Initiation of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and estimates of total Antarctic ice volume in the earliest Oligocene

Wilson, D.S.; Pollard, D.; DeConto, R.; Jamieson, S.S.R.; Luyendyk, B.P.

doi:10.1002/grl.50797

Initiation of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and estimates of total Antarctic ice volume in the earliest Oligocene

Wilson, D.S.; Pollard, D.; DeConto, R.; Jamieson, S.S.R.; Luyendyk, B.P.

Authors

D.S. Wilson

D. Pollard

R. DeConto

Professor Stewart Jamieson stewart.jamieson@durham.ac.uk
Professor

B.P. Luyendyk

Abstract

Reconstructions of Antarctic paleotopography for the late Eocene suggest that glacial erosion and thermal subsidence have lowered West Antarctic elevations considerably since then, with Antarctic land area having decreased ~20%. A new climate-ice sheet model based on these reconstructions shows that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet first formed at the Eocene-Oligocene transition (33.8–33.5 Ma, E-O) in concert with the continental-scale expansion of the East Antarctica Ice Sheet and that the total volume of East and West Antarctic ice (33.4–35.9 × 106 km3) was >1.4 times greater than previously assumed. This larger modeled ice volume is consistent with a modest cooling of 1–2°C in the deep ocean during the E-O transition, lower than other estimates of ~3°C cooling, and suggests the possibility of substantial ice in the Antarctic interior before the Eocene-Oligocene boundary.

Citation

Wilson, D., Pollard, D., DeConto, R., Jamieson, S., & Luyendyk, B. (2013). Initiation of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and estimates of total Antarctic ice volume in the earliest Oligocene. Geophysical Research Letters, 40(16), 4305-4309. https://doi.org/10.1002/grl.50797

Journal Article Type	Article
Publication Date	Jan 1, 2013
Deposit Date	Jul 30, 2013
Publicly Available Date	Jan 9, 2014
Journal	Geophysical Research Letters
Print ISSN	0094-8276
Electronic ISSN	1944-8007
Publisher	Wiley
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	40
Issue	16
Pages	4305-4309
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1002/grl.50797
Keywords	Antarctic, Ice sheet, Oligocene.

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Copyright Statement
Wilson, D.S. and Pollard, D. and DeConto, R. and Jamieson, S.S.R. and Luyendyk, B.P. (2013), 'Initiation of the West Antarctic ice sheet and estimates of total Antarctic ice volume in the earliest Oligocene.', Geophysical research letters., 40 (16), 10.1002/grl.50797. To view the published open abstract, go to http://dx.doi.org and enter the DOI.