PP43C-2298
The Stability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet During the Last Interglacial (127-110 ka): A New Record From the Patriot Hills
Thursday, 17 December 2015
Poster Hall (Moscone South)
Chris SM Turney1, Christopher Joseph Fogwill2, David M Etheridge3, Michael Ian Bird4, Mauro Rubino3, David Thornton3, Niels Munksgaard4,5, Alan Cooper6, Helen Millman1, Camilla Rootes7 and Andres Rivera8, (1)University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, (2)University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia, (3)CSIRO, Aspendale, Australia, (4)James Cook University, Cairns, Australia, (5)Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Australia, (6)University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia, (7)University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom, (8)CECS-Center for Scientific Studies, Glaciology Department, Valdvia, Chile
Abstract:
The Last Interglacial (LIG; ca. 127 – 110 ka) is increasingly being investigated as a possible analogue for future climate change. Quantified estimates of LIG temperatures suggest global mean temperatures were approximately 2˚C warmer than the pre-industrial period, similar to the RCP2.6 scenario for the end of the twenty-first century. Importantly this period is associated with a global sea level between 6.6 and 9.4 m higher than present day, of which a significant component most probably derived from Antarctica. However, the contribution from the marine-based West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) remains highly uncertain. To investigate the stability of the WAIS we report new results from the Patriot Hills blue ice area, located close to the modern day grounding line of the Institute Ice Stream in the Weddell Sea Embayment. A multi proxy study of the ice (including water stable isotopes and atmospheric gas concentrations) provides a unique record of changing WAIS extent over the last glacial-interglacial cycle. We present evidence for the presence of LIG ice at Patriot Hills and discuss the implications for Antarctic ice sheet stability and global sea level rise during super-interglacials.
