Convincing evidence for rapid ice sheet growth during the last glacial period

• Main Authors: Siddall, Mark, Rohling, E J, Arz, H W
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2008
• Subjects: Ice Sheet
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1983/0b986070-1713-4259-8887-55e89d5781a7; https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/publications/0b986070-1713-4259-8887-55e89d5781a7; https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/ws/files/88125669/Siddall_2008_1_15_16_.pdf; http://www.pages-igbp.org/products/pages-magazine/893-16-1-paleoceanography

It is commonly assumed that ice sheet growth over a glacial cycle follows a saw-tooth pattern of very slow ice-sheet growth during the glacial period and rapid loss during the glacial termination (see e.g., Imbrie et al. 1984; Huybers and Wunsch, 2004; Lisiecki and Raymo, 2005). However, this assertion is challenged by observations of sea level derived from Red Sea oxygen isotope records, which clearly and consistently show rates of sea level equivalent ice sheet growth of between 1-2 cm yr -1 . Here, we review this evidence and consider the increasing amount of independent data supporting rapid rates of ice-sheet growth during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3, around 60-30 kyr BP.