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Climate during the Last Glacial Maximum in the Northern Sawatch Range, Colorado, USA

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Submitted:

06 September 2019

Posted:

08 September 2019

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Abstract
Temperature-index modeling is used to determine the magnitude of temperature depression in the northern Sawatch Range required to maintain steady-state mass balances of six reconstructed glaciers at their extent during the local Last Glacial Maximum (LLGM), dated at ~21 ka. Assuming no significant differences in precipitation compared to modern values, mean annual temperatures in the region were on average 8.8 +0.5/–0.8 °C cooler than they are today. Allowing for modest increases or decreases in precipitation, required temperature depressions only differ by ± 0.2 °C. Temperature depression in the northern Sawatch Range are consistent, although slightly greater, with those determined in other ranges in Colorado using similar approaches. The estimates presented here are, however, substantially less than those suggested by several downscaled simulations of global LGM climate, that might be due to the need for improved calibration of such downscalings, or the models from which they are derived. Our estimates of LGM temperature depression are considerably greater than that previously determined in the study area and those in two other ranges in Colorado derived using different methodologies, the latter being most likely responsible for the discrepancies.
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Subject: Environmental and Earth Sciences  -   Geophysics and Geology
Copyright: This open access article is published under a Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license, which permit the free download, distribution, and reuse, provided that the author and preprint are cited in any reuse.
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