern Peruvian Andes was driven by rising temperatures, despite increased precipitation. Recalculated 10Be data from other tropical Andean sites support this model. Finally, we suggest that the broadly uniform response during the LGM and termination of the glaciers examined here involved equatorial Pacific sea-surface temperature anomalies and propose a framework for testing the viability of this conceptual model.

We present a comprehensive 10Be chronology for Holocene moraines in the Lago Argentino basin, on the east side of the South Patagonian Icefield. We focus on three different areas, where prior studies show ample glacier moraine records exist because they were formed by outlet glaciers sensitive to climate change. The 10Be dated records are from the Lago Pearson, Herminita Península-Brazo Upsala, and Lago Frías areas, which span a distance of almost 100 km adjacent to the modern Icefield. New 10Be ages show that expanded glaciers and moraine building events occurred at least at 6120 ± 390 (n = 13), 4450 ± 220 (n = 7), 1450 or 1410 ± 110 (n = 18), 360 ± 30 (n = 5), and 240 ± 20 (n = 8) years ago. Furthermore, other less well-dated glacier expansions of the Upsala Glacier occurred between ~1400 and ∼1000 and ∼2300 and ∼2000 years ago. The most extensive glaciers occurred over the interval from ∼6100 to ∼4500 years ago, and their margins over the last ∼600 years were well within and lower than those in the middle Holocene. The 10Be ages agree with 14C-limiting data for the glacier histories in this area. We then link southern South American, adjacent South Atlantic, and other Southern Hemisphere records to elucidate broader regional patterns of climate and their possible causes. In the early Holocene, a far southward position of the westerly winds fostered warmth, small Patagonian glaciers, and reduced sea ice coverage over the South Atlantic. Although we infer a pronounced southward displacement of the westerlies during the early Holocene, these conditions did not occur throughout the southern mid-high latitudes, an important exception being over the southwest Pacific sector. Subsequently, a northward locus and/or expansion of the winds over the Patagonia-South Atlantic sector promoted the largest glaciers between ∼6100 and ∼4500 years ago and greatest sea ice coverage. Over the last few millennia, the South Patagonian Icefield has experienced successive century-scale advances superimposed on a long-term net decrease in size. Our findings indicate that glaciers and sea ice in the Patagonian-South Atlantic sector of the Southern Hemisphere did not achieve their largest Holocene extents over the last millennium. We conclude that a pattern of more extensive Holocene ice prior to the last millennium is characteristic of the Southern Hemisphere middle latitudes, which differs from the glacier history traditionally thought for the Northern Hemisphere. Fil: Kaplan, Michael. Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory; Estados Unidos Fil: Schaefer, Joerg. Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory; Estados Unidos Fil: STRELIN, Jorge Adrián. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Centro de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Tierra. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Centro de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Tierra; Argentina Fil: Denton, George. Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory; Estados Unidos. University Of Maine; Estados Unidos Fil: Anderson, R. F.. University Of Maine; Estados Unidos. Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory; Estados Unidos Fil: Vandergoes, M.. GNS Science; Estados Unidos Fil: Finkel, R.. California State University; Estados Unidos Fil: Schwartz, Roseanne. Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory; Estados Unidos Fil: Travis, S.. General Communication Inc.; Estados Unidos Fil: Garcia, J. L.. University Of Maine; Estados Unidos. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile; Chile Fil: Martini, Mateo Antonio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Centro de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Tierra. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Centro de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Tierra; Argentina Fil: Nielsen, S. H. H.. Kenex Ltd.; Nueva Zelanda

