Rapid Holocene thinning of an East Antarctic outlet glacier driven by marine ice sheet instability
Outlet glaciers grounded on a bed that deepens inland and extends below sea level are potentially vulnerable to 'marine ice sheet instability'. This instability, which may lead to runaway ice loss, has been simulated in models, but its consequences have not been directly observed in geolog...
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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/unsworks_37172 https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms9910 |
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ftunswworks:oai:unsworks.library.unsw.edu.au:1959.4/unsworks_37172 2024-05-12T07:56:39+00:00 Rapid Holocene thinning of an East Antarctic outlet glacier driven by marine ice sheet instability Jones, RS Mackintosh, AN Norton, KP Golledge, NR Fogwill, CJ Kubik, PW Christl, M Greenwood, SL 2015-11-26 http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/unsworks_37172 https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms9910 unknown Springer Nature http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/LP120200724 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/FT120100004 http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/unsworks_37172 https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms9910 open access https://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2 CC BY https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ urn:ISSN:2041-1723 Nature Communications, 6, 1, 8910 13 Climate Action journal article http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501 2015 ftunswworks https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms9910 2024-04-17T15:05:56Z Outlet glaciers grounded on a bed that deepens inland and extends below sea level are potentially vulnerable to 'marine ice sheet instability'. This instability, which may lead to runaway ice loss, has been simulated in models, but its consequences have not been directly observed in geological records. Here we provide new surface-exposure ages from an outlet of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet that reveal rapid glacier thinning occurred approximately 7,000 years ago, in the absence of large environmental changes. Glacier thinning persisted for more than two and a half centuries, resulting in hundreds of metres of ice loss. Numerical simulations indicate that ice surface drawdown accelerated when the otherwise steadily retreating glacier encountered a bedrock trough. Together, the geological reconstruction and numerical simulations suggest that centennial-scale glacier thinning arose from unstable grounding line retreat. Capturing these instability processes in ice sheet models is important for predicting Antarctica's future contribution to sea level change. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Ice Sheet UNSW Sydney (The University of New South Wales): UNSWorks Antarctic East Antarctic Ice Sheet Nature Communications 6 1 |
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Open Polar |
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UNSW Sydney (The University of New South Wales): UNSWorks |
op_collection_id |
ftunswworks |
language |
unknown |
topic |
13 Climate Action |
spellingShingle |
13 Climate Action Jones, RS Mackintosh, AN Norton, KP Golledge, NR Fogwill, CJ Kubik, PW Christl, M Greenwood, SL Rapid Holocene thinning of an East Antarctic outlet glacier driven by marine ice sheet instability |
topic_facet |
13 Climate Action |
description |
Outlet glaciers grounded on a bed that deepens inland and extends below sea level are potentially vulnerable to 'marine ice sheet instability'. This instability, which may lead to runaway ice loss, has been simulated in models, but its consequences have not been directly observed in geological records. Here we provide new surface-exposure ages from an outlet of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet that reveal rapid glacier thinning occurred approximately 7,000 years ago, in the absence of large environmental changes. Glacier thinning persisted for more than two and a half centuries, resulting in hundreds of metres of ice loss. Numerical simulations indicate that ice surface drawdown accelerated when the otherwise steadily retreating glacier encountered a bedrock trough. Together, the geological reconstruction and numerical simulations suggest that centennial-scale glacier thinning arose from unstable grounding line retreat. Capturing these instability processes in ice sheet models is important for predicting Antarctica's future contribution to sea level change. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Jones, RS Mackintosh, AN Norton, KP Golledge, NR Fogwill, CJ Kubik, PW Christl, M Greenwood, SL |
author_facet |
Jones, RS Mackintosh, AN Norton, KP Golledge, NR Fogwill, CJ Kubik, PW Christl, M Greenwood, SL |
author_sort |
Jones, RS |
title |
Rapid Holocene thinning of an East Antarctic outlet glacier driven by marine ice sheet instability |
title_short |
Rapid Holocene thinning of an East Antarctic outlet glacier driven by marine ice sheet instability |
title_full |
Rapid Holocene thinning of an East Antarctic outlet glacier driven by marine ice sheet instability |
title_fullStr |
Rapid Holocene thinning of an East Antarctic outlet glacier driven by marine ice sheet instability |
title_full_unstemmed |
Rapid Holocene thinning of an East Antarctic outlet glacier driven by marine ice sheet instability |
title_sort |
rapid holocene thinning of an east antarctic outlet glacier driven by marine ice sheet instability |
publisher |
Springer Nature |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/unsworks_37172 https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms9910 |
geographic |
Antarctic East Antarctic Ice Sheet |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic East Antarctic Ice Sheet |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Ice Sheet |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Ice Sheet |
op_source |
urn:ISSN:2041-1723 Nature Communications, 6, 1, 8910 |
op_relation |
http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/LP120200724 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/FT120100004 http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/unsworks_37172 https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms9910 |
op_rights |
open access https://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2 CC BY https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms9910 |
container_title |
Nature Communications |
container_volume |
6 |
container_issue |
1 |
_version_ |
1798836843493457920 |