Holocene glacial discharge fluctuations and recent instability in East Antarctica

• Published in: Earth and Planetary Science Letters
• Main Authors: Crespin, Julien, Yam, Ruth, Crosta, Xavier, Massé, Guillaume, Schmidt, Sabine, Campagne, Philippine, Shemesh, Aldo
• Other Authors: Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences Rehovot, Weizmann Institute of Science Rehovot, Israël, Department of Environmental Sciences and Energy Research Rehovot, Environnements et Paléoenvironnements OCéaniques (EPOC), Observatoire aquitain des sciences de l'univers (OASU), Université Sciences et Technologies - Bordeaux 1 (UB)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Sciences et Technologies - Bordeaux 1 (UB)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Laboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat : Expérimentations et Approches Numériques (LOCEAN), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636)), École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris Cité (UPCité)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris Cité (UPCité)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2014
• Subjects: [SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean; Atmosphere; [SDU.STU.OC]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Oceanography; [SDU.STU.CL]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Climatology; Antarc*; Antarctic; Antarctica; East Antarctica; George V Land; Ice Sheet; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-02105578; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2014.03.009

International audience Antarctica holds the largest ice sheet in the world, the East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS), and plays a significant role in both local and global climate through the interactions between ice sheets, ocean, sea ice, and atmosphere. Our understanding of East Antarctica Holocene climate variability relies mainly on ice cores that however do not document glacial discharge history. Here, we present the first high resolution δ 18 O diatom record derived from two marine sediment cores retrieved on the East Antarctic continental shelf to reconstruct glacial discharge off Adélie Land and George V Land (AL-GVL) over the last 11,000 years from decadal to centennial resolution. Our results suggest multi-centennial glacier advances and retreats until 2000 cal yr BP, followed by a period of relative instability marked by two major glacial retreats centered at ∼1700 cal yr BP and ∼1980 CE. We suggest that the multi-centennial oscillations during the Early/Mid-Holocene reflect glacier fluctuations in response to long-term local seasonal insolation and short-term solar variability. We also propose that δ 18 O diatom variability over the last 2000 years was the result of a recent change in the AL-GVL region to increasing atmospheric influence, linked to ENSO intensification and teleconnections strengthening between low and high latitudes.