Wibjörn Karlén's research while affiliated with Stockholm University and other places
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Publications (66)
In White River Valley and Skolai Pass in the Wrangell and St. Elias mountains of southern Alaska, several well-dated drift surfaces and abandoned alluvial channels covered with numerous lichens served as control points of a growth curve for Rhizocarpon geographicum. This curve shows initial rapid increase in thallus diameter, followed after a few c...
The earth's climate is constantly changing and currently warming. This paper is an evaluation of previous climate changes intended to test the validity of assigning causality to human activity. Records of glacial advances and retreats indicate changes in relative summer temperature. Lacustrine and subaerial sediments afford a record of glacier adva...
Humanity has always lived under the threat of disasters such as famine. Now that these threats have diminished considerably in the West, it seems like people need a new scare that can be shared, thereby having a uniting effect. The possible impact of an increased atmospheric greenhouse gas concentration seems to have taken over this role. However,...
Detailed mapping of well-preserved moraine systems fronting 17 small alpine glaciers in Sarek National Park in Swedish Lapland reveals two Holocene intervals of prolonged glacier expansion, each involving a complex of minor fluctuations. The younger interval, which corresponds to the Little Ice Age, experienced advances that culminated about A.D. 1...
This chapter reviews the climatic and cultural dynamics in the mid-Holocene period in Northern Europe. It briefly reviews a commonly used model for the Holocene climate, summarizes results indicating frequent fluctuations in temperature with an amplitude of a few degrees centigrade, and discusses possible implications. It presents a view that is di...
This chapter reviews the climatic and cultural dynamics in the African region, focusing on the Saharan region. It discusses climatic fluctuations in northern and eastern Africa during the Holocene and in particular the middle Holocene. The climatic changes in the Sahara and the mountains of eastern Africa were very dramatic, and the evidence for th...
Although considerable attention has been paid to the record of temperature change over the last few centuries, the range and rate of change of atmospheric circulation and hydrology remain elusive. Here, eight latitudinally well-distributed (pole-equator-pole), highly resolved (annual to decadal) climate proxy records are presented that demonstrate...
A number of reconstructions of millennial-scale climate variability have been carried out in order to understand patterns of natural climate variability, on decade to century timescales, and the role of anthropogenic forcing. These reconstructions have mainly used tree-ring data and other data sets of annual to decadal resolution. Lake and ocean se...
Although the dramatic climate disruptions of the last glacial period have received considerable attention, relatively little has been directed toward climate variability in the Holocene (11,500 cal yr B.P. to the present). Examination of ∼50 globally distributed paleoclimate records reveals as many as six periods of significant rapid climate change...
Accurate geochronologies are the key for comparison of palaeoclimate records. In order to clarify problems concerning the geochronology of glacier fluctuations we dated palaeosols in moraines in the Kebnekaise mountain region of Swedish Lapland. These palaeosols already have been dated several years ago using bulk samples of the palaeosols and yiel...
We use a pro-glacial oxygen isotope record of diatom silica (δ18Odiatom) and a sedimentary proxy for glacier fluctuations to determine centennial–millennial scale climate change during the last 5000 years in northern Sweden. We show that the lake water isotopic composition predominantly reflects the isotopic composition of the precipitation. Superi...
Two lichenometric techniques were compared in a study of lichen growth–rate in northern Sweden. The first technique, based on the maximum lichen diameter on glacier moraines, was identical to the technique used in the 1970s, whereas the other utilized the lichen diameter measured on 100 randomly selected boulders. The results indicate that it does...
The variations in the organic content of a sediment core from a pro-glacial lake, Hausberg Tarn, located on the NW slope of Mount Kenya has been determined. Two types of methods for determining organic content were compared using sediments from the same core. One type was direct measurement of organic carbon using a carbon analyser and the other wa...
During the Holocene (the last 11,500 calendar years) Earth's climate has
been highly variable, not stable. Although the dramatic climate
disruptions of the last glacial period have received considerable
attention, relatively little has been directed toward the climate
variability of the Holocene. Examination of nearly fifty, globally
distributed pa...
