Wilkes subglacial basin ice sheet response to Southern Ocean warming during late Pleistocene interglacials

• Published in: Nature Communications
• Main Authors: Crotti, Ilaria, Quiquet, Aurélien, Landais, Amaelle, Stenni, Barbara, Wilson, David, Severi, Mirko, Mulvaney, Robert, Wilhelms, Frank, Barbante, Carlo, Frezzotti, Massimo
• Other Authors: Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement Gif-sur-Yvette (LSCE), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Direction de Recherche Fondamentale (CEA) (DRF (CEA)), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA), Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA), Modélisation du climat (CLIM), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Direction de Recherche Fondamentale (CEA) (DRF (CEA)), Glaces et Continents, Climats et Isotopes Stables (GLACCIOS), Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics Venezia, University of Ca’ Foscari Venice, Italy, Università degli Studi di Firenze = University of Florence = Université de Florence (UniFI), British Antarctic Survey (BAS), Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), Institute of Polar Sciences Venezia-Mestre (CNR-ISP), National Research Council of Italy, Department of Earth Sciences Roma, Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza" = Sapienza University Rome (UNIROMA)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2022
• Subjects: [SDU.STU.CL]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Climatology; [SDU.STU.GL]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Glaciology; Antarctic; Southern Ocean; East Antarctic Ice Sheet; Wilkes Subglacial Basin; Antarc*; ice core; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-03778772; https://hal.science/hal-03778772/document; https://hal.science/hal-03778772/file/s41467-022-32847-3.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-32847-3

International audience Abstract The response of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet to past intervals of oceanic and atmospheric warming is still not well constrained but is critical for understanding both past and future sea-level change. Furthermore, the ice sheet in the Wilkes Subglacial Basin appears to have undergone thinning and ice discharge events during recent decades. Here we combine glaciological evidence on ice sheet elevation from the TALDICE ice core with offshore sedimentological records and ice sheet modelling experiments to reconstruct the ice dynamics in the Wilkes Subglacial Basin over the past 350,000 years. Our results indicate that the Wilkes Subglacial Basin experienced an extensive retreat 330,000 years ago and a more limited retreat 125,000 years ago. These changes coincide with warmer Southern Ocean temperatures and elevated global mean sea level during those interglacial periods, confirming the sensitivity of the Wilkes Subglacial Basin ice sheet to ocean warming and its potential role in sea-level change.