Mountain glaciers are important water resources in Alpine regions and are sensitive to climate change. Reconstructing glacier oscillations improves our understanding of the amplitude and the frequency of climate variability and resolves time periods when the climate system was in transition – from glacial to interglacial conditions at the beginning of the Holocene, and from a naturally controlled system to an anthropogenically influenced system in the course of industrialization. With this study, we contribute a new Holocene mountain glacier chronology from the Eastern European Alps. The study area, the Ochsental in the Silvretta Massif, features pronounced Holocene moraine ridges and is an important catchment for hydropower production. We present 18 new 10Be exposure ages of bedrock outcrops (n = 2) and boulders (n = 16). We complement the 10Be glacier chronology with historical records and instrumental time series and correlate it with pre-existing climate proxy records for capturing ice margin positions at different times during the Holocene. The Ochsental chronology is compared to cosmogenic nuclide moraine records across the European Alps to provide an Alpine-wide perspective on the transition from the Younger Dryas (YD; c. 12.9 to 11.7 ka) to the Holocene (c. 11.7 ka to present). Results show that glaciers in the Ochsental stabilized at the position of a preserved Holocene moraine c. 9.9 ± 0.7 ka after retreating from their Late Glacial position. This Holocene moraine formation interval is concurrent with a cold spell detected in some climate proxy records in the Swiss and Austrian Alps, the Central European Cold Phase 1 (CE-1). Glaciers were presumably much smaller during the Mid-Holocene and readvanced to a position close to the preserved Early Holocene moraine during the Little Ice Age (LIA; c. 1250 to 1850 CE). LIA 10Be ages range from 390 ± 20 yrs to 135 ± 5 yrs and point to multiple advances within this time period with most robust evidence for a culmination during the 18th century. The 10Be record and the historical glacier records overlap and are remarkably consistent, which demonstrates that 10Be surface exposure dating produces reliable ages even for young glacial deposits. Within the last c. 170 years, Ochsentaler glacier has retreated c. 2.3 km, which highlights the impact of recent warming on Alpine mountain glaciers.

Southern Hemisphere Holocene glacier chronologies are important for unraveling past climate change, mid-to-high latitude teleconnections, and regional to global climate forcing. At present, a significant number of glacier chronologies for Patagonia are based on 14C dating, which may afford only maximum- or minimum-limiting dates. Here, we combine geomorphology and stratigraphy with radiocarbon (14C) and beryllium-10 (10Be) surface exposure-age dating at three outlet glaciers, Zapata, Tyndall, and Pingo. These glaciers drain the southernmost tip of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field at Torres del Paine National Park, Chile (51°S). After an expansion that we date at 3200 yr. B.P., the Torres del Paine glaciers expanded to their last major Late Holocene maxima at 600 and 340 yr. B.P., with the final dated readvance after 190 yr. B.P. We use these data, together with other Patagonian glacier records, to define the early, mid and final glacial stages of the last millennium. These cold events were separated by warm conditions that allowed the Nothofagus forest to colonize deglaciated land. The presence of near-concurrent glacier fluctuations in Patagonia and Antarctic Peninsula indicates widespread cooling punctuated the Late Holocene, including the last millennium, across much of the extratropical Southern Hemisphere. We link this cooling to cold oceanographic-atmospheric conditions forced by a northern shift or intensification of the Southern Westerly Winds. Such scenario increased northward advection of cold Antarctic circumpolar water along western Patagonia and favored decreased upwelling of warm circumpolar deep water together with expanded sea ice around the Antarctic Peninsula.

Climate changes during the Late Glacial period (LG; 15-11 ka) as recorded in Greenland and Antarctic ice cores show a bipolar pattern. Between 14.5 ka and 13 ka ago, the northern latitudes experienced the Bølling/Allerød (BA) warm period, while southern records feature the Antarctic Cold Reversal (ACR). Between 12.9 ka and 11.7 ka ago, the north was under the Younger Dryas (YD) cold spell while southern latitude temperature rose in parallel to atmospheric CO2 concentrations. While the southern hemisphere pattern is well documented in mountain glacier moraine records from New Zealand and Patagonia, in northern mid-latitudes and the Arctic, the LG glacier culmination has been connected to the YD stadial, apparently confirming the bipolar pattern. We present a geomorphic map of mountain glaciers in Arctic Norway, a cosmogenic nuclide chronology from 71 moraine boulders from the LG and the Holocene, and first-order glacier modeling experiments. The model and dating results show that the studied mountain glaciers are most sensitive to summer-temperature change, that their response to those changes is highly correlated to a wider region and that these mountain glaciers in Arctic Norway reached their maximum LG extent about 14 ka ago, prior to the YD. Following considerable retreat through the first part of the YD, glaciers re-stabilized in the mid-YD and showed slower oscillatory retreat through the latter part of the YD. We compare this glacier pattern to updated earlier glacier records in the wider Arctic and North Atlantic region and propose a pattern of coherent glacier response to climate changes during this interval. The LG results from Arctic glaciers show consistency to the glacier record from New Zealand and Patagonia. This first-order interhemispheric coherency of LG mountain glacier fluctuations driven mainly by summer temperature would support the view that the bipolar seesaw was primarily a northern winter phenomenon during the LG period, and the YD in particular. More similar experiments need to be performed to further test this scenario. publishedVersion

