Minimal Antarctic sea ice during the Pliocene

Antarctic sea-ice concentration at Ocean Drilling Program Sites 1165 (64.380S, 67.219E) and 1166 (67.696S, 74.787E) was lower than today through much of the Pliocene. The low sea-ice concentration is evident from the proportion of the diatom Eucampia antarctica with intercalary valves (Eucampia inde...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geology
Main Authors: Whitehead, JM, Wotherspoon, SJ, Bohaty, SM
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Geological Society of America 2005
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1130/G21013.1
http://ecite.utas.edu.au/34526
Description
Summary:Antarctic sea-ice concentration at Ocean Drilling Program Sites 1165 (64.380S, 67.219E) and 1166 (67.696S, 74.787E) was lower than today through much of the Pliocene. The low sea-ice concentration is evident from the proportion of the diatom Eucampia antarctica with intercalary valves (Eucampia index). This sea-ice proxy was calibrated by using modern diatom data obtained from core-top samples and winter sea-ice concentration data (September average through 1979-1987). The modern relationship is expressed as a binomial generalized linear model (modern sea-ice model). This model was applied to the Pliocene Eucampia index within a 95% tolerance interval (obtained from bootstrap estimates). The results indicate that reduced winter sea-ice concentrations persisted through much of the Pliocene and at times were 78% and 61% relatively less concentrated than today at Sites 1165 and 1166, respectively. 2005 Geological Society of America.