Younger Dryas cirque glaciers in western Spitsbergen: smaller than during the Little Ice Age

摘要

The outermost moraines in front of the Scottbreen glacier in Spitsbergen date from c. AD 1900. These moraines rest on top of a marine shoreline radiocarbon-dated to about 11 200 C-14 yr BP and demonstrate that the AD-1900 moraines show the maximum glacier extent since late Allerod time. This means that Scottbreen was smaller during the Younger Dryas than at AD 1900, in contrast with glaciers on mainland western Europe, which were all much larger during the Younger Dryas. The explanation is probably starvation of precipitation on western Spitsbergen during the Younger Dryas. In contrast, ice sheets and glaciers in Spitsbergen reacted more or less in concert with glaciers in western Europe, during the global Last Glacial Maximum and the Little Ice Age.