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Antarctic ice sheet discharge driven by atmosphere-ocean feedbacks at the Last Glacial Termination
Citation
Fogwill, CJ and Turney, CSM and Golledge, NR and Etheridge, DM and Rubino, M and Thornton, DP and Baker, A and Woodward, J and Winter, K and van Ommen, TD and Moy, AD and Curran, MAJ and Davies, SM and Weber, ME and Bird, MI and Munksgaard, NC and Menviel, L and Rootes, CM and Ellis, B and Millman, H and Vohra, J and Rivera, A and Cooper, A, Antarctic ice sheet discharge driven by atmosphere-ocean feedbacks at the Last Glacial Termination, Scientific Reports, 7 Article 39979. ISSN 2045-2322 (2017) [Refereed Article]
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Copyright Statement
Copyright 2017 The Authors. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Abstract
Reconstructing the dynamic response of the Antarctic ice sheets to warming during the Last Glacial Termination (LGT; 18,000–11,650 yrs ago) allows us to disentangle ice-climate feedbacks that are key to improving future projections. Whilst the sequence of events during this period is reasonably well-known, relatively poor chronological control has precluded precise alignment of ice, atmospheric and marine records, making it difficult to assess relationships between Antarctic ice-sheet (AIS) dynamics, climate change and sea level. Here we present results from a highly-resolved ‘horizontal ice core’ from the Weddell Sea Embayment, which records millennial-scale AIS dynamics across this extensive region. Counterintuitively, we find AIS mass-loss across the full duration of the Antarctic Cold Reversal (ACR; 14,600–12,700 yrs ago), with stabilisation during the subsequent millennia of atmospheric warming. Earth-system and ice-sheet modelling suggests these contrasting trends were likely Antarctic-wide, sustained by feedbacks amplified by the delivery of Circumpolar Deep Water onto the continental shelf. Given the anti-phase relationship between inter-hemispheric climate trends across the LGT our findings demonstrate that Southern Ocean-AIS feedbacks were controlled by global atmospheric teleconnections. With increasing stratification of the Southern Ocean and intensification of mid-latitude westerly winds today, such teleconnections could amplify AIS mass loss and accelerate global sea-level rise.
Item Details
| Item Type: | Refereed Article |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | Antarctic ice sheet, Last Glacial Termination, Patriot Hills |
| Research Division: | Earth Sciences |
| Research Group: | Physical geography and environmental geoscience |
| Research Field: | Glaciology |
| Objective Division: | Environmental Policy, Climate Change and Natural Hazards |
| Objective Group: | Understanding climate change |
| Objective Field: | Understanding climate change not elsewhere classified |
| UTAS Author: | van Ommen, TD (Dr Tas van Ommen) |
| UTAS Author: | Moy, AD (Dr Andrew Moy) |
| UTAS Author: | Curran, MAJ (Dr Mark Curran) |
| ID Code: | 113655 |
| Year Published: | 2017 |
| Web of Science® Times Cited: | 21 |
| Deposited By: | CRC-Antarctic Climate & Ecosystems |
| Deposited On: | 2017-01-11 |
| Last Modified: | 2018-04-20 |
| Downloads: | 99 View Download Statistics |
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