CGRG Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology
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Author : Lewis, D.H.; and Smith, D.J.
Date : 1999.
Title : Little Ice Age climate trends at treeline in Strathcona Provincial Park, Vancouver Island: Insights from glaciers and trees.
Publication : Proceedings of the Workshop on Decoding Canada's Environmental Past: Adaption Lessons Based on Changing Trends and Extremes in Climate and Biodiversity. Edited by: D.C. MacIver. Downsview: Atmospheric Environment Service.
Issue : 2:
Page(s) : 19-30
Abstract
The results of this study show that both mountain hemlock growth and glacier mass balance changes have responding in synchronicity to similar climate variability. During periods of stormier, wetter winters and cooler summers that result in a deep late lying snowpack, mountain hemlock radial growth is suppressed and intervals of moraine development are enhanced as a result of a shift to positive mass balance regimes. During intervals of warmer, drier winters (reduced spring snowpack), mountain hemlock growth is enhanced and there is a shift to a negative glacial mass balance regime and glaciers begin to retreat. Reconstruction of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation Index (PDOI) back to 1600 AD by Gedalof and Smith (1999) reveal that periods of enhanced winter precipitation and cooler summers associated with a weakened Aleutian Low correlate with periods of suppressed mountain hemlock growth and periods of moraine formation on in Strathcona Provincial Park. The results also indicate that LIA climate fluctuations on Vancouver Island are similar in timing and magnitude to those documented in the Canadian Rocky Mountains.
Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology