Articles | Volume 12, issue 6
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-2167-2018
© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-2167-2018
© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Brief communication
| Highlight paper
| 
28 Jun 2018
Brief communication | Highlight paper |
| 28 Jun 2018
| 28 Jun 2018
Brief communication: Candidate sites of 1.5 Myr old ice 37 km southwest of the Dome C summit, East Antarctica
Olivier Passalacqua
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, IRD, IGE, 38000 Grenoble, France
Marie Cavitte
University of Texas Institute for Geophysics, Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA
Department of Geological Sciences, Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA
Olivier Gagliardini
Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, IRD, IGE, 38000 Grenoble, France
Fabien Gillet-Chaulet
Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, IRD, IGE, 38000 Grenoble, France
Frédéric Parrenin
Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, IRD, IGE, 38000 Grenoble, France
Catherine Ritz
Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, IRD, IGE, 38000 Grenoble, France
Duncan Young
University of Texas Institute for Geophysics, Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA
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EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-4174, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-4174, 2026
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for The Cryosphere (TC).
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To choose good drilling sites and interpret ice cores correctly, scientists need reliable estimates of ice age at each depth. We developed a new way to model how ice behaves at the base of ice sheets, where it can melt or stop moving entirely, using radar data from Antarctica. Our estimates matched real measurements at a well-studied site, revealed a layer of stagnant ice at another, and predicted that a newly proposed drilling site could yield ice over two million years old.
Shuai Yan, Michelle R. Koutnik, Tyler J. Fudge, Shivangini Singh, Duyi Li, Donald D. Blankenship, and Duncan A. Young
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-4672, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-4672, 2026
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for The Cryosphere (TC).
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Surface snow accumulation is a key control on how the Antarctic Ice Sheet changes. We combined airborne radar observations with numerical models to reconstruct snow accumulation in a interior sector of Antarctica over the past 162,000 years. The results show that this region often followed a different history from a major East Antarctic ice-core site, demonstrating that records from one location may not represent a wider area and that broader observations are needed.
Cyrille Mosbeux, Peter Råback, Adrien Gilbert, Julien Brondex, Fabien Gillet-Chaulet, Nicolas C. Jourdain, Mondher Chekki, Olivier Gagliardini, and Gaël Durand
Geosci. Model Dev., 19, 8269–8288, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-19-8269-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-19-8269-2026, 2026
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Transport processes like rocks carried by ice flow and damage evolution – a proxy for crevasses – are key in ice sheet modeling and should occur without diffusion. Yet, standard numerical methods often blur these features. We explore a particle-based Semi-Lagrangian approach, comparing it to a Discontinuous Galerkin method, and show it can accurately simulate such transport when run at high enough resolution.
Adrien Gilbert, Fabrizio Troilo, Olivier Gagliardini, Christian Vincent, Paolo Perret, Luca Mondardini, Luc Piard, Olivier Laarman, and Emmanuel Le Meur
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-4058, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-4058, 2026
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for The Cryosphere (TC).
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This study reports on long-term temperature changes observed on the Whymper hanging glacier in Italy from 1997 to 2021, which are interpreted using a numerical modeling approach. Our results show that recent surface warming, driven by increased melting, has raised the glacier's basal temperature significantly, which could reach its melting point by 2050. However, this warming is partially offset by cooling from the mountain's cold north face, which may keep the glacier frozen and stable.
Christophe Ogier, Mauro A. Werder, Olivier Gagliardini, Ilaria Santin, Raphael Moser, Romain Hugonnet, Antoine Blanc, and Daniel Farinotti
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 3901–3917, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-26-3901-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-26-3901-2026, 2026
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In June 2024, a destructive flood impacted the village of La Bérarde in the French Alps. Rain, snowmelt, and the drainage of a surface lake on a glacier cannot fully explain the flood magnitude. We used glacier topography to estimate how much water could also have been stored beneath the glacier before the event. Our results show that large volumes of hidden water may have existed and could have amplified the flood, highlighting an overlooked hazard in debris-covered mountain glaciers.
Geunwoo Lee, Tobias Erhardt, Piers Larkman, Chantal Zeppenfeld, Sarah Jackson, Jochen Schmitt, Barbara Delmonte, Giovanni Baccolo, Catherine Ritz, Frank Wilhelms, Dorthe Dahl-Jensen, Kevin Michael Nikolaus, Pascal Bohleber, and Hubertus Fischer
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-4574, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-4574, 2026
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for The Cryosphere (TC).
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Deep ice cores preserve records of past climate, but chemical reactions inside the ice can blur these signals over time. To find out how, we studied millions of dust particles in a deep Antarctic ice core. We found that, over long timescales, dust dissolves and reforms into new minerals within tiny pockets of liquid, trapping chemical elements. Warm temperatures speed up this process. Accounting for it helps scientists interpret ancient climate records from deep ice more reliably.
