Earliest Holocene south Greenland ice sheet retreat within its late Holocene extent
File(s)Carlson_et_al-2014-Geophysical_Research_Letters.pdf (1.9 MB)
Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Early Holocene summer warmth drove dramatic Greenland ice sheet (GIS) retreat. Subsequent insolation-driven cooling caused GIS margin readvance to late Holocene maxima, from which ice margins are now retreating. We use 10Be surface exposure ages from four locations between 69.4°N and 61.2°N to date when in the early Holocene south to west GIS margins retreated to within these late Holocene maximum extents. We find that this occurred at 11.1 ± 0.2 ka to 10.6 ± 0.5 ka in south Greenland, significantly earlier than previous estimates, and 6.8 ± 0.1 ka to 7.9 ± 0.1 ka in southwest to west Greenland, consistent with existing 10Be ages. At least in south Greenland, these 10Be ages likely provide a minimum constraint for when on a multicentury timescale summer temperatures after the last deglaciation warmed above late Holocene temperatures in the early Holocene. Current south Greenland ice margin retreat suggests that south Greenland may have now warmed to or above earliest Holocene summer temperatures.
Date Issued
2014-08-05
Date Acceptance
2014-06-30
Citation
Geophysical Research Letters, 2014, 41 (15), pp.5514-5521
ISSN
0094-8276
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
Start Page
5514
End Page
5521
Journal / Book Title
Geophysical Research Letters
Volume
41
Issue
15
Copyright Statement
© 2014 American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.
Subjects
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
MD Multidisciplinary
Publication Status
Published