Publication Date:
2016-02-02
Description:
While there are numerous hypotheses concerning glacialeinterglacial environmental and climatic
regime shifts in the Arctic Ocean, a holistic view on the Northern Hemisphere’s late Quaternary ice-sheet
extent and their impact on ocean and sea-ice dynamics remains to be established. Here we aim to
provide a step in this direction by presenting an overview of Arctic Ocean glacial history, based on the
present state-of-the-art knowledge gained from field work and chronological studies, and with a specific
focus on ice-sheet extent and environmental conditions during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). The
maximum Quaternary extension of ice sheets is discussed and compared to LGM. We bring together
recent results from the circum-Arctic continental margins and the deep central basin; extent of ice sheets
and ice streams bordering the Arctic Ocean as well as evidence for ice shelves extending into the central
deep basin. Discrepancies between new results and published LGM ice-sheet reconstructions in the high
Arctic are highlighted and outstanding questions are identified. Finally, we address the ability to simulate
the Arctic Ocean ice sheet complexes and their dynamics, including ice streams and ice shelves, using
presently available ice-sheet models. Our review shows that while we are able to firmly reject some of
the earlier hypotheses formulated to describe Arctic Ocean glacial conditions, we still lack information
from key areas to compile the holistic Arctic Ocean glacial history.
Repository Name:
EPIC Alfred Wegener Institut
Type:
Article
,
isiRev
Format:
application/pdf
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