Moreover, numerical modeling makes it possible to simulate
most of the recorded evolutions. However, the speed and
amplitude of certain events remain hard to explain:
– During the deglaciation, there were periods of very rapid
rise in sea level, of around 5 cm per year, for several
centuries. This occurred in particular around 14,200 ka
BP with an event called ‘melt water pulse 1 A’, the cause
of which (Laurentide or Antarctica) is still controversial.
– The Heinrich events during which armadas of icebergs
invaded the North Atlantic. Purely glacial mechanisms
(thermo-mechanical coupling) have been suggested but
this is difficult to reproduce correctly by the 3D ice sheet
models. An interaction with the ocean that would melt an
ice shelf at the mouth of the Hudson Strait has recently
been suggested and would allow a better agreement with
the ocean recordings than the previous hypothesis.
These two examples show that glacial dynamics may
have played a more important role than was previously
assumed, especially when the ice sheets are subjected to
climate forcings (ocean or atmosphere), a hypothesis which
is supported by the current observations of acceleration of
outlet glaciers (in Greenland and Antarctica. For this reason,
research in this area of glacial dynamics is being actively
pursued in order to better assess the future behavior of the
two remaining ice sheets, Greenland and Antarctica, in the
context of climate change.
References
Bentley, M. J., Fogwill, C. J., Le Brocq, A. M., Hubbard, A. L.,
Sugden, D. E., Dunai, T. J., et al. (2010). Deglacial history of the
West Antarctic ice sheet in the Weddell Sea embayment: Constraints on past ice volume change. Geology, 38, 411–414.
The RAISED Consortium, Bentley, M. J., et al. (2014). A community-based geological reconstruction of Antarctic ice sheet deglaciation since the Last Glacial Maximum. Quaternary Science Reviews,
100, 1–9.
Boulton, G. S., & Clark, C. D. (1990). A highly mobile Laurentide ice
sheet revealed by satellite images of glacial lineations. Nature, 346,
813–817.
Clark, P. U., Mitrovica, J. X., Milne, G. A., & Tamisiea, M. E. (2002).
Sea-level fingerprinting as a direct test for the source of global
meltwater pulse I. Science, 295, 438–441.
Conway, H., Hall, B. L., Denton, G. H., Gades, A. M., & Waddington,
E. D. (1999). Past and future grounding-line retreat of the West
Antarctic ice sheet. Science, 286, 280–283.
De Conto, R. M., & Pollard, D. (2003). Rapid Cenozoic glaciation of
Antarctica induced by a declining atmospheric CO 2 . Nature, 421,
245–249.
Denton, G. H., & Hughes, T. J. (1981). The last great ice sheets. Wiley.
EPILOG. (2002). Quaternary Science Reviews, volume 21 (tous les
articles dont Anderson, J. B. et al., pp. 49–70, Huybrechts, P.,
pp. 203–231, Lambeck, K. et al., pp. 343–360, Waelbroeck, C.
et al., pp. 295–305).
Hughes, A. L. C., Gyllencreutz, R., Lohne, S., Mangerud, J., &
Svendsen, J. I. (2016). The last Eurasian ice sheets—A chronological database and time-slice reconstruction, DATED-1. Boreas, 45,
1–45. https://doi.org/10.1111/bor.12142.
Jakobsson, M., Polyak, L., Edwards, M., Kleman, J., & Coakley, B.
(2008). Glacial geomorphology of the Central Arctic Ocean: The
chukchi borderland and the Lomorosov Ridge. Earth Surface
Processes and Landforms, 33, 526–545.
Lambeck, K., & Chappell, J. (2001). Sea level change through the last
glacial cycle. Science, 292, 679–686.
Lambeck, K., Purcell, A., Funder, S., Kjaer, K. H., Larsen, E., &
Möller, P. (2006). Constraints on the Late Saalian to early Middle
Weichselian ice sheet of Eurasia from field data and rebound
modelling,
Boreas,
35.
https://doi.org/10.1080/
03009480600781875.
Mix, A. C., & Ruddiman, W. F. (1984). Oxygen-Isotope Analyses and
Pleistocene Ice Volume. Quaternary Research, 21, 1–20.
NGRIP Members. (2004). High resolution record of Northern Hemisphere climate extending into last interglacial period. Nature, 431,
147–151.
