Reversible ice sheet thinning in the Amundsen Sea Embayment during the Late Holocene

Balco, Greg; Brown, Nathan; Nichols, Keir; Venturelli, Ryan A.; Adams, Jonathan; Braddock, Scott; Campbell, Seth; Goehring, Brent Marshal; Johnson, Joanne S.; Rood, Dylan H.; Wilcken, Klaus; Hall, Brenda; Woodward, John

doi:10.5194/tc-17-1787-2023

Title: Reversible ice sheet thinning in the Amundsen Sea Embayment during the Late Holocene

Journal Article · 28 April 2023 · The Cryosphere (Online)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1787-2023 · OSTI ID:1987397

Balco, Greg ^[1]; Brown, Nathan ^[2]; Nichols, Keir ^[3];

^[4]; Adams, Jonathan ^[5];

^[6]; Campbell, Seth ^[6];

^[7]; Johnson, Joanne S. ^[8];

^[3];

^[9]; Hall, Brenda ^[6];

^[10]

Berkeley Geochronology Center (BGC), CA (United States)
Univ. of Texas, Arlington, TX (United States)
Imperial College, London (United Kingdom)
Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO (United States)
Imperial College, London (United Kingdom); British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge (United Kingdom)
Univ. of Maine, Orono, ME (United States)
Tulane Univ., New Orleans, LA (United States); Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge (United Kingdom)
Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), Lucas Heights, NSW (Australia)
Northumbria University (United Kingdom)

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.

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Research Organization:: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE; National Science Foundation (NSF)

Grant/Contract Number:: 89233218CNA000001; OPP-1738989; EAR-1806629

OSTI ID:: 1987397

Report Number(s):: LA-UR-22-32933

Journal Information:: The Cryosphere (Online), Vol. 17, Issue 4; ISSN 1994-0424

Publisher:: Copernicus Publications, EGUCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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