Understanding patterns of ice-sheet deglaciation is key for predicting the rate of future ice-sheet melt, yet the processes underlying deglaciation remain elusive. The early Holocene (11.7 ka to 8.2 ka; Greenlandian Stage) represents the most recent period when the Laurentide and Greenland ice sheets underwent large-scale recession. Moreover, this ice-sheet recession occurred under the backdrop of regional temperatures that were similar to or warmer than today, and comparable to those projected for the upcoming centuries. Reconstructing Laurentide and Greenland ice sheet behavior during the early Holocene, and elucidating the mechanisms dictating this behavior may serve as a partial analog for future Greenland ice-sheet change in a warming world. Here, we present 123 new 10Be surface exposure ages from two sites on Baffin Island and southwestern Greenland that constrain the behavior of the Laurentide and Greenland ice sheets, and an independent alpine glacier during the early Holocene. On Baffin Island, we focus on a unique area where moraines deposited by the Laurentide Ice Sheet rest directly adjacent to moraines deposited by an independent alpine glacier. Sixty-one 10Be ages reveal that advances and/or stillstands of the Laurentide Ice Sheet and an alpine glacier occurred in unison around 11.8 ka, 10.3 ka, and 9.2 ka. Sixty-two 10Be ages from southwestern Greenland indicate that the Greenland Ice Sheet margin experienced re-advances or stillstands around 11.6 ka, 10.4 ka, 9.1 ka, 8.1 ka, and 7.3 ka. Our results reveal that ice sheets respond to climate perturbations on the same centennial timescale as small alpine glaciers. We hypothesize that during the warming climate of the early Holocene, freshening of the North Atlantic Ocean induced by ice-sheet melt resulted in regional cooling and brief periods of ice-sheet stabilization superimposed on net glacier recession. These observations point to a negative feedback mechanism inherent to melting ice sheets in the Baffin Bay region that slows ice-sheet recession during intervals of otherwise rapid deglaciation.

Mountain glaciers advance and retreat primarily in response to changes in climate. Establishing the timing and magnitude of mountain glacier fluctuations from geological records can thus help to identify the drivers and mechanisms of past climate change. In this study, we use cosmogenic 3He surface exposure dating and tephrochronology to constrain the timing of past glaciation on Tongariro massif in central North Island, New Zealand (39°S). Exposure ages from moraine boulders show that valley glaciation persisted between c. 30–18 ka, which coincides with the global Last Glacial Maximum. Reinterpretation of moraine tephrostratigraphy, using major element geochemistry analysis, shows that ice retreat and climatic amelioration at the last glacial termination was well underway prior to 14 ka. The equilibrium line altitude in central North Island, during the Last Glacial Maximum, was c. 1400–1550 m above sea level, which is c. 930–1080 m lower than present. Considering the uncertainties in the glacial reconstruction and temperature lapse rates, we estimate that this equilibrium line altitude lowering equates to a temperature depression of 5.6 ± 1.1 °C, relative to present. Our mapping and surface exposure dating also show evidence for an earlier period of glaciation, of similar magnitude to the Last Glacial Maximum, which culminated prior to 57 ka, probably during Marine Isotope Stage 4. Good agreement between the timing and magnitude of glacier fluctuations in central North Island and the Southern Alps indicate a response to a common climatic forcing during the last glacial cycle.