Two palaeosols were investigated within glacial moraines in front of Nipals glacier, Lapland, Sweden. Some decades ago Wibj&sun;rn Karlén dated these soils already by conventional radiocarbon dating techniques. We present new results from AMS-dating of promising different components from these soils, such as Coleoptera (beetle) fragments, Cenococcu...
Holocene climate changes and variability in Europe are outlined on three time scales: long-term changes throughout the period as a whole; shorter-term fluctuations at centennial to millennial scales; and events with an annual to multi-decadal duration. Human population history in Europe during the Holocene is considered in relation to this history...
Holocene climatic variability was studied in a 9500-year lake-sediment sequence from the Abisko region in Swedish Lapland, using the oxygen-isotope ratio in diatom biogenic silica (18 O si). Oxygen-and hydrogen-isotope ratios of waters from the Abisko area suggest that in this region the evaporative flux is small and the isotopic composition of mos...
In this paper a detailed record of major ions from a 20 m deep firn core from Amundsenisen, western Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica, is presented. The core was drilled at 75° S, 2° E (2900 m a.s.l.) during austral summer 1991/92. The following ions were measured at 3 cm resolution: Na+, Mg2+, Ca2+, Cl-, NO3-, SO42- and CH3SO3H (MSA). The core was da...
The Little Ice Age in South Africa, from around AD 1300 to 1800, and medieval warming, from before 1000 to around 1300, are shown to be distinctive features of the regional climate of the last millennium. The proxy climate record has been constituted from oxygen and carbon isotope and colour density data obtained from a well-dated stalagmite derive...
Radiocarbon-dated lacustrine sedimentary evidence indicates that glaciers of variable size occupied the southwestern cirques on Mount Kenya during much of the last 6000 years. Pro-glacial lacustrine sediments obtained from Hausberg Tarn reveal distinct variations in rock-flour content whereas the sediments in Oblong Tarn, a nearby non-pro-glacial l...
ABSTRACT•Existing data indicate that the Earth's climate is probably warming. Politicians and the media typically assume this warming is the result of human activity. This article summarizes previous climate changes to test the validity of assigning causality to human activity.Records of glacial advances and retreats indicate relative summer temper...
High-resolution stable isotope variations and growth structure analyses of the last three millennia of a 6600-year stalagmite record at Cold Air Cave, Makapansgat Valley, South Africa, are presented. Growth layers, which are measurable over the last 250 years, are shown to be annual. The correlation between the width of growth layers and precipitat...
A record of oxygen isotopes in biogenic opal, 4200 to 1200 calibrated years before the present, from a high-altitude proglacial lake on Mount Kenya, East Africa, exhibits short-term fluctuations on a time scale of centuries as well as long-term variations. The short-term fluctuations are attributed to changes in the glacier meltwater input, and the...
We report in this study the distribution of10Be in the top 40 m of the Renland ice core (East Greenland) and in a 30 m long core from DML (Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica)
for the period 1931–1988. The two sites show differences in10Be content, the Antarctica site showing smaller variance and a lower average10Be annual flux. Similarly, the average a...
Changes in the size of glaciers, in the altitude of the alpine tree-limit, and variation in the width of tree-rings during the Holocene clearly indicate that the average Scandinavian summer temperature has fluctuated. During warm periods it has been about 2°C warmer than at present; during cold periods it has been almost as cold as it was during th...
During the austral summer of 1993-94 a number of 1-2 m deep snow pits were sampled in connection with firn-coring in western Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica. The traverse went from 800 to about 3000 m a.s.l. upon the high-altitude plateau. Profiles of cations (Na+, K+, Mg2+, Ca2+), anions (Cl-, NO3-, SO42-, CH3SO3-) and stable oxygen isotopes (δ18O)...
