Enhanced moisture delivery into Victoria Land, East Antarctica, during the early Last Interglacial: implications for West Antarctic Ice Sheet stability
The S27 ice core, drilled in the Allan Hills Blue Ice Area of East Antarctica, is located in southern Victoria Land, ∼80 km away from the present-day northern edge of the Ross Ice Shelf. Here, we utilize the reconstructed accumulation rate of S27 covering the Last Interglacial (LIG) period between 1...
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Copernicus Publications
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fttriple:oai:gotriple.eu:JggH04hS5iNZ93Jz6kwa5 2023-05-15T13:59:27+02:00 Enhanced moisture delivery into Victoria Land, East Antarctica, during the early Last Interglacial: implications for West Antarctic Ice Sheet stability Yan, Yuzhen Spaulding, Nicole E. Bender, Michael L. Brook, Edward J. Higgins, John A. Kurbatov, Andrei V. Mayewski, Paul A. 2021-09-17 https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-1841-2021 https://cp.copernicus.org/articles/17/1841/2021/ en eng Copernicus Publications doi:10.5194/cp-17-1841-2021 10670/1.ppyxtz 1814-9324 1814-9332 https://cp.copernicus.org/articles/17/1841/2021/ undefined Geographica Helvetica - geography eISSN: 1814-9332 geo envir Text https://vocabularies.coar-repositories.org/resource_types/c_18cf/ Journal Article https://vocabularies.coar-repositories.org/resource_types/c_6501/ 2021 fttriple https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-1841-2021 2023-01-22T19:13:08Z The S27 ice core, drilled in the Allan Hills Blue Ice Area of East Antarctica, is located in southern Victoria Land, ∼80 km away from the present-day northern edge of the Ross Ice Shelf. Here, we utilize the reconstructed accumulation rate of S27 covering the Last Interglacial (LIG) period between 129 ka and 116 ka (where ka indicates thousands of years before present) to infer moisture transport into the region. The accumulation rate is based on the ice-age–gas-age differences calculated from the ice chronology, which is constrained by the stable water isotopes of the ice, and an improved gas chronology based on measurements of oxygen isotopes of O2 in the trapped gases. The peak accumulation rate in S27 occurred at 128.2 ka, near the peak LIG warming in Antarctica. Even the most conservative estimate yields an order-of-magnitude increase in the accumulation rate during the LIG maximum, whereas other Antarctic ice cores are typically characterized by a glacial–interglacial difference of a factor of 2 to 3. While part of the increase in S27 accumulation rates must originate from changes in the large-scale atmospheric circulation, additional mechanisms are needed to explain the large changes. We hypothesize that the exceptionally high snow accumulation recorded in S27 reflects open-ocean conditions in the Ross Sea, created by reduced sea ice extent and increased polynya size and perhaps by a southward retreat of the Ross Ice Shelf relative to its present-day position near the onset of the LIG. The proposed ice shelf retreat would also be compatible with a sea-level high stand around 129 ka significantly sourced from West Antarctica. The peak in S27 accumulation rates is transient, suggesting that if the Ross Ice Shelf had indeed retreated during the early LIG, it would have re-advanced by 125 ka. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica ice core Ice Sheet Ice Shelf Ross Ice Shelf Ross Sea Sea ice Victoria Land West Antarctica Unknown Antarctic East Antarctica Ross Sea West Antarctica Victoria Land West Antarctic Ice Sheet Ross Ice Shelf Allan Hills ENVELOPE(159.667,159.667,-76.717,-76.717) Climate of the Past 17 5 1841 1855 |
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geo envir Yan, Yuzhen Spaulding, Nicole E. Bender, Michael L. Brook, Edward J. Higgins, John A. Kurbatov, Andrei V. Mayewski, Paul A. Enhanced moisture delivery into Victoria Land, East Antarctica, during the early Last Interglacial: implications for West Antarctic Ice Sheet stability |
topic_facet |
geo envir |
description |