Etienne Legrain, Nathan Stevenard, Emilie Capron, Frédéric Parrenin, and Natalia Vazquez Riveiros
Clim. Past, 22, 1223–1240, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-22-1223-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-22-1223-2026, 2026
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To better understand climate drivers during a warm period ~200,000 years ago, we reconstructed global surface temperature using 132 marine records placed on a common timeline. We found strong hemispheric differences and showed that the warmest phase occurred despite lower CO2 levels. In addition, we suggest that extreme orbital forcing temporarily shifted the climate into the older 41,000-year rhythm, resulting in a hybrid warm period shaped by both 100,000-year and 41,000-year climate dynamics.
James R. Jordan, Frank Pattyn, Daniel Abele, Torsten Albrecht, Jorge Alvarez-Solas, Jowan M. Barnes, Tijn Berends, Jorge A. Bernales, Javier Blasco, Gong Cheng, Youngmin Choi, Stephen L. Cornford, Cruz Garcia-Molina, Fabien Gillet-Chaulet, G. Hilmar Gudmundsson, Angelika Humbert, Gunter R. Leguy, William H. Lipscomb, Marisa Montoya, Daniel Moreno-Parada, Mathieu Morlighem, Tyler Pelle, Alexander Robinson, Martin Rückamp, Hélène Seroussi, Yanmei Tian, Luisa Wagner, Roderick S. W. van de Wal, Liyun Zhao, and Thomas Zwinger
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-1962, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-1962, 2026
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Ice calving is a recent inclusion in ice sheet models and there has not been a systematic test of how well it has been implemented. We show that models can accurately represent a given rate of ice calving, properties at the ice front evolve smoothly during calving, and that there are no consistent differences in ice behaviour between various approaches to representing calving in numerical ice models. This gives us confidence in their ability for use in sea level rise prediction simulations.
Pierre Mathiot, Nicolas C. Jourdain, Benoit Urruty, Fabien Gillet-Chaulet, Olivier Gagliardini, and Gaël Durand
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-927, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-927, 2026
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How the Antarctic ice sheet responds to rapid ocean warming remains uncertain. To explore this, we used a coupled ocean–ice sheet model. We compared simulations under present-day conditions with simulations under strong future warming for 50 years, then returned to today’s climate. The ocean warmed quickly but recovered within decades. In contrast, several ice streams continued to retreat for centuries. This shows that even brief warming could cause lasting ice loss and sea-level rise.
Felix Pollak, Frédéric Parrenin, Emilie Capron, Zanna Chase, Lenneke Jong, and Etienne Legrain
Clim. Past, 22, 675–688, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-22-675-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-22-675-2026, 2026
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The Mid-Pleistocene Transition (MPT) marked a shift towards extended glacial periods and amplitudes, while its underlying mechanisms are still disputed. Here, we present a new conceptual model, capable of reconstructing global ice volume over the past 2.6 Ma, including a shift in frequency and amplitude during the MPT. We find that a long-lasting, gradual trend in the Earth-climate system is most favourable in reconstructing the MPT and that it started over 2 Ma.
Héloïse Guilluy, Émilie Capron, Frédéric Parrenin, Vladimir Lipenkov, Jochen Schmitt, Patricia Martinerie, Zhipeng Wu, Qiuzhen Yin, Anna Maria Klüssendorf, Amaëlle Landais, Barbara Seth, Hubertus Fischer, and Dominique Raynaud
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-953, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-953, 2026
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Air bubbles in polar ice cores retain information about past climates over hundreds of thousands of years. The total air content (TAC) trapped within these bubbles varies with summer insolation cycles, making it a tool for dating ice cores. We present a multi-site update on TAC, combining new and published data. We confirm that insolation impacts bubble volume in East Antarctica, but surface climate changes can hide the insolation signal in the TAC record, impacting the TAC-derived chronologies.
Julien Brondex, Olivier Gagliardini, Adrien Gilbert, and Emmanuel Thibert
The Cryosphere, 20, 1655–1677, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-1655-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-1655-2026, 2026
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We investigate crevasse initiation by analyzing the artificial drainage of a water-filled cavity at Tête Rousse Glacier (Mont Blanc, France). Using a numerical model, we compute stress fields in response to water level variations in the cavity and compare them to observed crevasse patterns. Results show that a non-linear viscous rheology and a maximum principal stress criterion (with a stress threshold of 100–130 kPa) best predict crevasse occurrence.
Titouan Tcheng, Elise Fourré, Christophe Leroy-Dos Santos, Frédéric Parrenin, Emmanuel Le Meur, Frédéric Prié, Olivier Jossoud, Roxanne Jacob, Bénédicte Minster, Olivier Magand, Cécile Agosta, Niels Dutrievoz, Vincent Favier, Léa Baubant, Coralie Lassalle-Bernard, Mathieu Casado, Martin Werner, Alexandre Cauquoin, Laurent Arnaud, Bruno Jourdain, Ghislain Picard, Marie Bouchet, and Amaëlle Landais
The Cryosphere, 20, 1599–1618, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-1599-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-1599-2026, 2026
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Studying Antarctic ice cores is crucial to assess past climate changes, as they hold historical climate data. This study examines multiple ice cores from three sites in coastal Adélie Land to see if combining cores improves data interpretability. It does at two sites, but at a third, wind-driven snow layer mixing limited benefits. We show that using multiple ice cores from one location can better uncover climate history, especially in areas with less wind disturbance.
