The Antarctic Ice Sheet response to glacial millennial-scale variability
The Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS) is the largest ice sheet on Earth and hence a major potential contributor to future global sea-level rise. A wealth of studies suggest that increasing oceanic temperatures could cause a collapse of its marine-based western sector, the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, through t...
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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10261/187361 https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-121-2019 https://doi.org/10.13039/501100003329 https://doi.org/10.13039/501100002911 https://doi.org/10.13039/501100003176 |
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ftcsic:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/187361 2024-02-11T09:58:05+01:00 The Antarctic Ice Sheet response to glacial millennial-scale variability Blasco, Javier Tabone, Ilaria Álvarez-Solas, J. Robinson, Alexander Montoya, Marisa Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (España) Universidad Complutense de Madrid Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (España) Campus de Excelencia Internacional Moncloa Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte (España) Robinson, Alexander 2019-01-17 http://hdl.handle.net/10261/187361 https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-121-2019 https://doi.org/10.13039/501100003329 https://doi.org/10.13039/501100002911 https://doi.org/10.13039/501100003176 en eng European Geosciences Union #PLACEHOLDER_PARENT_METADATA_VALUE# info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/MINECO/Plan Estatal de Investigación Científica y Técnica y de Innovación 2013-2016/CGL2014-59384-R Publisher's version https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-121-2019 Sí Climate of the Past 15(1): 121-133 (2019) 1814-9324 http://hdl.handle.net/10261/187361 doi:10.5194/cp-15-121-2019 1814-9332 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100003329 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100002911 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100003176 open artículo http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501 2019 ftcsic https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-121-201910.13039/50110000332910.13039/50110000291110.13039/501100003176 2024-01-16T10:42:01Z The Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS) is the largest ice sheet on Earth and hence a major potential contributor to future global sea-level rise. A wealth of studies suggest that increasing oceanic temperatures could cause a collapse of its marine-based western sector, the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, through the mechanism of marine ice-sheet instability, leading to a sea-level increase of 3–5 m. Thus, it is crucial to constrain the sensitivity of the AIS to rapid climate changes. The last glacial period is an ideal benchmark period for this purpose as it was punctuated by abrupt Dansgaard–Oeschger events at millennial timescales. Because their center of action was in the North Atlantic, where their climate impacts were largest, modeling studies have mainly focused on the millennial-scale evolution of Northern Hemisphere (NH) paleo ice sheets. Sea-level reconstructions attribute the origin of millennial-scale sea-level variations mainly to NH paleo ice sheets, with a minor but not negligible role of the AIS. Here we investigate the AIS response to millennial-scale climate variability for the first time. To this end we use a three-dimensional, thermomechanical hybrid, ice sheet–shelf model. Different oceanic sensitivities are tested and the sea-level equivalent (SLE) contributions computed. We find that whereas atmospheric variability has no appreciable effect on the AIS, changes in submarine melting rates can have a strong impact on it. We show that in contrast to the widespread assumption that the AIS is a slow reactive and static ice sheet that responds at orbital timescales only, it can lead to ice discharges of around 6 m SLE, involving substantial grounding line migrations at millennial timescales. This work was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation under the project MOCCA (Modelling Abrupt Climate Change, grant no. CGL2014-59384-R). Ilaria Tabone is funded by the Spanish National Programme for the Promotion of Talent and its Employability (grant no. BES-2015- 074097). Alexander Robinson is funded ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Dansgaard-Oeschger events Ice Sheet North Atlantic Digital.CSIC (Spanish National Research Council) Antarctic The Antarctic West Antarctic Ice Sheet Climate of the Past 15 1 121 133 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Digital.CSIC (Spanish National Research Council) |
op_collection_id |
ftcsic |
language |
English |
description |
The Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS) is the largest ice sheet on Earth and hence a major potential contributor to future global sea-level rise. A wealth of studies suggest that increasing oceanic temperatures could cause a collapse of its marine-based western sector, the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, through the mechanism of marine ice-sheet instability, leading to a sea-level increase of 3–5 m. Thus, it is crucial to constrain the sensitivity of the AIS to rapid climate changes. The last glacial period is an ideal benchmark period for this purpose as it was punctuated by abrupt Dansgaard–Oeschger events at millennial timescales. Because their center of action was in the North Atlantic, where their climate impacts were largest, modeling studies have mainly focused on the millennial-scale evolution of Northern Hemisphere (NH) paleo ice sheets. Sea-level reconstructions attribute the origin of millennial-scale sea-level variations mainly to NH paleo ice sheets, with a minor but not negligible role of the AIS. Here we investigate the AIS response to millennial-scale climate variability for the first time. To this end we use a three-dimensional, thermomechanical hybrid, ice sheet–shelf model. Different oceanic sensitivities are tested and the sea-level equivalent (SLE) contributions computed. We find that whereas atmospheric variability has no appreciable effect on the AIS, changes in submarine melting rates can have a strong impact on it. We show that in contrast to the widespread assumption that the AIS is a slow reactive and static ice sheet that responds at orbital timescales only, it can lead to ice discharges of around 6 m SLE, involving substantial grounding line migrations at millennial timescales. This work was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation under the project MOCCA (Modelling Abrupt Climate Change, grant no. CGL2014-59384-R). Ilaria Tabone is funded by the Spanish National Programme for the Promotion of Talent and its Employability (grant no. BES-2015- 074097). Alexander Robinson is funded ... |
author2 |
Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (España) Universidad Complutense de Madrid Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (España) Campus de Excelencia Internacional Moncloa Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte (España) Robinson, Alexander |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Blasco, Javier Tabone, Ilaria Álvarez-Solas, J. Robinson, Alexander Montoya, Marisa |
spellingShingle |
Blasco, Javier Tabone, Ilaria Álvarez-Solas, J. Robinson, Alexander Montoya, Marisa The Antarctic Ice Sheet response to glacial millennial-scale variability |
author_facet |
Blasco, Javier Tabone, Ilaria Álvarez-Solas, J. Robinson, Alexander Montoya, Marisa |
author_sort |
Blasco, Javier |
title |
The Antarctic Ice Sheet response to glacial millennial-scale variability |
title_short |
The Antarctic Ice Sheet response to glacial millennial-scale variability |
title_full |
The Antarctic Ice Sheet response to glacial millennial-scale variability |
title_fullStr |
The Antarctic Ice Sheet response to glacial millennial-scale variability |
title_full_unstemmed |
The Antarctic Ice Sheet response to glacial millennial-scale variability |
title_sort |
antarctic ice sheet response to glacial millennial-scale variability |
publisher |
European Geosciences Union |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10261/187361 https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-121-2019 https://doi.org/10.13039/501100003329 https://doi.org/10.13039/501100002911 https://doi.org/10.13039/501100003176 |
geographic |
Antarctic The Antarctic West Antarctic Ice Sheet |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic The Antarctic West Antarctic Ice Sheet |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Dansgaard-Oeschger events Ice Sheet North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Dansgaard-Oeschger events Ice Sheet North Atlantic |
op_relation |
#PLACEHOLDER_PARENT_METADATA_VALUE# info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/MINECO/Plan Estatal de Investigación Científica y Técnica y de Innovación 2013-2016/CGL2014-59384-R Publisher's version https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-121-2019 Sí Climate of the Past 15(1): 121-133 (2019) 1814-9324 http://hdl.handle.net/10261/187361 doi:10.5194/cp-15-121-2019 1814-9332 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100003329 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100002911 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100003176 |
op_rights |
open |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-121-201910.13039/50110000332910.13039/50110000291110.13039/501100003176 |
container_title |
Climate of the Past |
container_volume |
15 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
121 |
op_container_end_page |
133 |
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1790593652180910080 |