Articles | Volume 20, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-2035-2026
© Author(s) 2026. 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-20-2035-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
13 Apr 2026
Research article |
| 13 Apr 2026
| 13 Apr 2026
A thinner-than-present West Antarctic Ice Sheet in the southern Weddell Sea Embayment during the Holocene
Department of Geography, Durham University, Durham, UK
Réka-H. Fülöp
School of Earth, Atmospheric and Life Sciences, University of Wollongong, NSW, Australia
Center for Accelerator Science, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), Lucas Heights 2234, NSW, Australia
Rachel K. Smedley
Department of Geography and Planning, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
Thomas Lees
Department of Geography, Durham University, Durham, UK
Stephan Trabucatti
Department of Geography, Durham University, Durham, UK
3D Drilling, East Grinstead, UK
Derek Fabel
Scottish Universities Environmental Research Center (SUERC), University of Glasgow, East Kilbride, UK
Maria Miguens-Rodriguez
Scottish Universities Environmental Research Center (SUERC), University of Glasgow, East Kilbride, UK
Andrew M. Smith
Center for Accelerator Science, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), Lucas Heights 2234, NSW, Australia
Grant V. Boeckmann
Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
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Short summary
We collected bedrock currently buried by tens of metres of ice from a site in the Weddell Sea Embayment, West Antarctica. Models suggest that the ice sheet here may have been smaller than it is today at some time during the last few thousand years. The presence of rare isotopes in this bedrock requires that ice became thinner before rethickening to its present-day configuration. This fluctuation in the size of the ice sheet occurred within the last ~4000 years and may have lasted only 300 years.
We collected bedrock currently buried by tens of metres of ice from a site in the Weddell Sea...