Simon Filhol, Clément Misset, Noélie Bontemps, Diego Cusicanqui, Emmanuel Paquet, Marie Dumont, Olivier Gagliardini, Pascal Lacroix, Simon Gascoin, Guillaume Thirel, Julien Brondex, Pascal Hagenmuller, Eric Larose, Philipp Schoeneich, Denis Roy, Emmanuel Thibert, Nicolas Eckert, Félix de Montety, Robin Mainieri, Alexandre Hauet, Frédéric Gottardi, Johan Berthet, Alexandre Baratier, Frédéric Liébault, Małgorzata Chmiel, Guillaume Piton, Guillaume Chambon, Guillaume James, Philippe Frey, Philip Deline, Laurent Astrade, Christian Vincent, Dominique Laigle, Alain Recking, Fatima Karbou, Adrien Mauss, Mylène Bonnefoy-Demongeot, Firmin Fontaine, Mickael Langlais, Etienne Berthier, and Antoine Blanc
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-971, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-971, 2026
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On June 21 2024, the village of La Bérarde, in the French Alps, was devastated by a flood destroying centuries old buildings. This study is an interdisciplinary work to decipher the causes and chronology of the event. The flood started with decadal rain falling on a thick snowpack. A lake observed on top of a glacier few days prior, had drained post event. With climate change, should we expect more similar compound events for alpine communities?
Thore Kausch, Stef Lhermitte, Marie G. P. Cavitte, Eric Keenan, and Shashwat Shukla
The Cryosphere, 20, 511–526, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-511-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-511-2026, 2026
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Determining the net balance of snow accumulation on the surface of Antarctica is challenging. Sentinel-1 satellite sensors, which can see through snow, offer a promising method. However, linking their signals to snow amounts is complex due to snow's internal structure and limited on-the-ground data. This study found a connection between satellite signals and snow levels at three locations in Dronning Maud Land. Using models and field data, the method shows potential for wider use in Antarctica.
Shuai Yan, Duncan A. Young, Donald D. Blankenship, Tyler J. Fudge, Duyi Li, Laura Lindzey, Hunter Reeves, Alejandra Vega-Gonzalez, Shivangini Singh, Megan Kerr, Emily Wilbur, and Michelle Koutnik
The Cryosphere, 20, 453–465, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-453-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-453-2026, 2026
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This study examines the radar characteristics of the basal unit along Dome A’s southern flank. Through manual mapping and delay-Doppler analysis, we identifies two basal unit types and maps the spatial variation of incoherent scattering. The results suggest that basal unit radar appearance is influenced by englacial temperature variability and potentially by subglacial geological controls.
Dong Li, Xueyuan Tang, Ailsa Chung, Frédéric Parrenin, and Bo Sun
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-5165, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-5165, 2026
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China's first deep ice core drilling at Dome A aims to obtain continuous ice records older than one million years. Using radar data and a one-dimensional ice flow model, we estimated the age of ice layers across Dome A. Our results suggest that the bottom ice melts very little and highlight three areas that may preserve million-year-old ice. The findings provide guidance for future drilling and support international efforts to study the oldest ice in Antarctica.
Thomas Chauve, Florent Gimbert, Adrien Gilbert, Olivier Gagliardini, Luc Piard, Arnaud Reboud, Olivier Laarman, Paolo Perret, William Boffelli, Pietro Di Sopra, Luca Mondardini, and Fabrizio Troilo
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-5714, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-5714, 2025
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A field campaign on the Planpincieux Glacier investigated how hidden heterogeneities inside the ice affect its deformation. A borehole logged with optical and acoustic tools and equipped with tilt sensors revealed that these heterogeneities cause strong deformation localization. Such weak zones significantly influence glacier motion, showing that internal structure is key to understanding how glaciers flow.
Heiko Goelzer, Constantijn J. Berends, Fredrik Boberg, Gael Durand, Tamsin L. Edwards, Xavier Fettweis, Fabien Gillet-Chaulet, Quentin Glaude, Philippe Huybrechts, Sébastien Le clec'h, Ruth Mottram, Brice Noël, Martin Olesen, Charlotte Rahlves, Jeremy Rohmer, Michiel van den Broeke, and Roderik S. W. van de Wal
The Cryosphere, 19, 6887–6906, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-6887-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-6887-2025, 2025
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We present an ensemble of ice sheet model projections for the Greenland ice sheet. The focus is on providing projections that improve our understanding of the range future sea-level rise and the inherent uncertainties over the next 100 to 300 years. Compared to earlier work we more fully account for some of the uncertainties in sea-level projections. We include a wider range of climate model output, more climate change scenarios and we extend projections schematically up to year 2300.
