Ice volume and climate changes from a 6000 year sea-level record in French Polynesia

• Published in: Nature Communications
• Main Authors: Hallmann, N., Camoin, G., Eisenhauer, A., Botella, A., Milne, G., Vella, C., Samankassou, E., Pothin, V., Dussouillez, P., Fleury, Jules, Fietzke, J.
• Other Authors: Centre européen de recherche et d'enseignement des géosciences de l'environnement (CEREGE), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Collège de France (CdF (institution))-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Leibniz-Institut für Meereswissenschaften (IFM-GEOMAR), Department of Cardiology K.U.Leuven, Catholic University of Leuven - Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KU Leuven)-University Hospital Gasthuisberg Leuven, Catholic University of Leuven - Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KU Leuven)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2018
• Subjects: [SDU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]; [SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean; Atmosphere; [SDU.STU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences; [SDE]Environmental Sciences; [SDE.MCG]Environmental Sciences/Global Changes; Antarctic; The Antarctic; Antarc*; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01708506; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01708506/document; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01708506/file/s41467-017-02695-7.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-02695-7

International audience Mid-to late-Holocene sea-level records from low-latitude regions serve as an important baseline of natural variability in sea level and global ice volume prior to the Anthropocene. Here, we reconstruct a high-resolution sea-level curve encompassing the last 6000 years based on a comprehensive study of coral microatolls, which are sensitive low-tide recorders. Our curve is based on microatolls from several islands in a single region and comprises a total of 82 sea-level index points. Assuming thermosteric contributions are negligible on millennial time scales, our results constrain global ice melting to be 1.5–2.5 m (sea-level equivalent) since ~5500 years before present. The reconstructed curve includes isolated rapid events of several decimetres within a few centuries, one of which is most likely related to loss from the Antarctic ice sheet mass around 5000 years before present. In contrast, the occurrence of large and flat microatolls indicates periods of significant sea-level stability lasting up to ~300 years.