Major advance of South Georgia glaciers during the Antarctic Cold Reversal following extensive sub-Antarctic glaciation

Alastair G. C. Graham (), Gerhard Kuhn, Ove Meisel, Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand, Dominic A. Hodgson, Werner Ehrmann, Lukas Wacker, Paul Wintersteller, Christian dos Santos Ferreira, Miriam Römer, Duanne White and Gerhard Bohrmann
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Alastair G. C. Graham: College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter
Gerhard Kuhn: Alfred-Wegener-Institut, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung
Ove Meisel: Alfred-Wegener-Institut, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung
Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand: British Antarctic Survey (Natural Environmental Research Council)
Dominic A. Hodgson: British Antarctic Survey (Natural Environmental Research Council)
Werner Ehrmann: Insitute for Geophysics and Geology, University of Leipzig
Lukas Wacker: ETH Zürich, Laboratory of Ion Beam Physics
Paul Wintersteller: MARUM—Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen
Christian dos Santos Ferreira: MARUM—Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen
Miriam Römer: MARUM—Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen
Duanne White: Institute of Applied Ecology, University of Canberra
Gerhard Bohrmann: MARUM—Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen

Nature Communications, 2017, vol. 8, issue 1, 1-15

Abstract: Abstract The history of glaciations on Southern Hemisphere sub-polar islands is unclear. Debate surrounds the extent and timing of the last glacial advance and termination on sub-Antarctic South Georgia in particular. Here, using sea-floor geophysical data and marine sediment cores, we resolve the record of glaciation offshore of South Georgia through the transition from the Last Glacial Maximum to Holocene. We show a sea-bed landform imprint of a shelf-wide last glacial advance and progressive deglaciation. Renewed glacier resurgence in the fjords between c. 15,170 and 13,340 yr ago coincided with a period of cooler, wetter climate known as the Antarctic Cold Reversal, revealing a cryospheric response to an Antarctic climate pattern extending into the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean. We conclude that the last glaciation of South Georgia was extensive, and the sensitivity of its glaciers to climate variability during the last termination more significant than implied by previous studies.

Date: 2017
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms14798

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