Marie G. P. Cavitte, Hugues Goosse, Quentin Dalaiden, and Nicolas Ghilain
The Cryosphere, 19, 6483–6492, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-6483-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-6483-2025, 2025
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Ice cores are influenced by local processes that alter SMB (surface mass balance) records. To evaluate if atmospheric circulation on large spatial scales can explain differing snowfall trends at 8 East Antarctic ice rises, we assimilated their ice core SMB records within a high-resolution downscaled atmospheric model with quantified local errors from radar constraints. The reconstruction captures the SMB records’ variability but may over-fit by introducing unrealistic spatial heterogeneity.
Marc J. Sailer, Tyler J. Fudge, John D. Patterson, Shuai Yan, Duncan A. Young, Shivangini Singh, Don Blankenship, and Megan Kerr
Clim. Past, 21, 2389–2406, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-2389-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-2389-2025, 2025
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In this study, we model vertical atmospheric gas diffusion in ice older than 1 million years in the Antarctic ice sheet. We estimate climate signal preservation and help identify a potential region for a future deep ice core in East Antarctica. We find that regions with low accumulation rates and moderate ice thickness result in lower diffusion rates. In particular, the foothills of Dome A is a promising location for a deep ice core that extends the present ice core record.
Frédéric Parrenin, Ailsa Chung, and Carlos Martín
Geosci. Model Dev., 18, 8203–8216, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-8203-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-8203-2025, 2025
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We developed a new numerical age solver for a pseudo-steady flow tube of an ice sheet. Thanks to a new coordinate system which tracks the trajectories and a change of the time variable, our scheme combines the advantages of Eulerian and Lagrangian schemes: no numerical diffusion and no dilution of tracers. Our model is so fast that it is easy to optimize its parameters. Our model is made available to the ice sheet community as an easy to use open-source software coded in python.
Robert G. Bingham, Julien A. Bodart, Marie G. P. Cavitte, Ailsa Chung, Rebecca J. Sanderson, Johannes C. R. Sutter, Olaf Eisen, Nanna B. Karlsson, Joseph A. MacGregor, Neil Ross, Duncan A. Young, David W. Ashmore, Andreas Born, Winnie Chu, Xiangbin Cui, Reinhard Drews, Steven Franke, Vikram Goel, John W. Goodge, A. Clara J. Henry, Antoine Hermant, Benjamin H. Hills, Nicholas Holschuh, Michelle R. Koutnik, Gwendolyn J.-M. C. Leysinger Vieli, Emma J. MacKie, Elisa Mantelli, Carlos Martín, Felix S. L. Ng, Falk M. Oraschewski, Felipe Napoleoni, Frédéric Parrenin, Sergey V. Popov, Therese Rieckh, Rebecca Schlegel, Dustin M. Schroeder, Martin J. Siegert, Xueyuan Tang, Thomas O. Teisberg, Kate Winter, Shuai Yan, Harry Davis, Christine F. Dow, Tyler J. Fudge, Tom A. Jordan, Bernd Kulessa, Kenichi Matsuoka, Clara J. Nyqvist, Maryam Rahnemoonfar, Matthew R. Siegfried, Shivangini Singh, Vjeran Višnjević, Rodrigo Zamora, and Alexandra Zuhr
The Cryosphere, 19, 4611–4655, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-4611-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-4611-2025, 2025
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The ice sheets covering Antarctica have built up over millenia through successive snowfall events which become buried and preserved as internal surfaces of equal age detectable with ice-penetrating radar. This paper describes an international initiative working together on these archival data to build a comprehensive 3-D picture of how old the ice is everywhere across Antarctica and how this is being used to reconstruct past and to predict future ice and climate behaviour.
Johanna Beckmann, Ronja Reese, Felicity S. McCormack, Sue Cook, Lawrence Bird, Dawid Gwyther, Daniel Richards, Matthias Scheiter, Yu Wang, Hélène Seroussi, Ayako Abe‐Ouchi, Torsten Albrecht, Jorge Alvarez‐Solas, Xylar S. Asay‐Davis, Jean‐Baptiste Barre, Constantijn J. Berends, Jorge Bernales, Javier Blasco, Justine Caillet, David M. Chandler, Violaine Coulon, Richard Cullather, Christophe Dumas, Benjamin K. Galton‐Fenzi, Julius Garbe, Fabien Gillet‐Chaulet, Rupert Gladstone, Heiko Goelzer, Nicholas R. Golledge, Ralf Greve, G. Hilmar Gudmundsson, Holly Kyeore Han, Trevor R. Hillebrand, Matthew J. Hoffman, Philippe Huybrechts, Nicolas C. Jourdain, Ann Kristin Klose, Petra M. Langebroek, Gunter R. Leguy, William H. Lipscomb, Daniel P. Lowry, Pierre Mathiot, Marisa Montoya, Mathieu Morlighem, Sophie Nowicki, Frank Pattyn, Antony J. Payne, Tyler Pelle, Aurélien Quiquet, Alexander Robinson, Leopekka Saraste, Erika G. Simon, Sainan Sun, Jake P. Twarog, Luke D. Trusel, Benoit Urruty, Jonas Van Breedam, Roderik S. W. van de Wal, Chen Zhao, and Thomas Zwinger
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-4069, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-4069, 2025
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Antarctica holds enough ice to raise sea levels by many meters, but its future is uncertain. Warm ocean water melts ice shelves from below, letting inland ice flow faster into the sea. By 2300, Antarctica could add 0.6–4.4 m to sea levels. Our study identifies two key factors—how strongly shelves melt and how the ice responds. These explain much of the range, and refining them in models may improve future predictions.
