Holocene glacier and climate fluctuations on Franz Josef Land, Arctic Russia, 80 degrees N

Fluctuations in glacier extent provide the first comprehensive record of Ho locene paleoclimate for Franz Josef Land. Glacier fluctuations were constra ined using 45 C-14 ages from 16 glacier margins. Many glaciers were behind present margins before 9.4 kyr, possibly as early as 10.3 kyr, and probably remained so until at least 4.4 kyr (where kyr = C-14 yr B.P./1000). Subseq uently, glaciers expanded, probably reaching present margins before 3.2 kyr , but certainly by 2 kyr. A prominent Neoglacial advance occurred ca. 1 kyr , and was followed by 'Little Ice Age' advances, including one in the middl e 1600s A.D. Glaciers were larger than present at the turn of the century, followed by widespread retreat soon after. The Holocene glacier record clos ely mimics that of Svalbard, 500 to 1000 km to the west, suggesting similar glacier mass balance changes over a broad region of the Eurasian Arctia. I ndependent paleoclimate evidence from Svalbard indicates higher-than-presen t summer air temperatures during the early to middle Holocene, when glacier s were behind present margins, followed by generally cooler summer conditio ns and intermittent glacier advances and retreats. Holocene glacier variati ons were probably more influenced by summer temperature than winter precipi tation. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.