scholarly journals Simulated last deglaciation of the Barents Sea Ice Sheet primarily driven by oceanic conditions

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michele Petrini ◽  
Colleoni Florence ◽  
Kirchner Nina ◽  
Hughes Anna L. C. ◽  
Camerlenghi Angelo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sea Ice ◽  
Barents Sea ◽  
Ice Sheets ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Last Deglaciation ◽  
Antarctic Ice Sheet ◽  
West Antarctic Ice Sheet ◽  
West Antarctic ◽  
The Barents Sea ◽  
The Last Deglaciation

<p>An interconnected complex of ice sheets, collectively referred to as the Eurasian ice sheets, covered north-westernmost Europe, Russia and the Barents Sea during the Last Glacial Maximum (around 21 ky BP), connecting to the Scandinavian Ice Sheet to the south. Due to common geological features, the Barents Sea component of this ice complex is seen as a paleo-analogue for the present-day West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Investigating key processes driving the last deglaciation of the Barents Sea Ice Sheet represents an important tool to interpret recent observations in Antarctica over the multi-millennial temporal scale of glaciological changes. We present results from a statistical ensemble of ice sheet model simulations of the last deglaciation of the Barents Sea Ice Sheet, all forced with transient atmospheric and oceanic conditions derived from AOGCM simulations. The ensemble of transient simulations is evaluated against the data-based DATED-1 reconstruction. We find that the simulated deglaciation of the Barents Sea Ice Sheet is primarily driven by the oceanic forcing, with sea level rise and surface melting amplifying the ice sheet sensitivity to ocean warming over relatively short intervals. Despite a large model/data mismatch at the western and eastern ice sheet margins, the simulated and DATED-1 deglaciation scenarios agree well on the timing of the deglaciation of the central and northern Barents Sea. The primary role played by ocean forcing in our simulations suggests that the long-term stability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet could be at stake if the current trend in ocean warming will continue.</p>

scholarly journals Drivers of abrupt Holocene shifts in West Antarctic ice stream direction determined from combined ice sheet modelling and geologic signatures

2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
pp. 674-686 ◽  
Author(s):  
C.J. Fogwill ◽  
C.S.M. Turney ◽  
N.R. Golledge ◽  
D.H. Rood ◽  
K. Hippe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Flow Direction ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Weddell Sea ◽  
Last Deglaciation ◽  
Ice Streams ◽  
Antarctic Ice Sheet ◽  
West Antarctic Ice Sheet ◽  
West Antarctic ◽  
Ice Stream ◽  
Ice Sheet Modelling

AbstractDetermining the millennial-scale behaviour of marine-based sectors of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) is critical to improve predictions of the future contribution of Antarctica to sea level rise. Here high-resolution ice sheet modelling was combined with new terrestrial geological constraints (in situ14C and 10Be analysis) to reconstruct the evolution of two major ice streams entering the Weddell Sea over 20 000 years. The results demonstrate how marked differences in ice flux at the marine margin of the expanded Antarctic ice sheet led to a major reorganization of ice streams in the Weddell Sea during the last deglaciation, resulting in the eastward migration of the Institute Ice Stream, triggering a significant regional change in ice sheet mass balance during the early to mid Holocene. The findings highlight how spatial variability in ice flow can cause marked changes in the pattern, flux and flow direction of ice streams on millennial timescales in this marine ice sheet setting. Given that this sector of the WAIS is assumed to be sensitive to ocean-forced instability and may be influenced by predicted twenty-first century ocean warming, our ability to model and predict abrupt and extensive ice stream diversions is key to a realistic assessment of future ice sheet sensitivity.

scholarly journals Dynamical processes involved in the retreat of marine ice sheets

2001 ◽  
Vol 47 (157) ◽  
pp. 271-282 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard C.A. Hindmarsh ◽  
E. Le Meur
Keyword(s):  
Ice Sheets ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Ice Shelf ◽  
Ice Streams ◽  
Antarctic Ice Sheet ◽  
West Antarctic Ice Sheet ◽  
West Antarctic ◽  
Grounding Line ◽  
Neutral Equilibrium ◽  
Generally True

AbstractMarine ice sheets with mechanics described by the shallow-ice approximation by definition do not couple mechanically with the shelf. Such ice sheets are known to have neutral equilibria. We consider the implications of this for their dynamics and in particular for mechanisms which promote marine ice-sheet retreat. The removal of ice-shelf buttressing leading to enhanced flow in grounded ice is discounted as a significant influence on mechanical grounds. Sea-level rise leading to reduced effective pressures under ice streams is shown to be a feasible mechanism for producing postglacial West Antarctic ice-sheet retreat but is inconsistent with borehole evidence. Warming thins the ice sheet by reducing the average viscosity but does not lead to grounding-line retreat. Internal oscillations either specified or generated via a MacAyeal–Payne thermal mechanism promote migration. This is a noise-induced drift phenomenon stemming from the neutral equilibrium property of marine ice sheets. This migration occurs at quite slow rates, but these are sufficiently large to have possibly played a role in the dynamics of the West Antarctic ice sheet after the glacial maximum. Numerical experiments suggest that it is generally true that while significant changes in thickness can be caused by spatially uniform changes, spatial variability coupled with dynamical variability is needed to cause margin movement.

