Sensitivity of Quaternary West Antarctic Ice Sheet advances and retreats in Pine Island Bay

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Karsten Gohl
• Subject Area: Oceanography
• Term: from 2007 to 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 44661160

The West Antarctic Ice-Sheet (WAIS) has experienced dramatic volume changes within short time periods since the last glacial maximum. The Pine Island Bay in the southern Amundsen Sea forms the third-largest outflow area for the West Antarctic ice-sheet next to the ice drainage basins of the Weddell Sea and the Ross Embayment. The main ice streams from the WAIS into Pine Island Bay flow through the Pine Island and Thwaites Glacier systems, through which most of the glacial-marine sediments onto the shelf of Pine Island Bay and across the continental slope into the deep sea have been transported. Detailed seismic and other geophysical surveys as well as geological sampling of the glacial-marine sedimentary sequences over large areas from the shelf and slope of Pine Island Bay and its adjacent continental rise were conducted during RV Polarstern expedition ANT-XXIII/4 and RV James C. Ross expedition JR141 of the British Antarctic Survey in early 2006 (Fig. 1). The aim of the subsequent data analysis is to reconstruct the cyclicity of the ice-sheet advances and retreats in the area of Pine Island Bay, the long-term dynamics of the WAIS and the relationship of WAIS dynamics with the global glacial-interglacial cycles of the Late Quaternary. A particular emphasis is placed on the chronological and spatial retreat history in Pine Island Bay since the last glacial maximum (LGM). Furthermore, studies of the potential relation between the supposed accelerated ice-sheet retreat since the last glacial maximum and suggested oceanographic and/or volcanic conditions in Pine Island Bay will complement the project.

• DFG Programme: Infrastructure Priority Programmes
• Subproject of: SPP 1158: Infrastructure area - Antarctic Research with Comparative Investigations in Arctic Sea Ice Areas
• Participating Person: Dr. Gabriele Uenzelmann-Neben