Glacial maxima and their terminations provide key insights into inter-hemispheric climate dynamics and the coupling of atmosphere, surface and deep ocean, hydrology, and cryosphere, which is fundamental for evaluating the robustness of earth's climate in view of ongoing climate change. The Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, ∼26–19 ka ago) is widely seen as the global cold peak during the last glacial cycle, and its transition to the Holocene interglacial, dubbed 'Termination 1 (T1)', as the most dramatic climate reorganization during this interval. Climate records show that over the last 800 ka, ice ages peaked and terminated on average every 100 ka (‘100 ka world’). However, the mechanisms pacing glacial–interglacial transitions remain controversial and in particular the hemispheric manifestations and underlying orbital to regional driving forces of glacial maxima and subsequent terminations remain poorly understood.

We present new geomorphic, stratigraphic, and chronologic data for Holocene glacier fluctuations in the Lago Argentino basin on the eastern side of the southern Patagonian Andes. Chronologic control is based on 14C and surface-exposure 10Be dating. After the Lateglacial maximum at 13,000 cal yrs BP, the large ice lobes that filled the eastern reaches of Lago Argentino retreated and separated into individual outlet glaciers; this recession was interrupted only by a stillstand or minor readvance at 12,200 cal yrs BP. The eight largest of these individual outlet glaciers are, from north to south: Upsala, Agassiz, Onelli, Spegazzini, Mayo, Ameghino, Perito Moreno, and Grande (formerly Frias). Holocene recession of Upsala Glacier exposed Brazo Cristina more than 10,115 ± 100 cal yrs BP, and reached inboard of the Holocene moraines in Agassiz Este Valley by 9205 ± 85 cal yrs BP; ice remained in an inboard position until 7730 ± 50 cal yrs BP. Several subsequent glacier readvances are well documented for the Upsala and Frias glaciers. The Upsala Glacier readvanced at least seven times, the first being a relatively minor expansion – documented only in stratigraphic sections – between 7730 ± 50 and 7210 ± 45 cal yrs BP. The most extensive Holocene advances of Upsala Glacier resulted in the deposition of the Pearson 1 moraines and related landforms, which are divided into three systems. The Pearson 1a advance occurred about 6000–5000 cal yrs BP and was followed by the slightly less-extensive Pearson 1b and 1c advances dated to 2500–2000 and 1500–1100 cal yrs BP, respectively. Subsequent advances of Upsala Glacier resulted in deposition of the Pearson 2 moraines and corresponding landforms, also separated into three systems, Pearson 2a, 2b, and 2c, constructed respectively at ∼700, >400, and

Geological records of past glacier extent can yield important constraints on the timing and magnitude of pre-historic climate change. Here we present a cosmogenic 3He moraine chronology from Mt. Ruapehu in central North Island, New Zealand that records fluctuations of New Zealand's northernmost glaciers over the last 14,000 years. In the Mangaehuehu Glacier catchment, exposure ages and geomorphic observations at our most distal moraine site, relative to the current glacier margin, show that glacial retreat during the last glacial termination was interrupted by one or more readvances between 14 and 11 ka. Further up-valley, moraine boulders deposited at 4.5 ka indicate that glaciers were more extensive during the mid-Holocene than at any later time. The youngest exposure ages in our study, 150–450 years, constrain the formation of moraines situated within 500 m from the present-day Mangaehuehu Glacier terminus. These ages are in agreement with historic sources that show the glacier close to these moraine limits approximately 100 years ago. Overall our data show that glaciers on Mt. Ruapehu retreated c. 3 km since 14 ka, in response to a net rise in the local equlibrium line altitude of c. 400 m. The magnitude of post-industrial snowline rise and glacier retreat on Mt. Ruapehu is also consistent with instrumental temperature data that record approximately 0.9 ∘C of warming during the 20th century.

