Articles | Volume 17, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1787-2023
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1787-2023
Research article
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28 Apr 2023
Research article | Highlight paper |  | 28 Apr 2023

Reversible ice sheet thinning in the Amundsen Sea Embayment during the Late Holocene

Greg Balco, Nathan Brown, Keir Nichols, Ryan A. Venturelli, Jonathan Adams, Scott Braddock, Seth Campbell, Brent Goehring, Joanne S. Johnson, Dylan H. Rood, Klaus Wilcken, Brenda Hall, and John Woodward

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Cited articles

Adams, J. R., Johnson, J. S., Roberts, S. J., Mason, P. J., Nichols, K. A., Venturelli, R. A., Wilcken, K., Balco, G., Goehring, B., Hall, B., Woodward, J., and Rood, D. H.: New 10Be exposure ages improve Holocene ice sheet thinning history near the grounding line of Pope Glacier, Antarctica, The Cryosphere, 16, 4887–4905, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4887-2022, 2022. a, b, c
Aitken, M. J.: Introduction to optical dating: the dating of Quaternary sediments by the use of photon-stimulated luminescence, Clarendon Press, ISBN 0-19-85-4092-2, 1998. a
Balco, G.: Production rate calculations for cosmic-ray-muon-produced 10Be and 26Al benchmarked against geological calibration data, Quat. Geochronol., 39, 150–173, 2017. a, b
Balco, G., Stone, J. O., Lifton, N. A., and Dunai, T. J.: A complete and easily accessible means of calculating surface exposure ages or erosion rates from 10Be and 26Al measurements, Quat. Geochronol., 3, 174–195, 2008. a
Balco, G., Schaefer, J. M., and the LARISSA group: Exposure-age record of Holocene ice sheet and ice shelf change in the northeast Antarctic Peninsula, Quaternary Sci. Rev., 59, 101–111, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2012.10.022, 2013. a
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Co-editor-in-chief
In recent years there has been growing concern about the potentially irreversible retreat of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and Thwaites Glacier in particular causing deglaciation of large parts of the ice sheet and leading to substantial sea-level rise. This study demonstrates that a site between Thwaites and Pope glaciers has undergone ice-sheet thinning and subsequent thickening in the past. The results are of importance for a better understanding of future threats to the stability of the West Antarctic ice sheet, and the ice-sheet evolution in the Amundsen sector over the late Holocene.
Short summary
Samples of bedrock recovered from below the West Antarctic Ice Sheet show that part of the ice sheet was thinner several thousand years ago than it is now and subsequently thickened. This is important because of concern that present ice thinning in this region may lead to rapid, irreversible sea level rise. The past episode of thinning at this site that took place in a similar, although not identical, climate was not irreversible; however, reversal required at least 3000 years to complete.