Sea level and global ice volumes from the Last Glacial Maximum to the Holocene

The major cause of sea-level change during ice ages is the exchange of water between ice and ocean and the planet's dynamic response to the changing surface load. Inversion of similar to 1,000 observations for the past 35,000 y from localities far from former ice margins has provided new constraints on the fluctuation of ice volume in this interval. Key results are: (i) a rapid final fall in global sea level of similar to 40 m in <2,000 y at the onset of the glacial maximum similar to 30,000 y before present (30 ka BP); (ii) a slow fall to -134 m from 29 to 21 ka BP with a maximum grounded ice volume of similar to 52 x 10(6) km(3) greater than today; (iii) after an initial short duration rapid rise and a short interval of near-constant sea level, the main phase of deglaciation occurred from similar to 16.5 ka BP to similar to 8.2 ka BP at an average rate of rise of 12 m.ka(-1) punctuated by periods of greater, particularly at 14.5-14.0 ka BP at >= 40 mm.y(-1) (MWP-1A), and lesser, from 12.5 to 11.5 ka BP (Younger Dryas), rates; (iv) no evidence for a global MWP-1B event at similar to 11.3 ka BP; and (v) a progressive decrease in the rate of rise from 8.2 ka to similar to 2.5 ka BP, after which ocean volumes remained nearly constant until the renewed sea-level rise at 100-150 y ago, with no evidence of oscillations exceeding similar to 15-20 cm in time intervals >= 200 y from 6 to 0.15 ka BP.