Ailsa Chung, Frédéric Parrenin, Robert Mulvaney, Luca Vittuari, Massimo Frezzotti, Antonio Zanutta, David A. Lilien, Marie G. P. Cavitte, and Olaf Eisen
The Cryosphere, 19, 4125–4140, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-4125-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-4125-2025, 2025
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We applied an ice flow model to a flow line from the summit of Dome C to the Beyond EPICA ice core drill site on Little Dome C in Antarctica. Results show that the oldest ice at the drill site may be 1.12 Ma (at an age density of 20 kyr m-1) and originate from around 15 km upstream. We also discuss the nature of the 200–250 m thick basal layer which could be composed of stagnant ice, disturbed ice or even accreted ice (possibly containing debris).
Davor Dundovic, Joseph G. Wallwork, Stephan C. Kramer, Fabien Gillet-Chaulet, Regine Hock, and Matthew D. Piggott
Geosci. Model Dev., 18, 4023–4044, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-4023-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-4023-2025, 2025
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Accurate numerical studies of glaciers often require high-resolution simulations, which often prove too demanding even for modern computers. In this paper we develop a method that identifies whether different parts of a glacier require high or low resolution based on its physical features, such as its thickness and velocity. We show that by doing so we can achieve a more optimal simulation accuracy for the available computing resources compared to uniform-resolution simulations.
Justine Caillet, Nicolas C. Jourdain, Pierre Mathiot, Fabien Gillet-Chaulet, Benoit Urruty, Clara Burgard, Charles Amory, Mondher Chekki, and Christoph Kittel
Earth Syst. Dynam., 16, 293–315, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-16-293-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-16-293-2025, 2025
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Internal climate variability, resulting from processes intrinsic to the climate system, modulates the Antarctic response to climate change by delaying or offsetting its effects. Using climate and ice-sheet models, we highlight that irreducible internal climate variability significantly enlarges the likely range of Antarctic contribution to sea-level rise until 2100. Thus, we recommend considering internal climate variability as a source of uncertainty for future ice-sheet projections.
Juan-Pedro Roldán-Blasco, Adrien Gilbert, Luc Piard, Florent Gimbert, Christian Vincent, Olivier Gagliardini, Anuar Togaibekov, Andrea Walpersdorf, and Nathan Maier
The Cryosphere, 19, 267–282, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-267-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-267-2025, 2025
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The flow of glaciers and ice sheets results from ice deformation and basal sliding driven by gravitational forces. Quantifying the rate at which ice deforms under its own weight is critical for assessing glacier evolution. This study uses borehole instrumentation in an Alpine glacier to quantify ice deformation and constrain ice viscosity in a natural setting. Our results show that the viscosity of ice at 0 °C is largely influenced by interstitial liquid water, which enhances ice deformation.
Frédéric Parrenin, Marie Bouchet, Christo Buizert, Emilie Capron, Ellen Corrick, Russell Drysdale, Kenji Kawamura, Amaëlle Landais, Robert Mulvaney, Ikumi Oyabu, and Sune Olander Rasmussen
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 8735–8750, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-8735-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-8735-2024, 2024
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The Paleochrono-1.1 probabilistic dating model allows users to derive a common and optimized chronology for several paleoclimatic sites from various archives (ice cores, speleothems, marine cores, lake cores, etc.). It combines prior sedimentation scenarios with chronological information such as dated horizons, dated intervals, stratigraphic links and (for ice cores) Δdepth observations. Paleochrono-1.1 is available under an open-source license.
Eliot Jager, Fabien Gillet-Chaulet, Nicolas Champollion, Romain Millan, Heiko Goelzer, and Jérémie Mouginot
The Cryosphere, 18, 5519–5550, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-5519-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-5519-2024, 2024
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Inspired by a previous intercomparison framework, our study better constrains uncertainties in glacier evolution using an innovative method to validate Bayesian calibration. Upernavik Isstrøm, one of Greenland's largest glaciers, has lost significant mass since 1985. By integrating observational data, climate models, human emissions, and internal model parameters, we project its evolution until 2100. We show that future human emissions are the main source of uncertainty in 2100, making up half.
