Publication Date:
2019-08-19
Description:
The international endeavour to retrieve a continuous
ice core, which spans the middle Pleistocene climate
transition ca. 1.2–0.9 Myr ago, encompasses a multitude of
field and model-based pre-site surveys. We expand on the
current efforts to locate a suitable drilling site for the oldest
Antarctic ice core by means of 3-D continental ice-sheet
modelling. To this end, we present an ensemble of ice-sheet
simulations spanning the last 2 Myr, employing transient
boundary conditions derived from climate modelling and climate
proxy records. We discuss the imprint of changing climate
conditions, sea level and geothermal heat flux on the
ice thickness, and basal conditions around previously identified
sites with continuous records of old ice. Our modelling
results show a range of configurational ice-sheet changes
across the middle Pleistocene transition, suggesting a potential
shift of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet to a marine-based
configuration. Despite the middle Pleistocene climate reorganisation
and associated ice-dynamic changes, we identify
several regions conducive to conditions maintaining 1.5 Myr
(million years) old ice, particularly around Dome Fuji, Dome
C and Ridge B, which is in agreement with previous studies.
This finding strengthens the notion that continuous records
with such old ice do exist in previously identified regions,
while we are also providing a dynamic continental ice-sheet
context.
Repository Name:
EPIC Alfred Wegener Institut
Type:
Article
,
isiRev
,
info:eu-repo/semantics/article
Format:
application/pdf
Permalink