Articles | Volume 18, issue 3
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1467-2024
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1467-2024
Research article
 | Highlight paper
 | 
28 Mar 2024
Research article | Highlight paper |  | 28 Mar 2024

Subglacial valleys preserved in the highlands of south and east Greenland record restricted ice extent during past warmer climates

Guy J. G. Paxman, Stewart S. R. Jamieson, Aisling M. Dolan, and Michael J. Bentley

Related authors

Extensive palaeo-surfaces beneath the Evans–Rutford region of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet control modern and past ice flow
Charlotte M. Carter, Michael J. Bentley, Stewart S. R. Jamieson, Guy J. G. Paxman, Tom A. Jordan, Julien A. Bodart, Neil Ross, and Felipe Napoleoni
The Cryosphere, 18, 2277–2296, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2277-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2277-2024, 2024
Short summary
Subglacial lakes and hydrology across the Ellsworth Subglacial Highlands, West Antarctica
Felipe Napoleoni, Stewart S. R. Jamieson, Neil Ross, Michael J. Bentley, Andrés Rivera, Andrew M. Smith, Martin J. Siegert, Guy J. G. Paxman, Guisella Gacitúa, José A. Uribe, Rodrigo Zamora, Alex M. Brisbourne, and David G. Vaughan
The Cryosphere, 14, 4507–4524, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-4507-2020,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-4507-2020, 2020
Short summary

Related subject area

Discipline: Ice sheets | Subject: Greenland
Coupling MAR (Modèle Atmosphérique Régional) with PISM (Parallel Ice Sheet Model) mitigates the positive melt–elevation feedback
Alison Delhasse, Johanna Beckmann, Christoph Kittel, and Xavier Fettweis
The Cryosphere, 18, 633–651, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-633-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-633-2024, 2024
Short summary
Cloud- and ice-albedo feedbacks drive greater Greenland Ice Sheet sensitivity to warming in CMIP6 than in CMIP5
Idunn Aamnes Mostue, Stefan Hofer, Trude Storelvmo, and Xavier Fettweis
The Cryosphere, 18, 475–488, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-475-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-475-2024, 2024
Short summary
Evaluating different geothermal heat-flow maps as basal boundary conditions during spin-up of the Greenland ice sheet
Tong Zhang, William Colgan, Agnes Wansing, Anja Løkkegaard, Gunter Leguy, William H. Lipscomb, and Cunde Xiao
The Cryosphere, 18, 387–402, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-387-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-387-2024, 2024
Short summary
Seasonal evolution of the supraglacial drainage network at Humboldt Glacier, northern Greenland, between 2016 and 2020
Lauren D. Rawlins, David M. Rippin, Andrew J. Sole, Stephen J. Livingstone, and Kang Yang
The Cryosphere, 17, 4729–4750, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-4729-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-4729-2023, 2023
Short summary
Choice of observation type affects Bayesian calibration of Greenland Ice Sheet model simulations
Denis Felikson, Sophie Nowicki, Isabel Nias, Beata Csatho, Anton Schenk, Michael J. Croteau, and Bryant Loomis
The Cryosphere, 17, 4661–4673, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-4661-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-4661-2023, 2023
Short summary

Cited articles

Alley, R. B., Pollard, D., Parizek, B. R., Anandakrishnan, S., Pourpoint, M., Stevens, N. T., MacGregor, J. A., Christianson, K., Muto, A., and Holschuh, N.: Possible Role for Tectonics in the Evolving Stability of the Greenland Ice Sheet, J. Geophys. Res.-Earth, 124, 97–115, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JF004714, 2019. 
Aschwanden, A. and Brinkerhoff, D. J.: Calibrated mass loss projections from the Greenland Ice Sheet, Geophys. Res. Lett., 49, e2022GL099058, https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL099058, 2022. 
Aschwanden, A., Bueler, E., Khroulev, C., and Blatter, H.: An enthalpy formulation for glaciers and ice sheets, J. Glaciol., 58, 441–457, https://doi.org/10.3189/2012JoG11J088, 2012. 
Bailey, I., Hole, G. M., Foster, G. L., Wilson, P. A., Storey, C. D., Trueman, C. N., and Raymo, M. E.: An alternative suggestion for the Pliocene onset of major northern hemisphere glaciation based on the geochemical provenance of North Atlantic Ocean ice-rafted debris, Quaternary Sci. Rev., 75, 181–194, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2013.06.004, 2013. 
Ballantyne, A. P., Greenwood, D. R., Sinninghe Damsté, J. S., Csank, A. Z., Eberle, J. J., and Rybczynski, N.: Significantly warmer Arctic surface temperatures during the Pliocene indicated by multiple independent proxies, Geology, 38, 603–606, https://doi.org/10.1130/G30815.1, 2010. 
Download
Co-editor-in-chief
The history and extent of the Greenland ice sheet is a widely debated and poorly understood question. In this study, the authors show that the childhood of the Greenland ice sheet took place in the southern and eastern highlands of Greenland, and further suggest that the continental ice sheet we observe today first emerged between 7 million years and 2.6 million years ago.
Short summary
This study uses airborne radar data and satellite imagery to map mountainous topography hidden beneath the Greenland Ice Sheet. We find that the landscape records the former extent and configuration of ice masses that were restricted to areas of high topography. Computer models of ice flow indicate that valley glaciers eroded this landscape millions of years ago when local air temperatures were at least 4 °C higher than today and Greenland’s ice volume was < 10 % of that of the modern ice sheet.