Climate proxy records from the middle to high latitude Southern Hemisphere indicate that a Lateglacial (15,000–11,500 years ago) climate reversal, approximately coeval with the Antarctic Cold Reversal (ACR), interrupted a warming trend during deglaciation. In New Zealand, some palaeoclimate proxy records indicate a cool episode during the ACR (ca 14,500–12,500 years ago), while others do not express a significant change in climate. Recently published moraine maps and ages present an opportunity to improve the palaeoclimate interpretation through numerical modelling of glaciers. We use a coupled energy-balance and ice-flow model to quantify palaeoclimate from past glacier extent constrained by mapped and dated moraines in the headwaters of Irishman Stream, a high-elevation catchment in the Southern Alps. First, a suite of steady-state model runs is used to identify the temperature and precipitation forcing required to fit the modelled glacier to well-dated Lateglacial moraine crests. Second, time-dependent glacier simulations forced by a nearby proxy temperature record derived from chironomids are used to assess the fit with the glacial geomorphic record. Steady-state experiments using an optimal parameter set demonstrate that the conditions under which the 13,000 year old moraine formed were 2.3–3.2 °C colder than present with the range in temperature corresponding to a ±20% variance in precipitation relative to the present-day. This reconstructed climate change relative to the present-day corresponds to an equilibrium-line altitude of ca 2000 ± 40 m above sea level (asl), which is ca 400 m lower than present. Time-dependent simulations of glacier length produce ice advance to within 100 m of the 13,000 year old terminal moraine, indicating that the chironomid-based temperature forcing and moraine record provide consistent information about past climate. Our results, together with other climate proxy reconstructions from pollen records and marine sediment cores, support the notion that temperatures during the ACR in New Zealand were ∼2–3 °C cooler than today.

Determining whether glaciers registered the classic Last Glacial Maximum (LGM; ∼26,500–∼19,000 yrs ago) coevally between the hemispheres can help to discriminate among hypothesized drivers of ice-age climate. Here, we present a record of glacier behavior from the Southern Alps of New Zealand during the ‘local LGM’ (LLGM). We used 10 Be surface-exposure dating methods and detailed glacial geomorphologic mapping to produce a robust chronology of well-preserved terminal moraines deposited during the LLGM near Lake Ohau on central South Island. We then used a glaciological model to estimate a LLGM glacier snowline and atmospheric temperature from the Ohau glacier record. Seventy-three 10 Be surface-exposure ages place culminations of terminal moraine construction, and hence completions of glacier advances to positions outboard of present-day Lake Ohau, at 138,600 ± 10,600 yrs, 32,520 ± 970 yrs ago, 27,400 ± 1300 yrs ago, 22,510 ± 660 yrs ago, and 18,220 ± 500 yrs ago. Recessional moraines document glacier recession into the Lake Ohau trough by 17,690 ± 350 yrs ago. Exposure of an ice-molded bedrock bench located inboard of the innermost LLGM moraines by 17,380 ± 510 yrs ago indicates that the ice tongue had receded about 40% of its overall length by that time. Comparing our chronology with distances of retreat suggests that the Ohau glacier terminus receded at a mean net rate of about 77 m yr −1 and its surface lowered by 200 m between 17,690 and 17,380 yrs ago. A long-term continuation of ice retreat in the Ohau glacier catchment is implied by moraine records at the head of Irishman Stream valley, a tributary of the Ohau glacier valley. The Irishman Stream cirque glacier advanced to produce a set of Lateglacial moraines at 13,000 ± 500 yrs ago, implying that the cirque glacier was less extensive prior to that advance. We employed a glaciological model, fit to these mapped and dated LLGM moraines, to derive snowline elevations and temperature parameters from the Ohau glacier record. The modeling experiments indicate that a snowline lowering of 920 ± 50 m and temperature depression of 6.25 ± 0.5 °C below modern values allows for the Ohau glacier to grow to an equilibrium position within the LGM moraine belt. Taken together with a glaciological simulation reported from the Irishman Stream valley, snowlines and temperatures increased by at least ∼520 m and ∼3.6 °C, respectively, between ∼18,000 and ∼13,000 yrs ago. Climate parameters derived from the Ohau glacier reconstruction are similar to those derived from glacier records from Patagonia, to air temperature indicators from Antarctica, as well as to sea-surface temperature and stratification signatures of the Southern Ocean. We think that the best explanation for the observed southern LLGM is that southern winter duration modulated Southern Ocean sea ice, which in turn influenced Southern Ocean stratification and made the surface ocean cooler. Orbitally induced cooling of the Southern Ocean provides an explanation for the LLGM in the Southern Alps having been coincident with the northern LGM. We argue further that the global effect of North Atlantic stadials led to disturbance of Southern Ocean stratification, southward shifts of the subtropical front, and retreat of Southern Alps glaciers. Collapse of Southern Ocean stratification during Heinrich Stadial-1, along with attendant sea-surface warming, triggered the onset of the Last Glacial termination in the Southern Alps of New Zealand.

