Holocene history of the 79° N ice shelf reconstructed from epishelf lake and uplifted glaciomarine sediments
James A. Smith,Louise Callard,Michael J. Bentley,Stewart S. R. Jamieson,Maria Luisa Sánchez-Montes,Timothy P. Lane,Jeremy M. Lloyd,Erin L. McClymont,Christopher M. Darvill,Brice R. Rea,Colm O'Cofaigh,Pauline Gulliver,Werner Ehrmann,Richard S. Jones,and David H. Roberts
The Greenland Ice Sheet is melting at an accelerating rate. To understand the significance of these changes we reconstruct the history of one of its fringing ice shelves, known as 79° N ice shelf. We show that the ice shelf disappeared 8500 years ago, following a period of enhanced warming. An important implication of our study is that 79° N ice shelf is susceptible to collapse when atmospheric and ocean temperatures are ~2°C warmer than present, which could occur by the middle of this century.
The Greenland Ice Sheet is melting at an accelerating rate. To understand the significance of...