The focus of this paper is to investigate the possible correlation between changes in the Scandinavian climate and solar activity. Information about climatic changes in Sweden and Norway has been obtained from three sources: the carbon-14 dating of pine wood retrieved from above the present pine tree limit, studies of glacial sediments and the carb...
The focus of this study is the possible correlation between changes in the climate of Scandinavian and changes in solar irradiation. Reliable information about Holocene climatic change in Sweden and Norway is currently available from two main sources: the 14C dating of pine wood retrieved from above the present pine-tree limit and studies of glacie...
In 1945 Storglaciären located in the Kebnekaise massif, northern Sweden, was selected for a long term study of the climatic impact on glaciers and an annual mass balance programme was initiated. Since the mass balance year 1945–1946 the average annual winter precipitation has increased by 0.53 m water equivalent (w. eq.), the annual average ablatio...
A mass balance program was initiated in the Vestfjella-Heimefrontfjella area of western Dronning Maud Land during the austral summer of 1988-1989. As a part of this program, spatial and temporal variations in snow accumulation and temperature/stable isotopes are measured using shallow firn cores. In this paper we present surface accumulation data a...
High-resolution δ18O and δ13C analyses of a stalagmite from Lobatse II Cave reveal late Pleistocene environmental changes in Botswana. Large shifts in δ18O and δ13C are observed between two main periods of deposition. The first period, between 51,000 and 43,000 yr B.P., was warm and humid and may have been associated with some C3 vegetation. The se...
Ten meter firn cores were collected during the Swedish Antarctic Expedition to Dronning Maud Land, in 1988/89. The oxygen isotope stratigraphy in the cores was used to obtain a proxy-temperature record and a surface accumulation record for the last 15–30 years. The 18O record from cores on the ice shelf and the escarpment area, below 2000 m a.s.l.,...
During the Swedish Antarctic Expedition to Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica, 1988-89 the net accumulation was estimated for an area from the coast to about 400 km inland. Stake measurements were used to obtain the spatial variability and firn cores were used for the temporal variability. The mean annual accumulation for the period 1976-88 is about 0....
During the Swedish Antarctic Expedition to Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica, 1988–89 the net accumulation was estimated for an area from the coast to about 400 km inland. Stake measurements were used to obtain the spatial variability and firn cores were used for the temporal variability. The mean annual accumulation for the period 1976–88 is about 0....
Glacial and non-glacial (control) lakes are used to reconstruct a continuous record of Holocene glacier variations from ¹⁴C-dated glacio-lacustrine sediments in four distal glacial lakes from southern Norway. Silt/clay bands (commonly 5–10 cm thick), characterized by low organic content, high X-ray density, high mineral magnetic susceptibility and...
Glacial and non-glacial (control) lakes are used to reconstruct a continuous record of Holocene glacier variations from C-14-dated glacio-lacustrine sediments in four distal glacial lakes from southern Norway. Silt/clay bands (commonly 5-10 cm thick), characterized by low organic content, high X-ray density, high mineral magnetic susceptibility and...
Sedimentary sequences from glacial lakes in southern Norway provide a new approach to the reconstruction of a relatively complete record of Holocene glacier and climatic variations. The data show that, following the "Climatic Optimum" of the early Holocene, neoglaciation was asynchronous; glaciers formed at different times at different sites, depen...
Historical documents and lichenometric studies give a detailed picture of the Little Ice Age in Scandinavia. There was a large advance in Norway, which has been dated at a few places to 1750. Small readvances during the retreat occurred around A.D. 1780, 1810, 1840, 1850, 1850, 1870, 1890, 1910 and 1930. In Sweden most of these advances have been r...
Denton and Hughes (1983, Quaternary Research20, 125–144) postulated that sea level linked a global ice-sheet system with both terrestrial and grounded marine components during late Quaternary ice ages. Summer temperature changes near Northern Hemisphere melting margins initiated sea-level fluctuations that controlled marine components in both polar...
