Maximum extent and decay of the Laurentide Ice Sheet in Western Baffin Bay during the Last glacial episode

• Published in: Scientific Reports
• Main Authors: Brouard, Etienne, Lajeunesse, Patrick
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Nature Publishing Group UK 2017
• Subjects: Article; Arctic; Baffin Bay; Canada; Baffin; Climate change; Ice Sheet; Ice Shelves
• Online Access: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5587637/; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28878304; https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-11010-9

Reconstructing the extent, flow and decay of the Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS) on the continental shelves of North America during the last glaciation provides paleoglaciological analogues that are essential for understanding and predicting how modern marine-based ice-sheets will respond to future climate change and sea level fluctuations. The geometry of the LIS during Marine isotope stage 2 (MIS-2; 29–14 ka BP) is one key element for ice-sheet modelling. The maximum extent of the LIS during this stage is well constrained for most sectors of the ice sheet, but major uncertainties remain, especially along the continental shelves of Arctic Canada. Despite a series of recent papers, the extent of the LIS in Western Baffin Bay, an area draining large volumes of glacial ice through multiple ice streams and likely characterized by ice shelves, remains highly speculative. Here we present unequivocal marine geophysical evidence that during the MIS-2 the LIS extended to the edge of the continental shelf, seaward of the previously proposed limits and subsequently retreated episodically westward during deglaciation. These data support interpretations of deep glacial ice grounding in Western Baffin Bay.