scholarly journals Simulated last deglaciation of the Barents Sea Ice Sheet primarily driven by oceanic conditions

2020 ◽  
Vol 238 ◽  
pp. 106314 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michele Petrini ◽  
Florence Colleoni ◽  
Nina Kirchner ◽  
Anna L.C. Hughes ◽  
Angelo Camerlenghi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sea Ice ◽  
Barents Sea ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Last Deglaciation ◽  
The Barents Sea

Impact of ice sheet reconstructions on the deglacial climate in iLOVECLIM

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathaelle Bouttes ◽  
Didier Roche ◽  
Fanny Lhardy ◽  
Aurelien Quiquet ◽  
Didier Paillard ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Conditions ◽  
Ice Sheets ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Last Deglaciation ◽  
Antarctic Ice Sheet ◽  
Intermediate Complexity ◽  
Climate Evolution ◽  
The Last Deglaciation ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
The Impact

<p>The last deglaciation is a time of large climate transition from a cold Last Glacial Maximum at 21,000 years BP with extensive ice sheets, to the warmer Holocene 9,000 years BP onwards with reduced ice sheets. Despite more and more proxy data documenting this transition, the evolution of climate is not fully understood and difficult to simulate. The PMIP4 protocol (Ivanovic et al., 2016) has indicated which boundary conditions to use in model simulations during this transition. The common boundary conditions should enable consistent multi model and model-data comparisons. While the greenhouse gas concentration evolution and orbital forcing are well known and easy to prescribe, the evolution of ice sheets is less well constrained and several choices can be made by modelling groups. First, two ice sheet reconstructions are available: ICE-6G (Peltier et al., 2015) and GLAC-1D (Tarasov et al., 2014). On top of topographic changes, it is left to modelling groups to decide whether to account for the associated bathymetry and land-sea mask changes, which is technically more demanding. These choices could potentially lead to differences in the climate evolution, making model comparisons more complicated.</p><p>We use the iLOVECLIM model of intermediate complexity (Goosse et al., 2010) to evaluate the impact of different ice sheet reconstructions and the effect of bathymetry changes on the global climate evolution during the Last deglaciation. We test the two ice sheet reconstructions (ICE-6G and GLAC-1D), and have implemented changes of bathymetry and land-sea mask. In addition, we also evaluate the impact of accounting for the Antarctic ice sheet evolution compared to the Northern ice sheets only.</p><p>We show that despite showing the same long-term changes, the two reconstructions lead to different evolutions. The bathymetry plays a role, although only few changes take place before ~14ka. Finally, the impact of the Antarctic ice sheet is important during the deglaciation and should not be neglected.</p><p>References</p><p>Goosse, H., et al., Description of the Earth system model of intermediate complexity LOVECLIM version 1.2, Geosci. Model Dev., 3, 603–633, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-3-603-2010, 2010</p><p>Ivanovic, R. F., et al., Transient climate simulations of the deglaciation 21–9 thousand years before present (version 1) – PMIP4 Core experiment design and boundary conditions, Geosci. Model Dev., 9, 2563–2587, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-2563-2016, 2016</p><p>Peltier, W. R., Argus, D. F., and Drummond, R., Space geodesy constrains ice age terminal deglaciation: The global ICE-6G_C (VM5a) model, J. Geophys. Res.-Sol. Ea., 120, 450–487, doi:10.1002/2014JB011176, 2015</p><p>Tarasov,L.,  et al., The global GLAC-1c deglaciation chronology, melwater pulse 1-a, and a question of missing ice, IGS Symposium on Contribution of Glaciers and Ice Sheets to Sea-Level Change, 2014</p>

scholarly journals Sensitivity of the Antarctic ice sheets to the warming of marine isotope substage 11c

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 459-478
Author(s):  
Martim Mas e Braga ◽  
Jorge Bernales ◽  
Matthias Prange ◽  
Arjen P. Stroeven ◽  
Irina Rogozhina
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
Ice Sheets ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Antarctic Ice Sheet ◽  
Climate Signal ◽  
West Antarctic Ice Sheet ◽  
Climate Conditions ◽  
West Antarctic ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
Antarctic Ice Sheets

