Reversible ice sheet thinning in the Amundsen Sea Embayment during the Late Holocene
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Published:2023-04-28
Issue:4
Volume:17
Page:1787-1801
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ISSN:1994-0424
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Container-title:The Cryosphere
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language:en
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Short-container-title:The Cryosphere
Author:
Balco Greg, Brown Nathan, Nichols Keir, Venturelli Ryan A.ORCID, Adams Jonathan, Braddock ScottORCID, Campbell Seth, Goehring BrentORCID, Johnson Joanne S., Rood Dylan H.ORCID, Wilcken KlausORCID, Hall Brenda, Woodward JohnORCID
Abstract
Abstract. Cosmogenic-nuclide concentrations in subglacial bedrock cores show that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) at a site between Thwaites and Pope glaciers was at least 35 m thinner than present in the past several thousand years and then subsequently thickened. This is important because of concern that present thinning and grounding line retreat at these and nearby glaciers in the Amundsen Sea Embayment may irreversibly lead to deglaciation of significant portions of the WAIS, with decimeter- to meter-scale sea level rise within decades to centuries. A past episode of ice sheet thinning that took place in a similar, although not identical, climate was not irreversible. We propose that the past thinning–thickening cycle was due to a glacioisostatic rebound feedback, similar to that invoked as a possible stabilizing mechanism for current grounding line retreat, in which isostatic uplift caused by Early Holocene thinning led to relative sea level fall favoring grounding line advance.
Funder
National Science Foundation Natural Environment Research Council Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation
Publisher
Copernicus GmbH
Subject
Earth-Surface Processes,Water Science and Technology
Reference45 articles.
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