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This study investigates the physical processes leading to the rare phenomenon of the sun appearing blue or green. The phenomenon is caused by anomalous scattering by, e.g., volcanic or forest fire aerosols. Unlike most other studies, our study includes a full treatment of the effect of Rayleigh scattering on the colour of the sun. We investigate different factors and revisit a historic example, i.e. the Canadian forest fires in 1950, that led to blue sun events in different European countries.

Snapshots of mean ocean temperature over the last 700 000 years using noble gases in the EPICA Dome C ice core

Using the temperature-dependent solubility of noble gases in ocean water, we reconstruct global mean ocean temperature (MOT) over the last 700 kyr using noble gas ratios in air enclosed in polar ice cores. Our record shows that glacial MOT was about 3 °C cooler compared to the Holocene. Interglacials before 450 kyr ago were characterized by about 1.5 °C lower MOT than the Holocene. In addition, some interglacials show transient maxima in ocean temperature related to changes in ocean circulation.

EPICA Dome C ice core">Read more

Cryptotephra from the Icelandic Veiðivötn 1477 CE eruption in a Greenland ice core: confirming the dating of volcanic events in the 1450s CE and assessing the eruption’s climatic impact

Volcanic eruptions are a key source of climatic variability, and reconstructing their past impact can improve our understanding of the operation of the climate system and increase the accuracy of future climate projections. While many chronological mismatches have been resolved, the precise timing and climatic impact of two major sulfate-emitting volcanic eruptions during the 1450s  CE, including the largest atmospheric sulfate-loading event in the last 700 years, have not been constrained. Here we explore this issue through a combination of tephrochronological evidence and high-resolution ice-core chemistry measurements from a Greenland ice core, the TUNU2013 record.

Lower oceanic δ13C during the last interglacial period compared to the Holocene

The last time in Earth’s history when high latitudes were warmer than during pre-industrial times was the last interglacial period (LIG, 129–116 ka  BP). Since the LIG is the most recent and best documented interglacial, it can provide insights into climate processes in a warmer world. However, some key features of the LIG are not well constrained, notably the oceanic circulation and the global carbon cycle. Here, we use a new database of LIG benthic δ13C to investigate these two aspects.

Long-term global ground heat flux and continental heat storage from geothermal data

Here, we provide new global estimates of changes in ground surface temperature, ground surface heat flux, and continental heat storage derived from geothermal data using an expanded database and new techniques.

In situ cosmogenic 10Be–14C–26Al measurements from recently deglaciated bedrock as a new tool to decipher changes in Greenland Ice Sheet size

Sometime during the middle to late Holocene (8.2 ka to ∼ 1850–1900 CE), the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) was smaller than its current configuration. Contemporary retreat of the GrIS from its historical maximum extent in southwestern Greenland is exposing a landscape that holds clues regarding the configuration and timing of past ice-sheet minima.

Greenland climate simulations show high Eemian surface meltwhich could explain reduced total air content in ice cores

This study presents simulations of Greenland surface melt for the Eemian interglacial period (∼130,000 to 115, 000 years ago) derived from regional climate simulations with a coupled surface energy balance model.

The Eocene–Oligocene transition: a review of marine and terrestrial proxy data, models and model–data comparisons

We find that CO2 forcing involving a large decrease in CO2 of ca. 40 % (∼325 ppm drop) provides the best fit to the available proxy evidence,with ice sheet and palaeogeographic changes playing a secondary role.

Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) climate forcing and ocean dynamical feedback and their implications for estimating climate sensitivity

Here we conduct a suite of Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) simulations using the Community Earth System Model version 1.2 (CESM1.2) to quantify the forcing and efficacy of land ice sheets (LISs) and greenhouse gases (GHGs) in order to estimate equilibrium climate sensitivity.

LGM) climate forcing and ocean dynamical feedback and their implications for estimating climate sensitivity">Read more

Plateaus and jumps in the atmospheric radiocarbon record – potential origin and value as global age markers for glacial-to-deglacial paleoceanography, a synthesis

The dating technique of ¹⁴ C plateau tuning uses U/Th-based model ages, refinements of the Lake Suigetsu age scale, and the link of surface ocean carbon to the globally mixed atmosphere as basis of age correlation. Our synthesis employs data of 20 sediment cores from the global ocean and offers a coherent picture of global ocean circulation evolving over glacial-to-deglacial times on semi-millennial scales to be compared with climate records stored in marine sediments, ice cores, and speleothems.

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