Ice sheet sensitivity in a changing Arctic system - using geologic data and modeling to test the stable Greenland Ice Sheet hypothesis

Project Description

Due to recent advances in numerical ice sheet models and new sub-ice topography of Greenland, combined with finely-tuned field approaches and geochronologic techniques, the time is ripe for a coordinated, cross-disciplinary effort focusing on cryosphere variability in a warming Arctic; the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) and sea ice constitute the largest, and most critical components of the arctic cryosphere. The hypothesis that increased arctic precipitation can counterbalance GrIS mass loss during times of elevated temperatures stems from recent findings suggesting that it may be more stable than expected during interglacials. The researchers will: generate new GrIS margin reconstructions during and since the mid-Holocene Thermal Maximum (9,000 to 5,000 years ago), with a powerful approach that combines lake sediment stratigraphy with new sub-ice topography and novel high-sensitivity cosmogenic isotope methods; develop new Holocene climate reconstructions of moisture, temperature and sea ice conditions from lake and ocean sediments and an advanced synthesis of existing arctic ice core and other paleoclimate data; and employ state-of-the-art numerical ice sheet modeling fueled by ice margin and climate reconstructions to test a range of climatic and dynamic controls on GrIS change. If the idea is supported, then it would suggest a relatively stable GrIS during warm periods. If, however, this project provides evidence that the GrIS retreated considerably during the warmer-than-present mid-Holocene and in turn, that the GrIS has reacted more sensitively to temperature than to precipitation change, the results would support a tightly coupled ice sheet size-temperature link and in turn, a much greater near-term GrIS contribution to sea level rise. Either result will be of fundamental relevance to the fates of the arctic system, the GrIS and global sea level rise.

This project has been supported by funding from: