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...
Published in: | Climate of the Past |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Copernicus Publications
2019
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-121-2019 https://doaj.org/article/ef48ddce005b4a4a87f574c65f37c9f0 |
id |
ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:ef48ddce005b4a4a87f574c65f37c9f0 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:ef48ddce005b4a4a87f574c65f37c9f0 2023-05-15T13:40:20+02:00 The Antarctic Ice Sheet response to glacial millennial-scale variability J. Blasco I. Tabone J. Alvarez-Solas A. Robinson M. Montoya 2019-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-121-2019 https://doaj.org/article/ef48ddce005b4a4a87f574c65f37c9f0 EN eng Copernicus Publications https://www.clim-past.net/15/121/2019/cp-15-121-2019.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1814-9324 https://doaj.org/toc/1814-9332 doi:10.5194/cp-15-121-2019 1814-9324 1814-9332 https://doaj.org/article/ef48ddce005b4a4a87f574c65f37c9f0 Climate of the Past, Vol 15, Pp 121-133 (2019) Environmental pollution TD172-193.5 Environmental protection TD169-171.8 Environmental sciences GE1-350 article 2019 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-121-2019 2022-12-31T03:27:14Z 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. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Dansgaard-Oeschger events Ice Sheet North Atlantic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Antarctic The Antarctic West Antarctic Ice Sheet Climate of the Past 15 1 121 133 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Environmental pollution TD172-193.5 Environmental protection TD169-171.8 Environmental sciences GE1-350 |
spellingShingle |
Environmental pollution TD172-193.5 Environmental protection TD169-171.8 Environmental sciences GE1-350 J. Blasco I. Tabone J. Alvarez-Solas A. Robinson M. Montoya The Antarctic Ice Sheet response to glacial millennial-scale variability |
topic_facet |
Environmental pollution TD172-193.5 Environmental protection TD169-171.8 Environmental sciences GE1-350 |
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. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
J. Blasco I. Tabone J. Alvarez-Solas A. Robinson M. Montoya |
author_facet |
J. Blasco I. Tabone J. Alvarez-Solas A. Robinson M. Montoya |
author_sort |
J. Blasco |
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 |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-121-2019 https://doaj.org/article/ef48ddce005b4a4a87f574c65f37c9f0 |
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_source |
Climate of the Past, Vol 15, Pp 121-133 (2019) |
op_relation |
https://www.clim-past.net/15/121/2019/cp-15-121-2019.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1814-9324 https://doaj.org/toc/1814-9332 doi:10.5194/cp-15-121-2019 1814-9324 1814-9332 https://doaj.org/article/ef48ddce005b4a4a87f574c65f37c9f0 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-121-2019 |
container_title |
Climate of the Past |
container_volume |
15 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
121 |
op_container_end_page |
133 |
_version_ |
1766132513625866240 |