Ice loss from the East Antarctic Ice Sheet during late Pleistocene interglacials
| Autor: | David J. Wilson, Christina R. Riesselman, Francisco J. Jiménez-Espejo, Anannya Mazumder, Kevin Welsh, Emma F. Needham, Tina van de Flierdt, Carlota Escutia, Robert M. McKay, Rachel A. Bertram |
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| Přispěvatelé: | The Leverhulme Trust, Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) |
| Rok vydání: | 2018 |
| Předmět: |
MARGIN
Geologic Sediments Ice-sheet dynamics Hot Temperature ARCTIC-OCEAN 010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences Pleistocene General Science & Technology NEODYMIUM Antarctic Regions Antarctic ice sheet 010502 geochemistry & geophysics Global Warming 01 natural sciences SEDIMENTARY PROCESSES Cryosphere Ice Cover Seawater Glacial period History Ancient Sea level 0105 earth and related environmental sciences geography Science & Technology Multidisciplinary geography.geographical_feature_category NORTH-ATLANTIC Multidisciplinary Sciences CLIMATE Oceanography Interglacial PLIOCENE Science & Technology - Other Topics PALAEOPRODUCTIVITY Ice sheet WILKES SUBGLACIAL BASIN SEA-LEVEL Geology |
| Zdroj: | Nature. 561:383-386 |
| ISSN: | 1476-4687 0028-0836 |
| Popis: | Understanding ice sheet behaviour in the geological past is essential for evaluating the role of the cryosphere in the climate system and for projecting rates and magnitudes of sea level rise in future warming scenarios1–4. Although both geological data5–7 and ice sheet models3,8 indicate that marine-based sectors of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet were unstable during Pliocene warm intervals, the ice sheet dynamics during late Pleistocene interglacial intervals are highly uncertain3,9,10. Here we provide evidence from marine sedimentological and geochemical records for ice margin retreat or thinning in the vicinity of the Wilkes Subglacial Basin of East Antarctica during warm late Pleistocene interglacial intervals. The most extreme changes in sediment provenance, recording changes in the locus of glacial erosion, occurred during marine isotope stages 5, 9, and 11, when Antarctic air temperatures11 were at least two degrees Celsius warmer than pre-industrial temperatures for 2,500 years or more. Hence, our study indicates a close link between extended Antarctic warmth and ice loss from the Wilkes Subglacial Basin, providing ice-proximal data to support a contribution to sea level from a reduced East Antarctic Ice Sheet during warm interglacial intervals. While the behaviour of other regions of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet remains to be assessed, it appears that modest future warming may be sufficient to cause ice loss from the Wilkes Subglacial Basin. Studies of an Antarctic marine sediment core suggest that the East Antarctic Ice Sheet retreated in the vicinity of the Wilkes Subglacial Basin during extended warm periods of the late Pleistocene, when temperatures were similar to those predicted to occur within this century. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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