A brief consideration of climate forcing factors in view of the Holocene glacier record

Fluctuations in Holocene climate inferred from glaciers in mountain regions as described in Jean Grove [Grove, J.M., 2004. Little Ice Ages Ancient and Modern, 2nd edition, 2 vols. Routledge, London and New York.] are updated with selected publications that further explore the climate–glacier link. The significance of glacier fluctuations and their potential climatic forcing factors suggests that natural changes in solar radiation and volcanism together with anthropogenic influences of greenhouse gases as well as cooling associated with global dimming can, in large part, explain fluctuations observed in mountain glaciers through parts of the Holocene. These linkages can lead to insights into what future fluctuations in mountain glaciers may be as climate continues to change. It is concluded that although warming may be the dominant feature of climate change, from time to time in the future it will be interrupted or accelerated.