Articles | Volume 17, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1497-2023
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1497-2023
Research article
 | 
06 Apr 2023
Research article |  | 06 Apr 2023

High mid-Holocene accumulation rates over West Antarctica inferred from a pervasive ice-penetrating radar reflector

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

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Cited articles

Arndt, J. E., Hillenbrand, C. D., Grobe, H., Kuhn, G., and Wacker, L.: Evidence for a dynamic grounding line in outer Filchner Trough, Antarctica, until the early Holocene, Geology, 45, 1035–1038, https://doi.org/10.1130/G39398.1, 2017. 
Ashmore, D. W., Bingham, R. G., Ross, N., Siegert, M. J., Jordan, T. A., and Mair, D. W.: Englacial architecture and age-depth constraints across the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, Geophys. Res. Lett., 47, e2019GL086663, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL086663, 2020a. 
Ashmore, D. W., Bingham, R. G., Ross, N., Siegert, M., Jordan, T. A., and Mair, D. W. F.: Radiostratigraphy of the Weddell Sea sector of West Antarctica, v2.0.0, Zenodo [data set], https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4945301, 2020b. 
Balco, G., Brown, N., Nichols, K., Venturelli, R. A., Adams, J., Braddock, S., Campbell, S., Goehring, B., Johnson, J. S., Rood, D. H., Wilcken, K., Hall, B., and Woodward, J.: Reversible ice sheet thinning in the Amundsen Sea Embayment during the Late Holocene, The Cryosphere Discuss. [preprint], https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2022-172, in review, 2022. 
Beem, L. H., Young, D. A., Greenbaum, J. S., Blankenship, D. D., Cavitte, M. G. P., Guo, J., and Bo, S.: Aerogeophysical characterization of Titan Dome, East Antarctica, and potential as an ice core target, The Cryosphere, 15, 1719–1730, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1719-2021, 2021. 
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Short summary
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.