Abstract. Studying the response of the Antarctic ice sheets during periods when climate conditions were similar to the present can provide important insights into current observed changes and help identify natural drivers of ice sheet retreat. In this context, the marine isotope substage 11c (MIS11c) interglacial offers a suitable scenario, given that during its later portion orbital parameters were close to our current interglacial. Ice core data indicate that warmer-than-present temperatures lasted for longer than during other interglacials. However, the response of the Antarctic ice sheets and their contribution to sea level rise remain unclear. We explore the dynamics of the Antarctic ice sheets during this period using a numerical ice sheet model forced by MIS11c climate conditions derived from climate model outputs scaled by three glaciological and one sedimentary proxy records of ice volume. Our results indicate that the East and West Antarctic ice sheets contributed 4.0–8.2 m to the MIS11c sea level rise. In the case of a West Antarctic Ice Sheet collapse, which is the most probable scenario according to far-field sea level reconstructions, the range is reduced to 6.7–8.2 m independently of the choices of external sea level forcing and millennial-scale climate variability. Within this latter range, the main source of uncertainty arises from the sensitivity of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet to a choice of initial ice sheet configuration. We found that the warmer regional climate signal captured by Antarctic ice cores during peak MIS11c is crucial to reproduce the contribution expected from Antarctica during the recorded global sea level highstand. This climate signal translates to a modest threshold of 0.4 ∘C oceanic warming at intermediate depths, which leads to a collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet if sustained for at least 4000 years.

scholarly journals The Uncertain Future of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet

Eos ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terence Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sea Ice ◽  
Ice Sheets ◽  
Ice Streams ◽  
The West ◽  
Antarctic Ice Sheet ◽  
West Antarctic Ice Sheet ◽  
Ice Shelves ◽  
West Antarctic ◽  
Uncertain Future

A recent paper in Reviews of Geophysics discusses how climate change could affect ice streams, ice sheets, ice shelves, and sea ice in Antarctica.

Sensitivity of the Antarctic ice sheets to the warming of MIS11c

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martim Mas e Braga ◽  
Jorge Bernales ◽  
Matthias Prange ◽  
Arjen P. Stroeven ◽  
Irina Rogozhina
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Ice Sheets ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Antarctic Ice Sheet ◽  
West Antarctic Ice Sheet ◽  
Climate Conditions ◽  
West Antarctic ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
Antarctic Ice Sheets

<p><span><span>The Marine Isotope Substage 11c (MIS11c) interglacial (425 – 395 thousand years before present) is a useful analogue to climate conditions that can be expected in the near future, and can provide insights on the natural response of the Antarctic ice sheets to a moderate, yet long lasting warming period. However, its response to the warming of MIS11c and consequent contribution to global sea level rise still remains unclear. We explore the dynamics of the Antarctic ice sheets during this period using a numerical ice-sheet model forced by MIS11c climate conditions derived from climate model outputs scaled by three ice core and one sedimentary proxy records of ice volume. We identify a tipping point beyond which oceanic warming becomes the dominant forcing of ice-sheet retreat, and where collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is attained when a threshold of 0.4 </span></span><sup><span><span>o</span></span></sup><span><span>C oceanic warming relative to Pre-Industrial levels is sustained for at least 4 thousand years. Conversely, its eastern counterpart remains relatively stable, as it is mostly grounded above sea level. Our results suggest a total sea level contribution from the East and West Antarctic ice sheets of 4.0 – 8.2 m during MIS11c. In the case of a West Antarctic Ice Sheet collapse, which is the most probable scenario according to far-field sea-level reconstructions, this range is reduced to 6.7 – 8.2 m, and mostly reflects uncertainties regarding the initial configuration of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. </span></span></p>

Rapid Antarctic ice sheet retreat under low atmospheric CO2

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine Beltran ◽  
Nicholas R. Golledge ◽  
Christian Ohneiser ◽  
Douglas E. Kowalewski ◽  
Marie-Alexandrine Sicre ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ice Sheets ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Ocean Warming ◽  
Antarctic Ice Sheet ◽  
West Antarctic Ice Sheet ◽  
West Antarctic ◽  
Temperature Records ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Antarctic Ice Sheets

<p>Over the last 5 Million years, outstanding warm interglacial periods (i.e. ‘super-interglacials’) occurred under low atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub> levels that may feature extensive Antarctica ice sheet collapse. Here, we focus on the extreme super-interglacial known as Marine Isotope Stage 31 (MIS31) that took place 1.072 million years ago and is the subject of intense debate.</p><p>Our Southern Ocean organic biomarker based paleotemperature reconstructions show that the surface ocean was warmer by ~5 °C than today between 50 °S and the Antarctic ice margin. We used these ocean temperature records to constrain the climate and ice sheet simulations to explore the impact of ocean warming on the Antarctic ice sheets. Our results show that low amplitude short term oceanic modifications drove the collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) and deflation of sectors of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS) resulting in sustained sea-level rise of centimeters to decimeters per decade.</p><p>We suggest the WAIS retreated because of anomalously high Southern Hemisphere insolation combined with the intrusion of Circumpolar Deep Water onto the continental shelf under poleward-intensified winds leading to a shorter sea ice season and ocean warming at the continental margin. Under this scenario, the extreme warming we observe likely reflects the extensively modified oceanic and hydrological circulation patterns following ice sheet collapse. Our work highlights the sensitivity of the Antarctic ice sheets to relatively minor oceanic and/or atmospheric perturbations that could be at play in the near future.</p>

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