The role of ocean and atmospheric dynamics in the marine-based collapse of the last Eurasian Ice Sheet

Information from former ice sheets may provide important context for understanding the response of today's ice sheets to forcing mechanisms. Here we present a reconstruction of the last deglaciation of marine sectors of the Eurasian Ice Sheet, emphasising how the retreat of the Norwegian Channel and the Barents Sea ice streams led to separation of the British-Irish and Fennoscandian ice sheets at c. 18.700 and of the Kara-Barents Sea-Svalbard and Fennoscandian ice sheets between 16.000 and 15.000 years ago. Combined with ice sheet modelling and palaeoceanographic data, our reconstruction shows that the deglaciation, from a peak volume of 20 m of sea-level rise equivalent, was mainly driven by temperature forced surface mass balance in the south, and by Nordic Seas oceanic conditions in the north. Our results highlight the nonlinearity in the response of an ice sheet to forcing and the significance of ocean-ice-atmosphere dynamics in assessing the fate of contemporary ice sheets. The last deglaciation of the marine parts of the Eurasian Ice Sheet was driven mainly by oceanic temperature change in the north and by changes in solar insolation in the south, based on a reconstruction of the marine parts of the Eurasian Ice Sheet and Nordic Seas palaeoceanographic data.

Automated summary

Information from former ice sheets is crucial for understanding the response of current ice sheets to external forces. This study reconstructs the last deglaciation of marine sectors of the Eurasian Ice Sheet, highlighting the separation of ice sheets due to the retreat of ice streams in the Norwegian Channel, Barents Sea, and Kara-Barents Sea-Svalbard regions. The study shows that the deglaciation was primarily driven by temperature-related surface mass balance in the south and oceanic conditions in the north, emphasizing the nonlinearity in ice sheet response and the significance of ocean-ice-atmosphere dynamics.