A chronology of glacier front fluctuations for northern Scandinavia derived from lichenometric and 14C-dates on moraines is compared with information about mass balance inferred from dendrochronology. Glacier advances not known from moraine stratigraphy in Sweden probably occurred around AD 1140 and AD 1240. -from Author
A continuous record of Holocene glacier fluctuations cannot be obtained with the techniques currently in use, which are mostly based on the dating of moraines. The likelihood of obtaining a continuous record by studying sediment cores taken from lakes receiving glacial meltwater is discussed. Sediments from four lakes receiving glacial meltwater ar...
An article by Matthews in a previous number of Geografiska Annaler is discussed. The improbability of the statement that 1750 marks the time of the maximum advance of Norwegian glaciers is emphasized. Also the marked difference in the size of lichens on end moraines in Norway and on moraines in northern Sweden is pointed out. ¹⁴C dates from four mo...
A continuous record of Holocene glacier fluctuations cannot be obtained with the techniques currently in use, which are mostly based on the dating of moraines. The likelihood of obtaining a continuous record by studying sediment cores taken from lakes receiving glacial meltwater is discussed. Sediments from four lakes receiving glacial meltwater ar...
An article by Matthews in a previous number of Geografiska Annaler is discussed. The improbability of the statement that 1750 marks the time of the maximum advance of Norwegian glaciers is emphasized. Also the marked difference in the size of lichens on end moraines in Norway and on moraines in northern Sweden is pointed out. 14C dates from four mo...
A minimum date of 8480 ± 155 ¹⁴C yr B.P. on the deglaciation is reported. The date was obtained on a sample of wood fragments and is therefore not affected by old carbonate. The date is regarded as a reliable minimum date of the deglaciation. Another slightly older minimum date (8900 ± 140 ¹⁴C yr B.P.) obtained on peat from the same locality is pro...
Moraine systems fronting 25 glaciers in the Svartisen, Okstindan, and Saltfjell areas were studied. Samples for C¹⁴ dating were obtained from 7 moraines, and lichenometric data were gathered from about 125 moraines. The earliest C¹⁴ dated maxima were from 2800 C¹⁴ yr B.P., but there was evidence that a few glaciers reached relatively advanced posit...
Moraine systems fronting 25 glaciers in the Svartisen, Okstindan, and Saltfjell areas were studied. Samples for C14 dating were obtained from 7 moraines, and lichenometric data were gathered from about 125 moraines. The earliest C14 dated maxima were from 2800 C14 yr B.P., but there was evidence that a few glaciers reached relatively advanced posit...
A minimum date on wood of 8480 14C yr BP on the deglaciation is reported. It is concluded that a large section of northern Lappland was deglaciated before 9000-8500 14C yr BP. The number of high-quality 14C dates is at present insufficient to determine the pattern of deglaciation in Lappland.-from Author
Complex glacier and tree-line fluctuations in the White River valley on the northern flank of the St. Elias and Wrangell Mountains in southern Alaska and Yukon Territory are recognized by detailed moraine maps and drift stratigraphy, and are dated by dendrochronology, lichenometry, 14C ages, and stratigraphic relations of drift to the eastern (1230...
Fossil tundra fragments consisting chiefly of moss (Rhacomitrium lanuginosum—60%, Dicranum—20 %) were found in the forefield of Werenskioldbreen during the glaciological investigations of the Polish Scientific Spitsbergen Expedition. The vegetation formed a cover about 5 cm thick and occurred between two till layers. The samples taken for radiocarb...
In this paper Holocene climatic changes recorded in Lappland, northern Sweden, are described. Recorded changes are dated in three different ways: (1) moraines fronting alpine glaciers are dated lichenometrically, (2) lacustrine sediments, in which the silt content varies with size fluctuations of a small glacier, are C14 dated, and (3) variations i...
Detailed mapping of well-preserved moraine systems fronting 23 small glaciers in the Kebnekaise Mountains in Swedish Lapland reveals that the Holocene was punctuated by four prolonged intervals of glacier expansion. The youngest interval corresponds to the well-known Little Ice Age and lasted from at least A. D. 1500 until the 20th century. Minor f...
