Author
Niels Balling
Other affiliations: Denver Federal Center
Bio: Niels Balling is an academic researcher from Aarhus University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Temperature gradient & Lithosphere. The author has an hindex of 10, co-authored 12 publications receiving 1794 citations. Previous affiliations of Niels Balling include Denver Federal Center.
Papers
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TL;DR: A Monte Carlo inverse method has been used on the temperature profiles measured down through the Greenland Ice Core Project (GRIP) borehole, at the summit of the Greenland ice Sheet, and the Dye 3 borehole 865 kilometers farther south, resulting in a 50, 000-year-long temperature history at GRIP and a 7000-year history at Dye3.
Abstract: A Monte Carlo inverse method has been used on the temperature profiles measured down through the Greenland Ice Core Project (GRIP) borehole, at the summit of the Greenland Ice Sheet, and the Dye 3 borehole 865 kilometers farther south. The result is a 50, 000-year-long temperature history at GRIP and a 7000-year history at Dye 3. The Last Glacial Maximum, the Climatic Optimum, the Medieval Warmth, the Little Ice Age, and a warm period at 1930 A.D. are resolved from the GRIP reconstruction with the amplitudes -23 kelvin, +2.5 kelvin, +1 kelvin, -1 kelvin, and +0.5 kelvin, respectively. The Dye 3 temperature is similar to the GRIP history but has an amplitude 1.5 times larger, indicating higher climatic variability there. The calculated terrestrial heat flow density from the GRIP inversion is 51.3 milliwatts per square meter.
1,007 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a model of protracted exhumation of topography since the Caledonide Orogeny is presented, which can be substantially explained by the evidence that the evidence can be reasonably explained by a model that the topography of western Scandinavia was created by some form of active tectonic uplift during the Cenozoic.
179 citations
01 Jan 1988
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors consider the thermal regime of the Earth to be quasi-steady state over times of the order of the thermal time constant for the crust, that is a few hundred thousand to a few million years.
Abstract: Although on the geological time and space scales the geothermal regime of the Earth is, strictly speaking, both a transient and three dimensional phenomenon, on the global scale by far the most important component of heat transfer is radial. Furthermore, over times of the order of the thermal time constant for the crust, that is a few hundred thousand to a few million years, we consider the thermal regime to be quasi-steady state.
135 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a 2D numerical model of the thermal and heat-flux of the Baltics is presented, and the results are in very good agreement with seismological information from surface wave dispersion analysis and the refraction / wide-angle seismic interpretation of Fennolora data.
113 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors show that deep structures within the continental lithosphere, originating from early crust-forming plate tectonic processes, may survive for a very long time and form seismic marker reflectivity of great value in geotectonic interpretation and reconstructions.
97 citations
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01 Jan 2013
TL;DR: The recent completion of drilling at Vostok station in East Antarctica has allowed the extension of the ice record of atmospheric composition and climate to the past four glacial-interglacial cycles.
Abstract: The recent completion of drilling at Vostok station in East Antarctica has allowed the extension of the ice record of atmospheric composition and climate to the past four glacial–interglacial cycles. The succession of changes through each climate cycle and termination was similar, and atmospheric and climate properties oscillated between stable bounds. Interglacial periods differed in temporal evolution and duration. Atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide and methane correlate well with Antarctic air-temperature throughout the record. Present-day atmospheric burdens of these two important greenhouse gases seem to have been unprecedented during the past 420,000 years.
5,469 citations
TL;DR: The recent completion of drilling at Vostok station in East Antarctica has allowed the extension of the ice record of atmospheric composition and climate to the past four glacial-interglacial cycles as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The recent completion of drilling at Vostok station in East Antarctica has allowed the extension of the ice record of atmospheric composition and climate to the past four glacial–interglacial cycles. The succession of changes through each climate cycle and termination was similar, and atmospheric and climate properties oscillated between stable bounds. Interglacial periods differed in temporal evolution and duration. Atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide and methane correlate well with Antarctic air-temperature throughout the record. Present-day atmospheric burdens of these two important greenhouse gases seem to have been unprecedented during the past 420,000 years.
5,109 citations
TL;DR: A solar forcing mechanism therefore may underlie at least the Holocene segment of the North Atlantic's “1500-year” cycle, potentially providing an additional mechanism for amplifying the solar signals and transmitting them globally.
Abstract: Surface winds and surface ocean hydrography in the subpolar North Atlantic appear to have been influenced by variations in solar output through the entire Holocene. The evidence comes from a close correlation between inferred changes in production rates of the cosmogenic nuclides carbon-14 and beryllium-10 and centennial to millennial time scale changes in proxies of drift ice measured in deep-sea sediment cores. A solar forcing mechanism therefore may underlie at least the Holocene segment of the North Atlantic's "1500-year" cycle. The surface hydrographic changes may have affected production of North Atlantic Deep Water, potentially providing an additional mechanism for amplifying the solar signals and transmitting them globally.
2,938 citations
1,226 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors emphasise that the certainty of conclusions that can be drawn about climate from observations depends critically on the availability of accurate, complete and consistent series of observations.
Abstract: Chapter 2 emphasises change against a background of variability. The certainty of conclusions that can be drawn about climate from observations depends critically on the availability of accurate, complete and consistent series of observations. For many variables important in documenting, detecting, and attributing climate change, data are still not good enough for really firm conclusions to be reached. This especially applies to global trends in variables that have large regional variations, such as pre-
1,220 citations