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Project
Combining geological constraints and modelling to reconstruct the Late Quaternary climate and sea-level history in Dronning Maud Land and Princess Elizabeth Land, East Antarctica (FWOAL971)
The East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS) is probably the largest unknown in identifying regional contributions to the global budget of postglacial sea-level rise. Given the huge volume of the EAIS and indications of
a more dynamic behaviour than often assumed, this information is crucial for estimating its contribution to future sea-level changes. The overall objective is to improve our understanding of the climatic and glacial history of the EAIS since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) by combining field constraints with comprehensive modelling tools. First, we fill gaps in the paleoclimate record of coastal East Antarctica to better reconstruct its Late-Quaternary climate variability. We will generate well-dated, high-resolution records by analysing new and well-established biological and biogeochemical proxies in lake and marine sediments. Second, we will develop new relative sea level curves by dating marine-freshwater and freshwater-marine transitions in sediment cores from isolation lakes and shallow marine basins. Third, we will use the field constraints to tune a suite of coupled 3-D ice sheet and glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) models; output from the model will be used to determine the Antarctic GIA response and the results will be compared with the relative sea-level records. Combining modelling and field data in this way will allow us to place tighter constraints on the ice-sheet history and hence the climate conditions that have driven ice sheet change since the LGM
a more dynamic behaviour than often assumed, this information is crucial for estimating its contribution to future sea-level changes. The overall objective is to improve our understanding of the climatic and glacial history of the EAIS since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) by combining field constraints with comprehensive modelling tools. First, we fill gaps in the paleoclimate record of coastal East Antarctica to better reconstruct its Late-Quaternary climate variability. We will generate well-dated, high-resolution records by analysing new and well-established biological and biogeochemical proxies in lake and marine sediments. Second, we will develop new relative sea level curves by dating marine-freshwater and freshwater-marine transitions in sediment cores from isolation lakes and shallow marine basins. Third, we will use the field constraints to tune a suite of coupled 3-D ice sheet and glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) models; output from the model will be used to determine the Antarctic GIA response and the results will be compared with the relative sea-level records. Combining modelling and field data in this way will allow us to place tighter constraints on the ice-sheet history and hence the climate conditions that have driven ice sheet change since the LGM
Date:1 Jan 2020 → 31 Dec 2023
Keywords:Ice sheet modeling, relative sea level change, paleoclimate change
Disciplines:Geomorphology and landscape evolution, Geophysics not elsewhere classified, Glaciology, Palaeoclimatology