Dominique Raynaud, Qiuzhen Yin, Emilie Capron, Zhipeng Wu, Frédéric Parrenin, André Berger, and Vladimir Lipenkov
Clim. Past, 20, 1269–1282, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-1269-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-1269-2024, 2024
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There is a lack of reconstructions from Antarctic ice cores of the temperature during the summer, a critical season in terms of solar energy received, preventing a good understanding of the link between Antarctic past climate and astronomically induced insolation changes. Here, the variations in total air content in an Antarctic ice core are found to be correlated to local summer temperatures simulated with a climate model. This tracer can be used to reconstruct past local summer temperatures.
Marie Bouchet, Amaëlle Landais, Antoine Grisart, Frédéric Parrenin, Frédéric Prié, Roxanne Jacob, Elise Fourré, Emilie Capron, Dominique Raynaud, Vladimir Ya Lipenkov, Marie-France Loutre, Thomas Extier, Anders Svensson, Etienne Legrain, Patricia Martinerie, Markus Leuenberger, Wei Jiang, Florian Ritterbusch, Zheng-Tian Lu, and Guo-Min Yang
Clim. Past, 19, 2257–2286, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-2257-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-2257-2023, 2023
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A new federative chronology for five deep polar ice cores retrieves 800 000 years of past climate variations with improved accuracy. Precise ice core timescales are key to studying the mechanisms linking changes in the Earth’s orbit to the diverse climatic responses (temperature and atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations). To construct the chronology, new measurements from the oldest continuous ice core as well as glaciological modeling estimates were combined in a statistical model.
Marie G. P. Cavitte, Hugues Goosse, Kenichi Matsuoka, Sarah Wauthy, Vikram Goel, Rahul Dey, Bhanu Pratap, Brice Van Liefferinge, Thamban Meloth, and Jean-Louis Tison
The Cryosphere, 17, 4779–4795, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-4779-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-4779-2023, 2023
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The net accumulation of snow over Antarctica is key for assessing current and future sea-level rise. Ice cores record a noisy snowfall signal to verify model simulations. We find that ice core net snowfall is biased to lower values for ice rises and the Dome Fuji site (Antarctica), while the relative uncertainty in measuring snowfall increases rapidly with distance away from the ice core sites at the ice rises but not at Dome Fuji. Spatial variation in snowfall must therefore be considered.
Zhuo Wang, Ailsa Chung, Daniel Steinhage, Frédéric Parrenin, Johannes Freitag, and Olaf Eisen
The Cryosphere, 17, 4297–4314, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-4297-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-4297-2023, 2023
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We combine radar-based observed internal layer stratigraphy of the ice sheet with a 1-D ice flow model in the Dome Fuji region. This results in maps of age and age density of the basal ice, the basal thermal conditions, and reconstructed accumulation rates. Based on modeled age we then identify four potential candidates for ice which is potentially 1.5 Myr old. Our map of basal thermal conditions indicates that melting prevails over the presence of stagnant ice in the study area.
Emily A. Hill, Benoît Urruty, Ronja Reese, Julius Garbe, Olivier Gagliardini, Gaël Durand, Fabien Gillet-Chaulet, G. Hilmar Gudmundsson, Ricarda Winkelmann, Mondher Chekki, David Chandler, and Petra M. Langebroek
The Cryosphere, 17, 3739–3759, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3739-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3739-2023, 2023
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The grounding lines of the Antarctic Ice Sheet could enter phases of irreversible retreat or advance. We use three ice sheet models to show that the present-day locations of Antarctic grounding lines are reversible with respect to a small perturbation away from their current position. This indicates that present-day retreat of the grounding lines is not yet irreversible or self-enhancing.
Ronja Reese, Julius Garbe, Emily A. Hill, Benoît Urruty, Kaitlin A. Naughten, Olivier Gagliardini, Gaël Durand, Fabien Gillet-Chaulet, G. Hilmar Gudmundsson, David Chandler, Petra M. Langebroek, and Ricarda Winkelmann
The Cryosphere, 17, 3761–3783, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3761-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3761-2023, 2023
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We use an ice sheet model to test where current climate conditions in Antarctica might lead. We find that present-day ocean and atmosphere conditions might commit an irreversible collapse of parts of West Antarctica which evolves over centuries to millennia. Importantly, this collapse is not irreversible yet.
Ailsa Chung, Frédéric Parrenin, Daniel Steinhage, Robert Mulvaney, Carlos Martín, Marie G. P. Cavitte, David A. Lilien, Veit Helm, Drew Taylor, Prasad Gogineni, Catherine Ritz, Massimo Frezzotti, Charles O'Neill, Heinrich Miller, Dorthe Dahl-Jensen, and Olaf Eisen
The Cryosphere, 17, 3461–3483, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3461-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3461-2023, 2023
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We combined a numerical model with radar measurements in order to determine the age of ice in the Dome C region of Antarctica. Our results show that at the current ice core drilling sites on Little Dome C, the maximum age of the ice is almost 1.5 Ma. We also highlight a new potential drill site called North Patch with ice up to 2 Ma. Finally, we explore the nature of a stagnant ice layer at the base of the ice sheet which has been independently observed and modelled but is not well understood.
