Climate Reconstructions for the Younger Dryas in Graubünden, Swiss Alps: Using Glacier Geometry and Hypsometry to Estimate Equilibrium Line Altitude

Mountain glaciers serve as important paleoclimate records due to the direct physical link between glacier extent and climate. The high sensitivity of mountain glaciers to even small perturbations in the climate has the potential to provide very detailed records of regional glacier and climate histories. Recent progress in age determination techniques such as surface exposure dating has greatly improved the temporal precision of glacial records. The conversion of changes in glacier geometries to a climate signal, however, remains a significant challenge. A particular need exists for a versatile method easily applicable to diverse regions and conditions around the globe. Because the equilibrium line altitude (ELA) provides a more explicit comparison of climate than properties such as glacier length or area, ELA methods lend themselves well to such a need, and allow for a more direct investigation of the primary drivers of mountain glaciations during specific events. Here we present a new, robust ELA model for quantifying changes in climate directly from glacier geometry. The model derives from a linear flow model based on Glen's Flow law while fully accounting for glacier hypsometry. As a preliminary application, we combined our modeled ELA reconstructions with a new 10Be chronology of late glacial culminations in Graubünden in the Swiss Alps. These glacier culminations occurred during the Egesen Stadial, which has been correlated to the Younger Dryas (YD) interval. Results for two related glacier systems in Graubünden reveal an ELA depression of 365-401 m (depending on the moraines chosen) during the Egesen stage/YD compared to the modern ELA. This agrees well both with established estimates for ELA depressions in the region and an additional application performed using our model and previously determined ages on the nearby Lagrev Glacier (a 370 m ELA depression). We then reconstruct the temperature and precipitation changes required to explain the ELA changes for these Swiss glacier systems. We will apply the model to other regions in order to further elucidate the variability and sensitivity in the climate system during the YD, and provide insight into the primary drivers of those changes.