A reconciled solution of Meltwater Pulse 1A sources using sea-level fingerprinting

Lin, Y.; Hibbert, F.; Whitehouse, P.; Woodroffe, S.; Purcell, A.; Shennan, I.; Bradley, S.

doi:10.1038/s41467-021-21990-y

A reconciled solution of Meltwater Pulse 1A sources using sea-level fingerprinting

Lin, Y.; Hibbert, F.; Whitehouse, P.; Woodroffe, S.; Purcell, A.; Shennan, I.; Bradley, S.

Authors

Yucheng Lin yucheng.lin@durham.ac.uk
PGR Student Doctor of Philosophy

F. Hibbert

Professor Pippa Whitehouse pippa.whitehouse@durham.ac.uk
Professor

Professor Sarah Woodroffe s.a.woodroffe@durham.ac.uk
Professor

A. Purcell

Professor Ian Shennan ian.shennan@durham.ac.uk
Emeritus Professor

S. Bradley

Abstract

The most rapid global sea-level rise event of the last deglaciation, Meltwater Pulse 1A (MWP-1A), occurred ∼14,650 years ago. Considerable uncertainty regarding the sources of meltwater limits understanding of the relationship between MWP-1A and the concurrent fast-changing climate. Here we present a data-driven inversion approach, using a glacio-isostatic adjustment model to invert for the sources of MWP-1A via sea-level constraints from six geographically distributed sites. The results suggest contributions from Antarctica, 1.3 m (0–5.9 m; 95% probability), Scandinavia, 4.6 m (3.2–6.4 m) and North America, 12.0 m (5.6–15.4 m), giving a global mean sea-level rise of 17.9 m (15.7–20.2 m) in 500 years. Only a North American dominant scenario successfully predicts the observed sea-level change across our six sites and an Antarctic dominant scenario is firmly refuted by Scottish isolation basin records. Our sea-level based results therefore reconcile with field-based ice-sheet reconstructions.

Citation

Lin, Y., Hibbert, F., Whitehouse, P., Woodroffe, S., Purcell, A., Shennan, I., & Bradley, S. (2021). A reconciled solution of Meltwater Pulse 1A sources using sea-level fingerprinting. Nature Communications, 12, Article 2015. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-21990-y

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Jan 22, 2021
Online Publication Date	Apr 1, 2021
Publication Date	2021
Deposit Date	Mar 15, 2021
Publicly Available Date	Apr 8, 2021
Journal	Nature Communications
Publisher	Nature Research
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	12
Article Number	2015
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-21990-y

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