Benoit S. Lecavalier, Lev Tarasov, Greg Balco, Perry Spector, Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand, Christo Buizert, Catherine Ritz, Marion Leduc-Leballeur, Robert Mulvaney, Pippa L. Whitehouse, Michael J. Bentley, and Jonathan Bamber
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 3573–3596, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3573-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3573-2023, 2023
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The Antarctic Ice Sheet Evolution constraint database version 2 (AntICE2) consists of a large variety of observations that constrain the evolution of the Antarctic Ice Sheet over the last glacial cycle. This includes observations of past ice sheet extent, past ice thickness, past relative sea level, borehole temperature profiles, and present-day bedrock displacement rates. The database is intended to improve our understanding of past Antarctic changes and for ice sheet model calibrations.
Alice C. Frémand, Peter Fretwell, Julien A. Bodart, Hamish D. Pritchard, Alan Aitken, Jonathan L. Bamber, Robin Bell, Cesidio Bianchi, Robert G. Bingham, Donald D. Blankenship, Gino Casassa, Ginny Catania, Knut Christianson, Howard Conway, Hugh F. J. Corr, Xiangbin Cui, Detlef Damaske, Volkmar Damm, Reinhard Drews, Graeme Eagles, Olaf Eisen, Hannes Eisermann, Fausto Ferraccioli, Elena Field, René Forsberg, Steven Franke, Shuji Fujita, Yonggyu Gim, Vikram Goel, Siva Prasad Gogineni, Jamin Greenbaum, Benjamin Hills, Richard C. A. Hindmarsh, Andrew O. Hoffman, Per Holmlund, Nicholas Holschuh, John W. Holt, Annika N. Horlings, Angelika Humbert, Robert W. Jacobel, Daniela Jansen, Adrian Jenkins, Wilfried Jokat, Tom Jordan, Edward King, Jack Kohler, William Krabill, Mette Kusk Gillespie, Kirsty Langley, Joohan Lee, German Leitchenkov, Carlton Leuschen, Bruce Luyendyk, Joseph MacGregor, Emma MacKie, Kenichi Matsuoka, Mathieu Morlighem, Jérémie Mouginot, Frank O. Nitsche, Yoshifumi Nogi, Ole A. Nost, John Paden, Frank Pattyn, Sergey V. Popov, Eric Rignot, David M. Rippin, Andrés Rivera, Jason Roberts, Neil Ross, Anotonia Ruppel, Dustin M. Schroeder, Martin J. Siegert, Andrew M. Smith, Daniel Steinhage, Michael Studinger, Bo Sun, Ignazio Tabacco, Kirsty Tinto, Stefano Urbini, David Vaughan, Brian C. Welch, Douglas S. Wilson, Duncan A. Young, and Achille Zirizzotti
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 2695–2710, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-2695-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-2695-2023, 2023
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This paper presents the release of over 60 years of ice thickness, bed elevation, and surface elevation data acquired over Antarctica by the international community. These data are a crucial component of the Antarctic Bedmap initiative which aims to produce a new map and datasets of Antarctic ice thickness and bed topography for the international glaciology and geophysical community.
Kristian Chan, Cyril Grima, Anja Rutishauser, Duncan A. Young, Riley Culberg, and Donald D. Blankenship
The Cryosphere, 17, 1839–1852, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1839-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1839-2023, 2023
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Climate warming has led to more surface meltwater produced on glaciers that can refreeze in firn to form ice layers. Our work evaluates the use of dual-frequency ice-penetrating radar to characterize these ice layers on the Devon Ice Cap. Results indicate that they are meters thick and widespread, and thus capable of supporting lateral meltwater runoff from the top of ice layers. We find that some of this meltwater runoff could be routed through supraglacial rivers in the ablation zone.
Robert Mulvaney, Eric W. Wolff, Mackenzie M. Grieman, Helene H. Hoffmann, Jack D. Humby, Christoph Nehrbass-Ahles, Rachael H. Rhodes, Isobel F. Rowell, Frédéric Parrenin, Loïc Schmidely, Hubertus Fischer, Thomas F. Stocker, Marcus Christl, Raimund Muscheler, Amaelle Landais, and Frédéric Prié
Clim. Past, 19, 851–864, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-851-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-851-2023, 2023
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We present an age scale for a new ice core drilled at Skytrain Ice Rise, an ice rise facing the Ronne Ice Shelf in Antarctica. Various measurements in the ice and air phases are used to match the ice core to other Antarctic cores that have already been dated, and a new age scale is constructed. The 651 m ice core includes ice that is confidently dated to 117 000–126 000 years ago, in the last interglacial. Older ice is found deeper down, but there are flow disturbances in the deeper ice.
