Quantifying subglacial erosion rates and exploring pro-glacial bedrock as climate archive by in-situ cosmogenic C-14 and Be-10 techniques

越来越多的共识认为，我们这个时代的头号环境问题是气候变化及其后果的评估。预测这些影响的基础是知道全新世(过去11,500年)--人类文明发展的时期--的气候是否比今天更温暖。冰川对气候变化高度敏感，在小冰期等小幅温度漂移的情况下会有相当大的波动。该项目调查了近年来部分退缩的山地冰川的气候历史：瑞士的罗纳冰川、挪威的尼日利亚冰川和新西兰的弗朗茨-约瑟夫-冰川。对这些冰川附近基岩表面的原地宇宙成因Be-10和C-14进行分析，将解决这些冰川在全新世期间是否比今天小，以及小了多久。该项目还将产生冰川-基岩相互作用的定量数据，这些数据可以直接输入冰川-地貌景观模型。人类文明是在异常稳定的全新世暖期发展起来的，但气候变化已经足够大，足以影响古代社会的兴衰，说明了气候变化的重要性。然而，这一变化的记录并不理想。冰川是我们环境中为数不多的对气候变化做出快速反应的敏感因素之一。目前的冰川消退暴露了大量的基岩，这些基岩可以用来确定冰川消退的数量和时间。这些基岩表面的宇宙成因同位素提供了这些表面何时被融化的冰暴露的信息。冰川波动数据将与冰流模型结合起来，根据现实的气候情景进行解释。该项目将为冰下侵蚀速率和全新世暖期的知识增加基本信息，这是气候预测模型中的一个关键参数。此外，这项研究还将有助于评估全球冰川消退和人口增加时期的水资源供应情况。

A growing consensus believes that the number one environmental problem of our time is climate change and the evaluation of its consequences. Fundamental to predicting these effects is knowing whether the climate during the Holocene Epoch (the last 11,500 years), the period during which human civilization has developed, was perhaps even warmer than today. Glaciers are highly sensitive to climate changes and fluctuate considerably in response to small temperature excursions, such as the Little Ice Age. This project investigates the climate history of selected mountain glaciers that retreated substantally during recent years : Rhone Glacier, Switzerland, Nigardsbreen, Norway, and Franz-Josef-Glacier, New Zealand. Analysis of in-situ cosmogenic Be-10 and C-14 from bedrock surfaces in proximity to these glaciers will address whether, and for how long, these glaciers were smaller than today during the Holocene. The project will also yield quantitative data for glacier-bedrock interactions that can be directly fed into glacier-geomorphic landscape models. Human civilation has developed during the extraordinarily stable Holocene warm period, but climate variability has been large enough to impact rise and fall of ancient societies, illustrating the significance of climate change. However, the record of this change is poor. Glaciers are among the few elements of our environment sensitive enough to respond quickly to climate changes. The present episode of glacier retreat is exposing a large amount of bedrock, which can be used to determine the amount and timing of glacial recession . Cosmogenic isotopes from these bedrock surfaces provide information about when these surfaces were exposed by melting ice. The glacier fluctuation data will be coupled with ice-flow models to interpret them in view of realistic climatic scenarios. This project will add fundamental information to kowledge of subglacial erosion rates and Holocene warm periods, a key parameter in climate prediction models. Additionally, this study will assist in the evaluation of water availability in times of retreating glaciers and increasing population around the globe.