Evidence from field observations of sedimentological records alongside geochemical, microfossil and seismic data analysis suggests that the entire Cenozoic Antarctic ice sheet witnessed several episodes of dramatic waxing and waning in concert with evidence for climates moderately warmer than today. In contrast, numerical modelling studies have not always been able to predict such dynamic behaviour given reasonable climate forcings. In general, the causes and consequences of major ice sheet volume and sea level changes in the past are often poorly understood.

This session aims to bring together research fields of numerical ice sheet, climate and oceanographic modelling and field/proxy data, as a way to foster model-data comparison. We invite submissions that aim to present new insights from improved numerical modelling experiments of ice sheet, oceanographic and sea ice dynamics as well as those presenting new field data from sedimentary records around the Antarctic Margin (e.g., those from Integrated Ocean drilling program Leg 318 to the Wilkes Land Margin, ANDRILL and their predecessors) or proxy data pertaining to conditions in the Southern Ocean. We welcome research from all areas related to ice sheet dynamics, e.g. bedrock responses to ice sheet changes, the gravitational isostatic responses to glaciation, potential thresholds in climate (induced by orbit or carbon dioxide changes). Submissions considering both proxy-evidence and modelling studies are encouraged.