Ice loss from the East Antarctic Ice Sheet during late Pleistocene interglacials

David J. Wilson (), Rachel A. Bertram, Emma F. Needham, Tina van de Flierdt, Kevin J. Welsh, Robert M. McKay, Anannya Mazumder, Christina R. Riesselman, Francisco J. Jimenez-Espejo and Carlota Escutia
Additional contact information
David J. Wilson: Imperial College London
Rachel A. Bertram: Imperial College London
Emma F. Needham: Imperial College London
Tina van de Flierdt: Imperial College London
Kevin J. Welsh: University of Queensland
Robert M. McKay: Victoria University of Wellington
Anannya Mazumder: University of Queensland
Christina R. Riesselman: University of Otago
Francisco J. Jimenez-Espejo: JAMSTEC
Carlota Escutia: CSIC and Universidad de Granada

Nature, 2018, vol. 561, issue 7723, 383-386

Abstract: Abstract Understanding ice sheet behaviour in the geological past is essential for evaluating the role of the cryosphere in the climate system and for projecting rates and magnitudes of sea level rise in future warming scenarios1–4. Although both geological data5–7 and ice sheet models3,8 indicate that marine-based sectors of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet were unstable during Pliocene warm intervals, the ice sheet dynamics during late Pleistocene interglacial intervals are highly uncertain3,9,10. Here we provide evidence from marine sedimentological and geochemical records for ice margin retreat or thinning in the vicinity of the Wilkes Subglacial Basin of East Antarctica during warm late Pleistocene interglacial intervals. The most extreme changes in sediment provenance, recording changes in the locus of glacial erosion, occurred during marine isotope stages 5, 9, and 11, when Antarctic air temperatures11 were at least two degrees Celsius warmer than pre-industrial temperatures for 2,500 years or more. Hence, our study indicates a close link between extended Antarctic warmth and ice loss from the Wilkes Subglacial Basin, providing ice-proximal data to support a contribution to sea level from a reduced East Antarctic Ice Sheet during warm interglacial intervals. While the behaviour of other regions of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet remains to be assessed, it appears that modest future warming may be sufficient to cause ice loss from the Wilkes Subglacial Basin.

Keywords: East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS); Sediment Provenance; Iceberg-rafted Debris (IBRD); Ferrar Large Igneous Province (FLIP); Sortable Silt (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0501-8

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