Nature of the Antarctic Peninsula Ice Sheet during the Pliocene: geological evidence and modelling results compared

Smellie, John L.
Haywood, Alan M.
Hillenbrand, Claus-Dieter
Lunt, Daniel J.
Valdes, Paul J.

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Publication date

January 2009

DOI

10.1016/j.earscirev.2009.03.005

Publisher

Elsevier BV

ISSN

0012-8252

Citation count (estimate)

Abstract

In this paper, we examine the nature of the Pliocene Antarctic Peninsula Ice Sheet by comparing the terrestrial and marine geological records of the Antarctic Peninsula and surrounding sea floor with estimated net snow accumulation in the region derived from numerical palaeoclimate model experiments. Pliocene geological data and our new modelling results are consistent and mutually supportive in suggesting that an ice sheet was present even during the warmest episodes of the Pliocene. The combined results suggest that the ice sheet in the Antarctic Peninsula is more robust to globally warmer conditions than is generally assumed, at least up to the climatic limits examined in our study. Crown Copyright (C) 2009 Published by Elsevier B.V. All...