Sensitivity of the Antarctic Ice Sheet to Climate Change over the Last Two Glacial/Interglacial Cycles

• Main Authors: Hall, Brenda, Denton, George H.
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: DigitalCommons@UMaine 2014
• Subjects: Glaciology; Climate Change; Ice Core Sampling; Ross Sea Ice Sheet; McMurdo Sound; Environmental Sciences; Antarctic; The Antarctic; Ross Sea; Taylor Valley; Royal Society Range; Antarc*; ice core; Ice Sheet; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/orsp_reports/43; https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1039&context=orsp_reports

This project was designed to develop knowledge of the extent of the Ross Sea ice sheet during the last two glaciations and to develop a chronology for the last glacial maximum and penultimate glaciation. To this end, we had the following goals: 1) Map the extent of the Ross Sea ice sheet along the western coast of McMurdo Sound from Taylor Valley to the southern Royal Society Range. 2) Develop a radiocarbon chronology for the last glacial maximum from dates of algal mats within moraines. 3) Produce a uranium-thorium chronology to gain information on the timing of the penultimate glaciation. 4) Synthesize the data to develop a better understanding not only of the behavior of the Antarctic ice sheet during ice-age cycles, but also of the role of the ice sheet in transmitting or driving climate changes.