EGU21-3385
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-3385
EGU General Assembly 2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Decadal-scale onset and termination of Antarctic ice-mass loss during the last deglaciation

Michael E. Weber1, Nicholas R. Golledge2, Christopher J. Fogwill3, Chris S.M. Turney4, and Zoë A. Thomas4
Michael E. Weber et al.
  • 1University of Bonn, Institute for Geosciences, Department of Geochemistry and Petrology, Bonn, Germany (mike.weber@uni-bonn.de)
  • 2Antarctic Research Centre, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
  • 3School of Geography, Geology and the Environment, University of Keele, Staffordshire, UK
  • 4Earth and Sustainability Science Research Centre, School of Biological Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Australia

Emerging evidence suggests retreat of the Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS) can persist considerably longer than the duration of the forcing. Unfortunately, the short observational record cannot resolve the tipping points, rate of change, and responses on century and longer timescales. New data from Iceberg Alley identifies eight retreat phases after the last Ice Age that de-stabilized the AIS within a decade, contributing to global sea-level rise for centuries to a millennium, which subsequently stabilized equally rapidly. New blue ice records and independent ice-sheet modeling demonstrate the dynamic response of the AIS included a step-wise retreat of up to 400 km across the Ross Sea, accompanied by ice elevation drawdown of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (>600 m). Together, these long time series support studies that propose the recent acceleration of AIS mass loss may mark the beginning of a prolonged period of ice sheet retreat, associated with substantial global sea level rise.

How to cite: Weber, M. E., Golledge, N. R., Fogwill, C. J., Turney, C. S. M., and Thomas, Z. A.: Decadal-scale onset and termination of Antarctic ice-mass loss during the last deglaciation, EGU General Assembly 2021, online, 19–30 Apr 2021, EGU21-3385, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-3385, 2021.