The S27 ice core, drilled in the Allan Hills Blue Ice Area of East Antarctica, is located in southern Victoria Land, ∼80 km away from the present-day northern edge of the Ross Ice Shelf. Here, we utilize the reconstructed accumulation rate of S27 covering the Last Interglacial (LIG) period between 129 ka and 116 ka (where ka indicates thousands of years before present) to infer moisture transport into the region. The accumulation rate is based on the ice-age–gas-age differences calculated from the ice chronology, which is constrained by the stable water isotopes of the ice, and an improved gas chronology based on measurements of oxygen isotopes of O2 in the trapped gases. The peak accumulation rate in S27 occurred at 128.2 ka, near the peak LIG warming in Antarctica. Even the most conservative estimate yields an order-of-magnitude increase in the accumulation rate during the LIG maximum, whereas other Antarctic ice cores are typically characterized by a glacial–interglacial difference of a factor of 2 to 3. While part of the increase in S27 accumulation rates must originate from changes in the large-scale atmospheric circulation, additional mechanisms are needed to explain the large changes. We hypothesize that the exceptionally high snow accumulation recorded in S27 reflects open-ocean conditions in the Ross Sea, created by reduced sea ice extent and increased polynya size and perhaps by a southward retreat of the Ross Ice Shelf relative to its present-day position near the onset of the LIG. The proposed ice shelf retreat would also be compatible with a sea-level high stand around 129 ka significantly sourced from West Antarctica. The peak in S27 accumulation rates is transient, suggesting that if the Ross Ice Shelf had indeed retreated during the early LIG, it would have re-advanced by 125 ka. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Yan, Yuzhen Spaulding, Nicole E. Bender, Michael L. Brook, Edward J. Higgins, John A. Kurbatov, Andrei V. Mayewski, Paul A. |
author_facet |
Yan, Yuzhen Spaulding, Nicole E. Bender, Michael L. Brook, Edward J. Higgins, John A. Kurbatov, Andrei V. Mayewski, Paul A. |
author_sort |
Yan, Yuzhen |
title |
Enhanced moisture delivery into Victoria Land, East Antarctica, during the early Last Interglacial: implications for West Antarctic Ice Sheet stability |
title_short |
Enhanced moisture delivery into Victoria Land, East Antarctica, during the early Last Interglacial: implications for West Antarctic Ice Sheet stability |
title_full |
Enhanced moisture delivery into Victoria Land, East Antarctica, during the early Last Interglacial: implications for West Antarctic Ice Sheet stability |
title_fullStr |
Enhanced moisture delivery into Victoria Land, East Antarctica, during the early Last Interglacial: implications for West Antarctic Ice Sheet stability |
title_full_unstemmed |
Enhanced moisture delivery into Victoria Land, East Antarctica, during the early Last Interglacial: implications for West Antarctic Ice Sheet stability |
title_sort |
enhanced moisture delivery into victoria land, east antarctica, during the early last interglacial: implications for west antarctic ice sheet stability |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-1841-2021 https://cp.copernicus.org/articles/17/1841/2021/ |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(159.667,159.667,-76.717,-76.717) |
geographic |
Antarctic East Antarctica Ross Sea West Antarctica Victoria Land West Antarctic Ice Sheet Ross Ice Shelf Allan Hills |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic East Antarctica Ross Sea West Antarctica Victoria Land West Antarctic Ice Sheet Ross Ice Shelf Allan Hills |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica ice core Ice Sheet Ice Shelf Ross Ice Shelf Ross Sea Sea ice Victoria Land West Antarctica |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica ice core Ice Sheet Ice Shelf Ross Ice Shelf Ross Sea Sea ice Victoria Land West Antarctica |
op_source |
Geographica Helvetica - geography eISSN: 1814-9332 |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/cp-17-1841-2021 10670/1.ppyxtz 1814-9324 1814-9332 https://cp.copernicus.org/articles/17/1841/2021/ |
op_rights |
undefined |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-1841-2021 |
container_title |
Climate of the Past |
container_volume |
17 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
1841 |
op_container_end_page |
1855 |
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1766267995127021568 |