Preprints
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-859
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-859
25 May 2023
 | 25 May 2023

Four North American glaciers advanced past their modern positions thousands of years apart in the Holocene

Andrew G. Jones, Shaun A. Marcott, Andrew L. Gorin, Tori M. Kennedy, Jeremy D. Shakun, Brent M. Goehring, Brian Menounos, Douglas H. Clark, Matias Romero, and Marc W. Caffee

Abstract. The global retreat of alpine glaciers provides visible evidence of industrial-era warming, but how glacier position today compares to glacier length fluctuations over the Holocene is less clear. Glaciers in North America advanced over the Holocene, occupying their maximum Holocene position in the late 19th century before rapidly retreating to their sizes today. We assess when four North American glaciers, located between 38–60° N, were larger or smaller than their modern (2018–2020 CE) sizes during the Holocene. We measure 26 paired cosmogenic in situ 14C and 10Be concentrations in recently exposed proglacial bedrock and applied a Monte Carlo forward model to reconstruct plausible bedrock exposure-burial histories. We find that these glaciers advanced past their modern sizes thousands of years apart during the Holocene: a glacier in the Juneau Ice Field (BC, Canada) by ~2 ka, Kokanee Glacier (BC, Canada) at ~6 ka, and Mammoth Glacier (WY, USA) at ~1 ka; the fourth glacier, Conness Glacier (CA, USA), was larger than its modern size for the duration of the Holocene until present. The disparate Holocene exposure-burial histories are at odds with expectations of similar glacier histories given the presumed shared climate forcings of decreasing Northern Hemisphere summer insolation through the Holocene followed by global greenhouse gas forcing in the industrial era. We interpret the range in histories to be the result of unequal amounts of modern retreat relative to each glacier’s Holocene length history, rather than asynchronous Holocene advance histories. The intensity and rate of modern warming has exacerbated length differences between glaciers that occur due to hypsometry and response time. We hypothesize that highly varying magnitudes of glacier change in North America today is a departure from similar magnitudes of glacier change over the Holocene.

Journal article(s) based on this preprint

21 Dec 2023
Four North American glaciers advanced past their modern positions thousands of years apart in the Holocene
Andrew G. Jones, Shaun A. Marcott, Andrew L. Gorin, Tori M. Kennedy, Jeremy D. Shakun, Brent M. Goehring, Brian Menounos, Douglas H. Clark, Matias Romero, and Marc W. Caffee
The Cryosphere, 17, 5459–5475, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-5459-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-5459-2023, 2023
Short summary
Andrew G. Jones, Shaun A. Marcott, Andrew L. Gorin, Tori M. Kennedy, Jeremy D. Shakun, Brent M. Goehring, Brian Menounos, Douglas H. Clark, Matias Romero, and Marc W. Caffee

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

Comment types: AC – author | RC – referee | CC – community | EC – editor | CEC – chief editor | : Report abuse
  • RC1: 'Comment on egusphere-2023-859', Anonymous Referee #1, 15 Jun 2023
    • AC1: 'Reply on RC1', Andrew Jones, 21 Aug 2023
  • RC2: 'Comment on egusphere-2023-859', Anonymous Referee #2, 20 Jul 2023
    • AC2: 'Reply on RC2', Andrew Jones, 21 Aug 2023

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

Comment types: AC – author | RC – referee | CC – community | EC – editor | CEC – chief editor | : Report abuse
  • RC1: 'Comment on egusphere-2023-859', Anonymous Referee #1, 15 Jun 2023
    • AC1: 'Reply on RC1', Andrew Jones, 21 Aug 2023
  • RC2: 'Comment on egusphere-2023-859', Anonymous Referee #2, 20 Jul 2023
    • AC2: 'Reply on RC2', Andrew Jones, 21 Aug 2023

Peer review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision | EF: Editorial file upload
ED: Publish subject to revisions (further review by editor and referees) (24 Aug 2023) by Chris R. Stokes
AR by Andrew Jones on behalf of the Authors (25 Sep 2023)  Author's response   Author's tracked changes   Manuscript 
EF by Sarah Buchmann (26 Sep 2023)  Supplement 
ED: Referee Nomination & Report Request started (04 Oct 2023) by Chris R. Stokes
RR by Anonymous Referee #1 (16 Oct 2023)
ED: Publish subject to minor revisions (review by editor) (17 Oct 2023) by Chris R. Stokes
AR by Andrew Jones on behalf of the Authors (27 Oct 2023)  Author's response   Author's tracked changes   Manuscript 
EF by Sarah Buchmann (27 Oct 2023)  Supplement 
ED: Publish as is (03 Nov 2023) by Chris R. Stokes
AR by Andrew Jones on behalf of the Authors (06 Nov 2023)  Manuscript 

Journal article(s) based on this preprint

21 Dec 2023
Four North American glaciers advanced past their modern positions thousands of years apart in the Holocene
Andrew G. Jones, Shaun A. Marcott, Andrew L. Gorin, Tori M. Kennedy, Jeremy D. Shakun, Brent M. Goehring, Brian Menounos, Douglas H. Clark, Matias Romero, and Marc W. Caffee
The Cryosphere, 17, 5459–5475, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-5459-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-5459-2023, 2023
Short summary
Andrew G. Jones, Shaun A. Marcott, Andrew L. Gorin, Tori M. Kennedy, Jeremy D. Shakun, Brent M. Goehring, Brian Menounos, Douglas H. Clark, Matias Romero, and Marc W. Caffee
Andrew G. Jones, Shaun A. Marcott, Andrew L. Gorin, Tori M. Kennedy, Jeremy D. Shakun, Brent M. Goehring, Brian Menounos, Douglas H. Clark, Matias Romero, and Marc W. Caffee

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The requested preprint has a corresponding peer-reviewed final revised paper. You are encouraged to refer to the final revised version.

Short summary
Mountain glaciers today are fractions of their size 140 years ago, but how do these positions compare to the past 10,000 years? We determine that four glaciers in the western United States and Canada have retreated vastly different amounts relative to their long-term history of growth. There is evidence that glaciers normally ebb and flow together across North America, so we hypothesize that glaciers today are more out of sync with each other than any other time in the past 10,000 years.