Pollard, P., & DeConto, R. M. (2009). Modelling West Antarctic ice
sheet growth and collapse through the past five million years.
Nature, 458, 329–332. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature07809.
Raymo, M. E., Lisiecki, L. E., & Nisancioglu, K. H. (2006).
Plio-Pleistocene ice volume, Antarctic climate, and the global delta
18
O record. Science, 313(786), 492–495. https://doi.org/10.1126/
science.1123296.
Peltier, W. (2004). Global glacial isostasy and the surface of the ice-age
Earth: The ICE-5G(VM2) model and GRAC. Annual Review of
Earth and Planetary Sciences, 32, 111–149.
Peyaud, V. (2006). Rôle de la dynamique des calottes glaciaires dans
les
grands
changements
climatiques
des
périodes
glaciaires-interglaciaires. Thèse de doctorat, université Joseph
Fourier, Grenoble 1.
Ritz, C., Rommeleare, V., & Dumas, C. (2001). Modeling the evolution
of Antarctic ice sheet over the last 420,000 years: Implications for
altitude changes in the Vostok Region. Journal of Geophysical
Research, 106, 31, 943–31, 964.
Schoof, C. (2007). Ice sheet grounding line dynamics: Steady states,
stability, and hysteresis. Journal of Geophysical Research, 112,
F03S28, https://doi.org/10.1029/2006jf000664.
Schrag, D. P., Hampt, G., & Murray, D. W. (1996). Pore fluid
constraints on the temperature and oxygen isotopic composition of
the glacial ocean. Science, 272, 1930–1932.
Siddall, M., Rohling, E. J., Almogi-Labin, A., Hemleben, C.,
Meischner, D., Schmelzer, I., et al. (2003). Sea-level fluctuations
during the last glacial cycle. Nature, 423, 853–858.
Shackleton, N. J., et al. (1984). Oxygen isotope calibration of the onset
of ice-rafting and history of glaciation in the North Atlantic Region.
Nature, 307, 620–623.
Svendsen, J. I., et al. (2004). Late quaternary ice sheet history of
Northern Eurasia. Quaternary Science Reviews, 23, 1229–1271.
24 The Cryosphere and Sea Level
317
most of the recorded evolutions. However, the speed and
amplitude of certain events remain hard to explain:
– During the deglaciation, there were periods of very rapid
rise in sea level, of around 5 cm per year, for several
centuries. This occurred in particular around 14,200 ka
BP with an event called ‘melt water pulse 1 A’, the cause
of which (Laurentide or Antarctica) is still controversial.
– The Heinrich events during which armadas of icebergs
invaded the North Atlantic. Purely glacial mechanisms
(thermo-mechanical coupling) have been suggested but
this is difficult to reproduce correctly by the 3D ice sheet
models. An interaction with the ocean that would melt an
ice shelf at the mouth of the Hudson Strait has recently
been suggested and would allow a better agreement with
the ocean recordings than the previous hypothesis.
These two examples show that glacial dynamics may
have played a more important role than was previously
assumed, especially when the ice sheets are subjected to
climate forcings (ocean or atmosphere), a hypothesis which
is supported by the current observations of acceleration of
outlet glaciers (in Greenland and Antarctica. For this reason,
research in this area of glacial dynamics is being actively
pursued in order to better assess the future behavior of the
two remaining ice sheets, Greenland and Antarctica, in the
context of climate change.
References
Bentley, M. J., Fogwill, C. J., Le Brocq, A. M., Hubbard, A. L.,
Sugden, D. E., Dunai, T. J., et al. (2010). Deglacial history of the
West Antarctic ice sheet in the Weddell Sea embayment: Constraints on past ice volume change. Geology, 38, 411–414.
The RAISED Consortium, Bentley, M. J., et al. (2014). A community-based geological reconstruction of Antarctic ice sheet deglaciation since the Last Glacial Maximum. Quaternary Science Reviews,
100, 1–9.
Boulton, G. S., & Clark, C. D. (1990). A highly mobile Laurentide ice
sheet revealed by satellite images of glacial lineations. Nature, 346,
813–817.
Clark, P. U., Mitrovica, J. X., Milne, G. A., & Tamisiea, M. E. (2002).
Sea-level fingerprinting as a direct test for the source of global
meltwater pulse I. Science, 295, 438–441.
