Geologically constrained 2-million-year-long simulations of Antarctic Ice Sheet retreat and expansion through the Pliocene.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 39147756.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-024-51205-z and PMC identifier 11327337.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Pliocene global temperatures periodically exceeded modern levels, offering insights into ice sheet sensitivity to warm climates. Ice-proximal geologic records from this period provide crucial but limited glimpses of Antarctic Ice Sheet behavior. We use an ice sheet model driven by climate model snapshots to simulate transient glacial cyclicity from 4.5 to 2.6 Ma, providing spatial and temporal context for geologic records. By evaluating model simulations against a comprehensive synthesis of geologic data, we translate the intermittent geologic record into a continuous reconstruction of Antarctic sea level contributions, revealing a dynamic ice sheet that contributed up to 25 m of glacial-interglacial sea level change. Model grounding line behavior across all major Antarctic catchments exhibits an extended period of receded ice during the mid-Pliocene, coincident with proximal geologic data around Antarctica but earlier than peak warmth in the Northern Hemisphere. Marine ice sheet collapse is triggered with 1.5 °C model subsurface ocean warming.