West Antarctic ice retreat and paleoceanography in the Amundsen Sea in the warm early Pliocene

Sandra Passchier (), Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand, Sidney Hemming, Werner Ehrmann, Thomas Frederichs, Steve M. Bohaty, Ronald Leon, Olga Libman-Roshal, Lisbeth Mino-Moreira, Karsten Gohl and Julia Wellner
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Sandra Passchier: 1 Normal Ave
Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand: Madingley Road
Sidney Hemming: Columbia University
Werner Ehrmann: University of Leipzig
Thomas Frederichs: University of Bremen
Steve M. Bohaty: Heidelberg University
Ronald Leon: 1 Normal Ave
Olga Libman-Roshal: 1 Normal Ave
Lisbeth Mino-Moreira: 1 Normal Ave
Karsten Gohl: Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz-Centre for Polar and Marine Research
Julia Wellner: University of Houston

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-18

Abstract: Abstract Mass loss from polar ice sheets is poorly constrained in estimates of future global sea-level rise. Today, the marine-based West Antarctic Ice Sheet is losing mass at an accelerating rate, most notably in the Thwaites and Pine Island glacier drainage basins. Early Pliocene surface temperatures were about 4 °C warmer than preindustrial and maximum sea level stood ~20 m above present. Using data from a sediment archive on the Amundsen Sea continental rise, we investigate the impact of prolonged Pliocene ocean warmth on the ice-sheet−ocean system. We show that, in contrast to today, during peak ocean warming ~4.6 − 4.5 Ma, terrigenous muds accumulated rapidly under a weak bottom current regime after spill-over of dense shelf water with high suspended load down to the rise. From sediment provenance data we infer major retreat of the Thwaites Glacier system at ~4.4 Ma several hundreds of km inland from its present grounding line position, highlighting the potential for major Earth System changes under prolonged future warming.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-60772-8

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