Johnson, J.S. and Bentley, M.J. and Smith, J.A. and Finkel, R.C. and Rood, D.H. and Gohl, K. and Balco, G. and Larter, R.D. and Schaefer, J.M. (2014) 'Rapid thinning of Pine Island Glacier in the early Holocene.', Science., 343 (6174). pp. 999-1001.
Abstract
Pine Island Glacier, a major outlet of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, has been undergoing rapid thinning and retreat for the past two decades. We demonstrate, using glacial-geological and geochronological data, that Pine Island Glacier (PIG) also experienced rapid thinning during the early Holocene, around 8000 years ago. Cosmogenic 10Be concentrations in glacially transported rocks show that this thinning was sustained for decades to centuries at an average rate of more than 100 centimeters per year, which is comparable with contemporary thinning rates. The most likely mechanism was a reduction in ice shelf buttressing. Our findings reveal that PIG has experienced rapid thinning at least once in the past and that, once set in motion, rapid ice sheet changes in this region can persist for centuries.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Full text: | (AM) Accepted Manuscript Download PDF (1095Kb) |
| Status: | Peer-reviewed |
| Publisher Web site: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1247385 |
| Publisher statement: | This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of the AAAS for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Science 343, 2014, doi: 10.1126/science.1247385. |
| Date accepted: | 05 February 2014 |
| Date deposited: | 18 June 2014 |
| Date of first online publication: | 20 February 2014 |
| Date first made open access: | No date available |
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