Conway, H., Hall, B. L., Denton, G. H., Gades, A. M., & Waddington,
E. D. (1999). Past and future grounding-line retreat of the West
Antarctic ice sheet. Science, 286, 280–283.
De Conto, R. M., & Pollard, D. (2003). Rapid Cenozoic glaciation of
Antarctica induced by a declining atmospheric CO 2 . Nature, 421,
245–249.
Denton, G. H., & Hughes, T. J. (1981). The last great ice sheets. Wiley.
EPILOG. (2002). Quaternary Science Reviews, volume 21 (tous les
articles dont Anderson, J. B. et al., pp. 49–70, Huybrechts, P.,
pp. 203–231, Lambeck, K. et al., pp. 343–360, Waelbroeck, C.
et al., pp. 295–305).
Hughes, A. L. C., Gyllencreutz, R., Lohne, S., Mangerud, J., &
Svendsen, J. I. (2016). The last Eurasian ice sheets—A chronological database and time-slice reconstruction, DATED-1. Boreas, 45,
1–45. https://doi.org/10.1111/bor.12142.
Jakobsson, M., Polyak, L., Edwards, M., Kleman, J., & Coakley, B.
(2008). Glacial geomorphology of the Central Arctic Ocean: The
chukchi borderland and the Lomorosov Ridge. Earth Surface
Processes and Landforms, 33, 526–545.
Lambeck, K., & Chappell, J. (2001). Sea level change through the last
glacial cycle. Science, 292, 679–686.
Lambeck, K., Purcell, A., Funder, S., Kjaer, K. H., Larsen, E., &
Möller, P. (2006). Constraints on the Late Saalian to early Middle
Weichselian ice sheet of Eurasia from field data and rebound
modelling,
Boreas,
35.
https://doi.org/10.1080/
03009480600781875.
Mix, A. C., & Ruddiman, W. F. (1984). Oxygen-Isotope Analyses and
Pleistocene Ice Volume. Quaternary Research, 21, 1–20.
NGRIP Members. (2004). High resolution record of Northern Hemisphere climate extending into last interglacial period. Nature, 431,
147–151.
Pollard, P., & DeConto, R. M. (2009). Modelling West Antarctic ice
sheet growth and collapse through the past five million years.
Nature, 458, 329–332. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature07809.
Raymo, M. E., Lisiecki, L. E., & Nisancioglu, K. H. (2006).
Plio-Pleistocene ice volume, Antarctic climate, and the global delta
18
O record. Science, 313(786), 492–495. https://doi.org/10.1126/
science.1123296.
Peltier, W. (2004). Global glacial isostasy and the surface of the ice-age
Earth: The ICE-5G(VM2) model and GRAC. Annual Review of
Earth and Planetary Sciences, 32, 111–149.
Peyaud, V. (2006). Rôle de la dynamique des calottes glaciaires dans
les
grands
changements
climatiques
des
périodes
glaciaires-interglaciaires. Thèse de doctorat, université Joseph
Fourier, Grenoble 1.
Ritz, C., Rommeleare, V., & Dumas, C. (2001). Modeling the evolution
of Antarctic ice sheet over the last 420,000 years: Implications for
altitude changes in the Vostok Region. Journal of Geophysical
Research, 106, 31, 943–31, 964.
Schoof, C. (2007). Ice sheet grounding line dynamics: Steady states,
stability, and hysteresis. Journal of Geophysical Research, 112,
F03S28, https://doi.org/10.1029/2006jf000664.
Schrag, D. P., Hampt, G., & Murray, D. W. (1996). Pore fluid
constraints on the temperature and oxygen isotopic composition of
the glacial ocean. Science, 272, 1930–1932.
Siddall, M., Rohling, E. J., Almogi-Labin, A., Hemleben, C.,
Meischner, D., Schmelzer, I., et al. (2003). Sea-level fluctuations
during the last glacial cycle. Nature, 423, 853–858.
Shackleton, N. J., et al. (1984). Oxygen isotope calibration of the onset
of ice-rafting and history of glaciation in the North Atlantic Region.
Nature, 307, 620–623.
Svendsen, J. I., et al. (2004). Late quaternary ice sheet history of
Northern Eurasia. Quaternary Science Reviews, 23, 1229–1271.
24 The Cryosphere and Sea Level
317