Hall et al investigate the timing of the retreat of the southeastern Laurentide Ice Sheet from Maine using a large collection of new cosmogenic dates. They conclude the deglaciation was rapid, between 17-15 ka. They attribute summer warming to be the cause of the rapid retreat.
#ClimateChange #Paleoclimate #Icesheets #Maine #LaurentideIceSheet #Geology
Webster et al present new sea level indicator points from the Great Barrier Reef in Australia from the Early Holocene. They find little support for the so-called "Meltwater Pulse 1B", a hypothesized >11 m sea level rise in 350 years.
Bedrock analysis reveals evidence for lost mountains from Antarctica’s past…
A new study advances the understanding of the geologic history of Transantarctic Mountains bedrock, with implications for understanding the evolution of landscapes lying beneath the #icesheets covering #Antarctica...
Collin et al investigate the genetics of Late Pleistocene horses in North America and Beringia. One interesting finding is how the initial migration of horses through the "ice free corridor" between the Cordillera and Laurentide ice sheets was delayed after initial deglaciation.
Fatourou et al use biological proxies to investigate the connection of the Gulf of Corinth in Greece with the Mediterranean Sea during the Middle and Late Pleistocene. The connection for the past 400,000 years has been through the western Rion Sill, which is currently at 60 m depth.
During glacial periods, sea level fell sufficiently to isolate the Gulf of Corinth from the Mediterranean Sea. Therefore, this record can be used as a way to estimate global ice volume. The major glacial periods of MIS 18, 14, 8, 6, 4 and 2 show a complete isolation of the Gulf.
The major interglacials of MIS 17, 13, 11 and 9 indicate fully connected conditions. MIS 7 shows fluctuations, indicating that ice volume varied. This is perhaps not surprising, since there is a large interruption in MIS 7 with a sharp rise in δ¹⁸O in the marine records, likely a brief glaciation.
During MIS 5, there is also fluctuations, with evidence of isolation during the MIS 5b stadial. During MIS 3, there is evidence that sea level must have risen enough that there was periodically a connection with the Mediterranean Sea (i.e. sea level > -60 m).
Obviously, pin-pointing a specific sea level from these data is difficult, since the height of the sill likely varied due to tectonics, and the "connection" based on these proxies probably does not depend precisely on sea level being above or below -60 m.
Andersen et al investigate the in-situ cosmogenic isotopes from Gaustatoppen Mountain in southern Norway. The amount of cosmogenic isotopes in the rocks can be used to tell how long the mountain was buried by ice from the Scandinavian Ice Sheet.
They conclude based on ¹⁴C, they conclude the mountain was covered for at least 20-25 thousand years during the LGM. The inheritance signature of cosmogenic ²⁶Al and ¹⁰Be indicates a substantial erosional event during the penultimate glacial cycle.
Regnéll et al provide an absolute dating for the "zero year" of the Swedish varve record. The varves are annual layers of sediment deposited in proglacial lakes. This allows for an absolute chronology for events during the deglaciation of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet.
remember those stories about how there was a whole world living underground?
Turns Out, The #Antarctic Ice Sheet Is Hiding An Abundant #Ecosystem https://buff.ly/1tO4TUc
Scientists Reveal What Antarctica Would Look Like With No Ice : ScienceAlert…
Ancient seafloor spreading 15 million years ago caused sea levels to plummet | Live Science…
Today we are witnessing rapid global #sealevelrise attributable mostly to #climate change-driven melting of #icesheets and #glaciers and thermal expansion of seawater. However, sea level change also occurs over millions of years as geological processes gradually reshape Earth's ocean basins... #geology #geologicaltime
Scientists identify tipping point for Greenland’s ice sheet — and it’s not far off | Live Science…
Greenland's ice sheet has been losing a staggering amount of ice at an accelerating rate. A tipping point could come by the turn of the next century... #greenland #icesheets #climatechange #globalwarming
Livescience.com: Alaska’s ice is melting in front of our eyes, staggering satellite shots show…
Unusual weather patterns and climate change have been driving stark changes in the northwestern state. Now, new satellite images show the extent of this transformation... #cimatechange #alaska #icesheets #globalwarming #glaciology
Ice streams move due to tiny ice quakes: Dynamics of Greenland’s ice decrypted…
The great ice streams of the #Antarctic and #Greenland are like frozen rivers, carrying ice from the massive inland ice sheets to the sea... #icequakes #icesheets #sealevelrise
The @H2020PROTECT project is now having it's final annual meeting. We have been working on this #Horizon 2020 project for 4.5 years, and there are some key recommendations in this policy briefing. It's worth reading the whole thing. #Cryosphere #IceSheets #SeaLevelRise
protect-slr.eu/policy-briefs/
Phys.org: How is Antarctica melting, exactly? Crucial details are beginning to come into focus…
The size of the #Antarctic ice sheet can be hard to comprehend. Two kilometers thick on average and covering nearly twice the area of Australia, the ice sheet holds enough freshwater to raise global sea levels by 58 meters... #climatechange #sealevelrise #icesheets
Phys.org: How is Antarctica melting, exactly? Crucial details are beginning to come into focus…
The size of the #Antarctic ice sheet can be hard to comprehend. Two kilometers thick on average and covering nearly twice the area of Australia, the ice sheet holds enough freshwater to raise global sea levels by 58 meters... #climatechange #sealevelrise #icesheets
Melting #Antarctic ice sheets may be causing larger volcanic eruptions
During #deglaciation, melting of kilometers-thick #IceSheets reduces the mass weighing down the land, which leads to #uplift. This alters the pressure inside #magma chambers lying below the Earth's surface, causing #volcanic eruptions.
https://phys.org/news/2025-01-antarctic-ice-sheets-larger-volcanic.html
Antarctica’s melting ice may awaken hidden volcanoes, study warns #Antarctica #Volcanoes #ClimateCrisis #icesheets https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/antarctic-ice-sheet-melting-volcanoes-b2674892.html
Can we survive if the world's glaciers melt?
Deutsche Welle has made a short film that tries to answer the question: can we survive without glaciers? The answer is just about.
Casablanca and Dubai would be flooded. Mumbai would be under water. But humanity could find alternatives to #glaciers as water stores (more dams) and rivers as transport routes (more railways).
South-to-north migration would accelerate and expanding populations would have to co-exist on a shrunken landmass, but at 2 degrees of warming above pre-industrial levels people – and some #glaciers – would survive. At 5-8 degrees all #glaciation would be gone, including the #Greenland and #Antarctic #IceSheets. Then sea levels would rise by 50 metres.
Not coincidentally, the International Court of Justice ends two weeks’ deliberation tomorrow on the obligations of states to fight #ClimateChange. It will send an advisory opinion to the UN next year.
https://www.dw.com/en/can-we-survive-if-the-worlds-glaciers-melt/video-70981925
State of the Cryosphere Report 2024: the report notes a growing scientific consensus that melting Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, among other factors, may be slowing important ocean currents at both poles, with potentially dire consequences for a much colder northern Europe and greater sea-level rise along the U.S. East Coast. #climatechange #icemelt #icesheets #sealevelrise https://iccinet.org/statecryo24/
