Glacial discharge along the west Antarctic Peninsula during the Holocene
The causes for rising temperatures along the Antarctic Peninsula during the late Holocene have been debated, particularly in light of instrumental records of warming over the past decades. Suggested mechanisms range from upwelling of warm deep waters onto the continental shelf in response to variati...
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Nature Publishing Group
2013
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/31149/ |
| _version_ | 1848794136732237824 |
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| author | Pike, Jennifer Swann, George E.A. Leng, Melanie J. Snelling, Andrea M. |
| author_facet | Pike, Jennifer Swann, George E.A. Leng, Melanie J. Snelling, Andrea M. |
| author_sort | Pike, Jennifer |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | The causes for rising temperatures along the Antarctic Peninsula during the late Holocene have been debated, particularly in light of instrumental records of warming over the past decades. Suggested mechanisms range from upwelling of warm deep waters onto the continental shelf in response to variations in the westerly winds, to an influence of El Niño–Southern Oscillation on sea surface temperatures. Here, we present a record of Holocene glacial ice discharge, derived from the oxygen isotope composition of marine diatoms from Palmer Deep along the west Antarctic Peninsula continental margin. We assess atmospheric versus oceanic influences on glacial discharge at this location, using analyses of diatom geochemistry to reconstruct atmospherically forced glacial ice discharge and diatom assemblage ecology to investigate the oceanic environment. We show that two processes of atmospheric forcing—an increasing occurrence of La Niña events and rising levels of summer insolation—had a stronger influence during the late Holocene than oceanic processes driven by southern westerly winds and upwelling of upper Circumpolar Deepwater. Given that the evolution of El Niño–Southern Oscillation under global warming is uncertain, its future impacts on the climatically sensitive system of the Antarctic Peninsula Ice Sheet remain to be established. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:11:24Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-31149 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:11:24Z |
| publishDate | 2013 |
| publisher | Nature Publishing Group |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-311492020-05-04T20:19:34Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/31149/ Glacial discharge along the west Antarctic Peninsula during the Holocene Pike, Jennifer Swann, George E.A. Leng, Melanie J. Snelling, Andrea M. The causes for rising temperatures along the Antarctic Peninsula during the late Holocene have been debated, particularly in light of instrumental records of warming over the past decades. Suggested mechanisms range from upwelling of warm deep waters onto the continental shelf in response to variations in the westerly winds, to an influence of El Niño–Southern Oscillation on sea surface temperatures. Here, we present a record of Holocene glacial ice discharge, derived from the oxygen isotope composition of marine diatoms from Palmer Deep along the west Antarctic Peninsula continental margin. We assess atmospheric versus oceanic influences on glacial discharge at this location, using analyses of diatom geochemistry to reconstruct atmospherically forced glacial ice discharge and diatom assemblage ecology to investigate the oceanic environment. We show that two processes of atmospheric forcing—an increasing occurrence of La Niña events and rising levels of summer insolation—had a stronger influence during the late Holocene than oceanic processes driven by southern westerly winds and upwelling of upper Circumpolar Deepwater. Given that the evolution of El Niño–Southern Oscillation under global warming is uncertain, its future impacts on the climatically sensitive system of the Antarctic Peninsula Ice Sheet remain to be established. Nature Publishing Group 2013-03 Article PeerReviewed Pike, Jennifer, Swann, George E.A., Leng, Melanie J. and Snelling, Andrea M. (2013) Glacial discharge along the west Antarctic Peninsula during the Holocene. Nature Geoscience, 6 . pp. 199-202. ISSN 1752-0908 Cryospheric science Ocean sciences Palaeoclimate http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v6/n3/full/ngeo1703.html doi:10.1038/ngeo1703 doi:10.1038/ngeo1703 |
| spellingShingle | Cryospheric science Ocean sciences Palaeoclimate Pike, Jennifer Swann, George E.A. Leng, Melanie J. Snelling, Andrea M. Glacial discharge along the west Antarctic Peninsula during the Holocene |
| title | Glacial discharge along the west Antarctic Peninsula during the Holocene |
| title_full | Glacial discharge along the west Antarctic Peninsula during the Holocene |
| title_fullStr | Glacial discharge along the west Antarctic Peninsula during the Holocene |
| title_full_unstemmed | Glacial discharge along the west Antarctic Peninsula during the Holocene |
| title_short | Glacial discharge along the west Antarctic Peninsula during the Holocene |
| title_sort | glacial discharge along the west antarctic peninsula during the holocene |
| topic | Cryospheric science Ocean sciences Palaeoclimate |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/31149/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/31149/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/31149/ |