Detailed mapping of well-preserved moraine systems fronting 23 small glaciers in the Kebnekaise Mountains in Swedish Lapland reveals that the Holocene was punctuated by four prolonged intervals of glacier expansion. The youngest interval corresponds to the well-known Little Ice Age and lasted from at least A. D. 1500 until the 20th century. Minor f...
Citations
... Lichens can live and grow for up to centuries [7], and thus their thalli are stable microhabitats for many microorganisms, representing true biodiversity hotspots [6]. The stability and longevity of lichens may involve deeply complex relationships, with the establishment of species-specific communities of lichen-associated microorganisms [8][9][10]. ...
... This indicates an essential change in sediment input that could represent a transition from an (indirectly) glacier-fed towards a more locally dominated lake, fed by runoff from the limestones and calcareous marls of the Jura Mountains (cf. Karlén and Matthews, 1992). This transition could be explained by an abandonment of the HRPC by the previously occupying glacier, and drainage rerouting into a new channel, which would likely involve a sharp decrease in sedimentation rate (cf. ...
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... LOI is a measure of the organic content in the bulk sediment, and has been widely used as an inverse proxy for glacial erosion in lake catchments (Karl en 1976(Karl en , 1981Nesje et al. 2001). ...
... A part settles on the bottom of the lake, gradually filling it. This peculiar greyish color, due to the suspended solids of glacier provenance, is also reviewed by Karlén in Lapland and this material can be called "glacial flour", "glacier flour" or "rock flour" (rock flourjNational Snow and Ice Data Center, n.d.; Karlén, 1981). ...
... The time frame for the initial formation stages of the Elveflya sandur were established by dating fossil organic sediments. The study includes a comparison of the 14 C-based dating results obtained in the past by other researchers [43,44] with the recent datings of fossils found inside push moraines in front of the Werenskiold Glacier end moraine. ...
... Whereas section Rhizocarpon colonization on gravestones across Lappland occurred after 2 years on the opposite east to west shores at Gammelstadt and Narvik, 6 years at Røkland and Rognan some kilometres from the Atlantic shore, and also inland at Kiruna. 530 m a.s.l ( [15]) and, according to Karlén [71], 15 years, at Tarfala a research sta- ...
... The existing dates suggest that the last ice masses melted away prior to 9.5 cal ka BP (e.g. Karl en, 1979;1981;Ros en et al., 2001). Stroeven et al. (2016) collected all available deglacial dates, including a number of previously published and unpublished terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide dates from northern Sweden. ...
... Recent work has also revealed that the 5LL method is not demonstrably inferior to other methods (notably size frequency methods) that require larger lichen size data sets and in turn require considerably longer periods of time for data collection (which is not always feasible). Overall, implementing the 5LL method provides the greatest comparability to other studies using lichenometric dating throughout Norway and other Arctic regions (e.g., Karlén 1979;Evans, Butcher, and Kirthisingha 1994;Winkler et al. 2003;Jansen et al. 2016). ...
... The glaciers in the west of the study area are mostly of the plateau icefield type (Karlén 1973;Goodfellow et al. 2008). Glaciers across the study area have been retreating since reaching a 'Little Ice Age' maximum extent c. 1916, although positive mass balance years have occurred at Storglaciaren (Kebnekaise), particularly between the mid-1970s to mid-1990s (Karlén 1973;Holmlund et al. 1996;Holmlund and Holmlund 2019). ...
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... The annual δ 18 O-T relationship is generally weak in the coastal regions of Antarctica (Bertler et al., 2011;Thomas et al., 2013;Goursaud et al., 2019). Isaksson and Karlén (1994) observed a poor correlation between δ 18 O and temperature below 1,000 m a.s.l and a significant correlation above 1,000 m a.s.l. The present study, covering a transect from coast to inland, includes various topographic features. ...