Julien A. Bodart, Robert G. Bingham, Duncan A. Young, Joseph A. MacGregor, David W. Ashmore, Enrica Quartini, Andrew S. Hein, David G. Vaughan, and Donald D. Blankenship
The Cryosphere, 17, 1497–1512, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1497-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1497-2023, 2023
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Estimating how West Antarctica will change in response to future climatic change depends on our understanding of past ice processes. Here, we use a reflector widely visible on airborne radar data across West Antarctica to estimate accumulation rates over the past 4700 years. By comparing our estimates with current atmospheric data, we find that accumulation rates were 18 % greater than modern rates. This has implications for our understanding of past ice processes in the region.
Ikumi Oyabu, Kenji Kawamura, Shuji Fujita, Ryo Inoue, Hideaki Motoyama, Kotaro Fukui, Motohiro Hirabayashi, Yu Hoshina, Naoyuki Kurita, Fumio Nakazawa, Hiroshi Ohno, Konosuke Sugiura, Toshitaka Suzuki, Shun Tsutaki, Ayako Abe-Ouchi, Masashi Niwano, Frédéric Parrenin, Fuyuki Saito, and Masakazu Yoshimori
Clim. Past, 19, 293–321, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-293-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-293-2023, 2023
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We reconstructed accumulation rate around Dome Fuji, Antarctica, over the last 5000 years from 15 shallow ice cores and seven snow pits. We found a long-term decreasing trend in the preindustrial period, which may be associated with secular surface cooling and sea ice expansion. Centennial-scale variations were also found, which may partly be related to combinations of volcanic, solar and greenhouse gas forcings. The most rapid and intense increases of accumulation rate occurred since 1850 CE.
M. Reza Ershadi, Reinhard Drews, Carlos Martín, Olaf Eisen, Catherine Ritz, Hugh Corr, Julia Christmann, Ole Zeising, Angelika Humbert, and Robert Mulvaney
The Cryosphere, 16, 1719–1739, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-1719-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-1719-2022, 2022
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Radio waves transmitted through ice split up and inform us about the ice sheet interior and orientation of single ice crystals. This can be used to infer how ice flows and improve projections on how it will evolve in the future. Here we used an inverse approach and developed a new algorithm to infer ice properties from observed radar data. We applied this technique to the radar data obtained at two EPICA drilling sites, where ice cores were used to validate our results.
Anja Rutishauser, Donald D. Blankenship, Duncan A. Young, Natalie S. Wolfenbarger, Lucas H. Beem, Mark L. Skidmore, Ashley Dubnick, and Alison S. Criscitiello
The Cryosphere, 16, 379–395, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-379-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-379-2022, 2022
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Recently, a hypersaline subglacial lake complex was hypothesized to lie beneath Devon Ice Cap, Canadian Arctic. Here, we present results from a follow-on targeted aerogeophysical survey. Our results support the evidence for a hypersaline subglacial lake and reveal an extensive brine network, suggesting more complex subglacial hydrological conditions than previously inferred. This hypersaline system may host microbial habitats, making it a compelling analog for bines on other icy worlds.
Anna Derkacheva, Fabien Gillet-Chaulet, Jeremie Mouginot, Eliot Jager, Nathan Maier, and Samuel Cook
The Cryosphere, 15, 5675–5704, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-5675-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-5675-2021, 2021
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Along the edges of the Greenland Ice Sheet surface melt lubricates the bed and causes large seasonal fluctuations in ice speeds during summer. Accurately understanding how these ice speed changes occur is difficult due to the inaccessibility of the glacier bed. We show that by using surface velocity maps with high temporal resolution and numerical modelling we can infer the basal conditions that control seasonal fluctuations in ice speed and gain insight into seasonal dynamics over large areas.
Marie G. P. Cavitte, Duncan A. Young, Robert Mulvaney, Catherine Ritz, Jamin S. Greenbaum, Gregory Ng, Scott D. Kempf, Enrica Quartini, Gail R. Muldoon, John Paden, Massimo Frezzotti, Jason L. Roberts, Carly R. Tozer, Dustin M. Schroeder, and Donald D. Blankenship
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 4759–4777, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-4759-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-4759-2021, 2021
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We present a data set consisting of ice-penetrating-radar internal stratigraphy: 26 internal reflecting horizons that cover the greater Dome C area, East Antarctica, the most extensive IRH data set to date in the region. This data set uses radar surveys collected over the span of 10 years, starting with an airborne international collaboration in 2008 to explore the region, up to the detailed ground-based surveys in support of the European Beyond EPICA – Oldest Ice (BE-OI) project.
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Short summary
Locating a suitable drill site is a key step in the Antarctic oldest-ice challenge. Here we have conducted a 3-D ice flow simulation in the region of Dome C using a refined bedrock description. Five selection criteria are computed that together provide an objective overview on the local ice flow conditions. We delineate kilometer-scale favorable areas that overlap with the ones recently proposed by another group. We propose a few drill sites that should be surveyed during the next field seasons.
Locating a suitable drill site is a key step in the Antarctic oldest-ice challenge. Here we have...
