Can shrubs help to reconstruct historical glacier retreats?

Content Provider	Scilit
Author	Buras, Allan Hallinger, Martin Wilmking, Martin
Copyright Year	2012
Description	Journal: Environmental Research Letters In the 21st century, most of the world's glaciers are expected to retreat due to further global warming. The range of this predicted retreat varies widely as a result of uncertainties in climate and glacier models. To calibrate and validate glacier models, past records of glacier mass balance are necessary, which often only span several decades. Long-term reconstructions of glacier mass balance could increase the precision of glacier models by providing the required calibration data. Here we show the possibility of applying shrub growth increments as an on-site proxy for glacier summer mass balance, exemplified by Salix shrubs in Finse, Norway. We further discuss the challenges which this method needs to meet and address the high potential of shrub growth increments for reconstructing glacier summer mass balance in remote areas.
Related Links	http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/7/4/044031/pdf
ISSN	17489326
e-ISSN	17489326
DOI	10.1088/1748-9326/7/4/044031
Journal	Environmental Research Letters
Issue Number	4
Volume Number	7
Language	English
Publisher	IOP Publishing
Publisher Date	2012-11-26
Access Restriction	Open
Subject Keyword	Journal: Environmental Research Letters Physical Geography Shrubs Help Historical Glacier Reconstruct Historical Glacier Retreats
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment Environmental Science