This paper describes glacial–geologic observations and cosmogenic-nuclide exposure ages from ice-free areas adjacent to the Sjogren, Boydell, and Drygalski Glaciers of the northeast Antarctic Peninsula. These provide a record of Holocene glacier and ice shelf change in this region. Early Holocene ice surface elevation near the present coastline was locally at least 500 m above present sea level, but our observations do not constrain the maximum thickness of Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) ice or the time at which it was attained. The boundary between frozen-based and wet-based ice reached a maximum elevation of 100–150 m above present sea level. The ice surface elevation decreased from 300–500 m elevation to near present sea level between 9 ka and ca 4 ka. Below 160 m elevation, we observed a bimodal distribution of apparent exposure ages in which a population of glacially transported clasts with mid-Holocene exposure ages coexists with another that has exposure ages of 100–600 years. We consider the most likely explanation for this to be i) complete deglaciation of currently ice-free areas, which presumably required the absence of ice shelves, at 3.5–4.5 ka, followed by ii) subsequent ice shelf formation and grounding line advance after ca 1.4 ka, and iii) complete re-exposure of the sites after ice shelf breakup and glacier surface lowering in recent decades. This explanation is consistent with marine sedimentary records indicating that ice shelves in the Prince Gustav Channel and Larsen A embayment were absent in the middle to late Holocene and were re-established within the last 2000 years.

We present a simulation of the New Zealand Southern Alps icefield at the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, c. 30,000–20,000 calendar years ago (ka)) in an attempt to constrain the climate of that period. We use a 500 m-resolution ice-sheet model parameterised using empirical glaciological, climatological and geological data specific to the model domain to simulate the entire Southern Alps icefield. We find that an LGM cooling of at least 6–6.5 °C is necessary to bring about valley glaciers that extend beyond the mountains. However, climate–topography thresholds related to the elevation and hypsometry of individual catchments control the gradient of the rate of glacier expansion in the domain, and in order to remain within geologically reconstructed LGM limits we find that the LGM cooling was most likely associated with a precipitation regime up to 25% drier than today. Wetter-than-present scenarios give rise to equilibrium line depressions and ice extents that are incompatible with empirical evidence. These results perhaps indicate that either the westerly air masses affecting New Zealand during the LGM were drier than today, or that they were weaker or zonally displaced with respect to present.

We use a simple model to analyse the relationship between ice core temperature proxy data and global ice volume/eustatic sea-level data over the last glacial cycle (LGC). By allowing the temperature forcing to be a mix of Greenlandic and Antarctic signals we optimise the proportion of this mixing to fit sea-level data. We find that sea-level forcing is best represented by a mix of Antarctic and Greenlandic temperature signals through the whole glacial cycle. We suggest that a distinct bipolar switch occurs which links eustatic sea-level more closely with the Antarctic-like variability during the glacial period (MIS 4, 3 and 2) and more closely to the Greenland-like variability during the last termination (TI) and the interglacial periods (Holocene and MIS 5). This switch may be caused by the spatio-temporal distribution of ice sheet collapse perhaps linked to glacial to interglacial changes in deep water distribution in the ocean, which in turn drive changes in pole-ward heat and moisture transport.

