On the Antarctic contribution to Holocene sea-level ...

• Main Author: Goodwin, ID
• Format: Thesis
• Language: unknown
• Published: University Of Tasmania 2023
• Subjects: Antarctic; Lambert Glacier; The Antarctic; Wilkes Land; Antarc*; Antarctica; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.25959/23233577.v1; https://figshare.utas.edu.au/articles/thesis/On_the_Antarctic_contribution_to_Holocene_sea-level/23233577/1

Holocene glacial fluctuations of Antarctica are investigated using a combined glacial geological and glaciological approach. An understanding of the timing, forcing and sea-level contribution of these glacial fluctuations is crucial to the interpretation of global eustatic sea-level changes during the Holocene and the present. As a baseline for the Holocene studies, the recent surface mass balance rate distribution of Antarctica and its controlling factors are determined with respect to case studies in the Wilkes Land and the Lambert Glacier drainage basins. The variation in surface mass balance rates and mean annual oxygen isotope values over the last 50 years are interpreted from stratigraphic analyses of several shallow firn cores from these drainage basins. The surface mass balance rate is calculated to vary with surface air temperature by 20%/°C in the ice sheet interior, and by 25%/°C in the coastal margins. This variation is in response to changes in atmospheric circulation, surface air ...