Relative sea-level data preclude major late Holocene ice-mass change in Pine Island Bay
The rapidly retreating Thwaites and Pine Island glaciers together dominate present-day ice loss from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and are implicated in runaway deglaciation scenarios. Knowledge of whether these glaciers were substantially smaller in the mid-Holocene and subsequently recovered to the...
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Nature Research
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Online Access: | http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/530537/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/530537/1/s41561-022-00961-y.pdf https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-022-00961-y |
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ftnerc:oai:nora.nerc.ac.uk:530537 2023-05-15T13:24:05+02:00 Relative sea-level data preclude major late Holocene ice-mass change in Pine Island Bay Braddock, Scott Hall, Brenda L. Johnson, Joanne S. Balco, Greg Spoth, Meghan Whitehouse, Pippa L. Campbell, Seth Goehring, Brent M. Rood, Dylan H. Woodward, John 2022-07 text http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/530537/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/530537/1/s41561-022-00961-y.pdf https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-022-00961-y en eng Nature Research https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/530537/1/s41561-022-00961-y.pdf Braddock, Scott; Hall, Brenda L.; Johnson, Joanne S. orcid:0000-0003-4537-4447 Balco, Greg; Spoth, Meghan; Whitehouse, Pippa L.; Campbell, Seth; Goehring, Brent M.; Rood, Dylan H.; Woodward, John. 2022 Relative sea-level data preclude major late Holocene ice-mass change in Pine Island Bay. Nature Geoscience, 15. 568-572. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-022-00961-y <https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-022-00961-y> cc_by_4 CC-BY Publication - Article PeerReviewed 2022 ftnerc https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-022-00961-y 2023-02-04T19:52:16Z The rapidly retreating Thwaites and Pine Island glaciers together dominate present-day ice loss from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and are implicated in runaway deglaciation scenarios. Knowledge of whether these glaciers were substantially smaller in the mid-Holocene and subsequently recovered to their present extents is important for assessing whether current ice recession is irreversible. Here we reconstruct relative sea-level change from radiocarbon-dated raised beaches at sites immediately seawards of these glaciers, allowing us to examine the response of the earth to loading and unloading of ice in the Amundsen Sea region. We find that relative sea level fell steadily over the past 5.5 kyr without rate changes that would characterize large-scale ice re-expansion. Moreover, current bedrock uplift rates are an order of magnitude greater than the rate of long-term relative sea-level fall, suggesting a change in regional crustal unloading and implying that the present deglaciation may be unprecedented in the past ~5.5 kyr. While we cannot preclude minor grounding-line fluctuations, our data are explained most easily by early Holocene deglaciation followed by relatively stable ice positions until recent times and imply that Thwaites and Pine Island glaciers have not been substantially smaller than present during the past 5.5 kyr. Article in Journal/Newspaper Amundsen Sea Antarc* Antarctic Ice Sheet Pine Island Bay Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive Amundsen Sea Antarctic Island Bay ENVELOPE(-109.085,-109.085,59.534,59.534) Pine Island Bay ENVELOPE(-102.000,-102.000,-74.750,-74.750) West Antarctic Ice Sheet Nature Geoscience 15 7 568 572 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftnerc |
language |
English |
description |
The rapidly retreating Thwaites and Pine Island glaciers together dominate present-day ice loss from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and are implicated in runaway deglaciation scenarios. Knowledge of whether these glaciers were substantially smaller in the mid-Holocene and subsequently recovered to their present extents is important for assessing whether current ice recession is irreversible. Here we reconstruct relative sea-level change from radiocarbon-dated raised beaches at sites immediately seawards of these glaciers, allowing us to examine the response of the earth to loading and unloading of ice in the Amundsen Sea region. We find that relative sea level fell steadily over the past 5.5 kyr without rate changes that would characterize large-scale ice re-expansion. Moreover, current bedrock uplift rates are an order of magnitude greater than the rate of long-term relative sea-level fall, suggesting a change in regional crustal unloading and implying that the present deglaciation may be unprecedented in the past ~5.5 kyr. While we cannot preclude minor grounding-line fluctuations, our data are explained most easily by early Holocene deglaciation followed by relatively stable ice positions until recent times and imply that Thwaites and Pine Island glaciers have not been substantially smaller than present during the past 5.5 kyr. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Braddock, Scott Hall, Brenda L. Johnson, Joanne S. Balco, Greg Spoth, Meghan Whitehouse, Pippa L. Campbell, Seth Goehring, Brent M. Rood, Dylan H. Woodward, John |
spellingShingle |
Braddock, Scott Hall, Brenda L. Johnson, Joanne S. Balco, Greg Spoth, Meghan Whitehouse, Pippa L. Campbell, Seth Goehring, Brent M. Rood, Dylan H. Woodward, John Relative sea-level data preclude major late Holocene ice-mass change in Pine Island Bay |
author_facet |
Braddock, Scott Hall, Brenda L. Johnson, Joanne S. Balco, Greg Spoth, Meghan Whitehouse, Pippa L. Campbell, Seth Goehring, Brent M. Rood, Dylan H. Woodward, John |
author_sort |
Braddock, Scott |
title |
Relative sea-level data preclude major late Holocene ice-mass change in Pine Island Bay |
title_short |
Relative sea-level data preclude major late Holocene ice-mass change in Pine Island Bay |
title_full |
Relative sea-level data preclude major late Holocene ice-mass change in Pine Island Bay |
title_fullStr |
Relative sea-level data preclude major late Holocene ice-mass change in Pine Island Bay |
title_full_unstemmed |
Relative sea-level data preclude major late Holocene ice-mass change in Pine Island Bay |
title_sort |
relative sea-level data preclude major late holocene ice-mass change in pine island bay |
publisher |
Nature Research |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/530537/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/530537/1/s41561-022-00961-y.pdf https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-022-00961-y |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-109.085,-109.085,59.534,59.534) ENVELOPE(-102.000,-102.000,-74.750,-74.750) |
geographic |
Amundsen Sea Antarctic Island Bay Pine Island Bay West Antarctic Ice Sheet |
geographic_facet |
Amundsen Sea Antarctic Island Bay Pine Island Bay West Antarctic Ice Sheet |
genre |
Amundsen Sea Antarc* Antarctic Ice Sheet Pine Island Bay |
genre_facet |
Amundsen Sea Antarc* Antarctic Ice Sheet Pine Island Bay |
op_relation |
https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/530537/1/s41561-022-00961-y.pdf Braddock, Scott; Hall, Brenda L.; Johnson, Joanne S. orcid:0000-0003-4537-4447 Balco, Greg; Spoth, Meghan; Whitehouse, Pippa L.; Campbell, Seth; Goehring, Brent M.; Rood, Dylan H.; Woodward, John. 2022 Relative sea-level data preclude major late Holocene ice-mass change in Pine Island Bay. Nature Geoscience, 15. 568-572. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-022-00961-y <https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-022-00961-y> |
op_rights |
cc_by_4 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-022-00961-y |
container_title |
Nature Geoscience |
container_volume |
15 |
container_issue |
7 |
container_start_page |
568 |
op_container_end_page |
572 |
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1766377396533985280 |