Whether or not tropical climate fluctuated in synchrony with global events during the Late Pleistocene is a key problem in climate research. However, the timing of past climate changes in the tropics remains controversial, with a number of recent studies reporting that tropical ice age climate is out of phase with global events. Here, we present geomorphic evidence and an in-situ cosmogenic (3)He surface-exposure chronology from Nevado Coropuna, southern Peru, showing that glaciers underwent at least two significant advances during the Late Pleistocene prior to Holocene warming. Comparison of our glacial-geomorphic map at Nevado Coropuna to mid-latitude reconstructions yields a striking similarity between Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and Late-Glacial sequences in tropical and temperate regions. Exposure ages constraining the maximum and end of the older advance at Nevado Coropuna range between 24.5 and 25.3 ka, and between 16.7 and 21.1 ka, respectively, depending on the cosmogenic production rate scaling model used. Similarly, the mean age of the younger event ranges from 10 to 13 ka. This implies that (1) the LGM and the onset of deglaciation in southern Peru occurred no earlier than at higher latitudes and (2) that a significant Late-Glacial event occurred, most likely prior to the Holocene, coherent with the glacial record from mid and high latitudes. The time elapsed between the end of the LGM and the Late-Glacial event at Nevado Coropuna is independent of scaling model and matches the period between the LGM termination and Late-Glacial reversal in classic mid-latitude records, suggesting that these events in both tropical and temperate regions were in phase. (c) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. peer-reviewed

Thirty-eight new cosmogenic ( 10 Be) exposure ages from the Scoresby Sund region of east Greenland indicate that prominent moraine sets deposited by mountain glaciers date from 780 to 310 yr, approximately during the Little Ice Age, from 11 660 to 10 630 yr, at the end of the Younger Dryas cold interval or during Preboreal time, and from 13 010 to 11 630 yr, during lateglacial time. Equilibrium line altitudes (ELAs) interpreted from lateglacial to Early Holocene moraines indicate summertime cooling between ∼3.9 and 6.6 °C relative to today's value, much less than the extreme Younger Dryas cooling registered by Greenland ice cores (mean-annual temperatures of ∼15 °C colder than today's value). This apparent discrepancy between paleotemperature records supports the contention that Younger Dryas cooling was primarily a wintertime phenomenon. 10 Be ages of lateglacial and Holocene moraines show that mountain glaciers during the Little Ice Age were more extensive than at any other time since the Early Holocene Epoch. In addition, 10 Be ages of lateglacial moraines show extensive reworking of boulders with cosmogenic nuclides inherited from prior periods of exposure, consistent with our geomorphic observations and cosmogenic-exposure dating studies in other Arctic regions.

We present cosmogenic 10Be and 21Ne chronologies from 21 erratic boulders on three moraine sequences in Nyalam county, monsoonal Himalayas, southern margin of the Tibetan Plateau. The surface exposure ages provide evidence for at least two distinct glacial advances during the late stage of the last glacial cycle and for one or more significantly older glaciations. The distribution of cosmogenic ages from the three ridges of the old moraine sequence is inconsistent with their stratigraphic order. Because exposure periods of the erratics prior to deposition on the moraine surface is shown to be small, the chronology–stratigraphy mismatch suggests that the cosmogenic ages do not date moraine deposition but most likely significant moraine ridge denudation and related boulder exhumation after initial deposition of the moraines during the penultimate glacial cycle or earlier. The surface exposure ages based on various currently accepted production rate scaling protocols yield age differences of up to 35% reflecting the poor knowledge of terrestrial cosmogenic production rates at low latitude/high altitude sites. Even within this conservative uncertainty range, our results do not yield evidence for late Pleistocene glaciations in monsoonal Tibet to be asynchronous to those in mid-latitudes on both hemispheres. There is an urgent need to improve the knowledge of terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide production rates and their scaling to low latitude regions to fully exploit the climate information archived in tropical moraine sequences.