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East Greenland ice core dust record reveals timing of Greenland ice sheet advance and retreat.

ABSTRACT: Accurate estimates of the past extent of the Greenland ice sheet provide critical constraints for ice sheet models used to determine Greenland's response to climate forcing and contribution to global sea level. Here we use a continuous ice core dust record from the Renland ice cap on the east coast of Greenland to constrain the timing of changes to the ice sheet margin and relative sea level over the last glacial cycle. During the Holocene and the previous interglacial period (Eemian) the dust record was dominated by coarse particles consistent with rock samples from central East Greenland. From the coarse particle concentration record we infer the East Greenland ice sheet margin advanced from 113.4?±?0.4 to 111.0?±?0.4 ka BP during the glacial onset and retreated from 12.1?±?0.1 to 9.0?±?0.1 ka BP during the last deglaciation. These findings constrain the possible response of the Greenland ice sheet to climate forcings.

SUBMITTER: Simonsen MF

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6776541 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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East Greenland ice core dust record reveals timing of Greenland ice sheet advance and retreat.

Simonsen Marius Folden MF Baccolo Giovanni G Blunier Thomas T Borunda Alejandra A Delmonte Barbara B Frei Robert R Goldstein Steven S Grinsted Aslak A Kjær Helle Astrid HA Sowers Todd T Svensson Anders A Vinther Bo B Vladimirova Diana D Winckler Gisela G Winstrup Mai M Vallelonga Paul P

Nature communications 20191003 1

Accurate estimates of the past extent of the Greenland ice sheet provide critical constraints for ice sheet models used to determine Greenland's response to climate forcing and contribution to global sea level. Here we use a continuous ice core dust record from the Renland ice cap on the east coast of Greenland to constrain the timing of changes to the ice sheet margin and relative sea level over the last glacial cycle. During the Holocene and the previous interglacial period (Eemian) the dust r ...[more]

PMID: 31582753

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Project description:Measuring microbial abundance in glacier ice and identifying its controls is essential for a better understanding and quantification of biogeochemical processes in glacial ecosystems. However, cell enumeration of glacier ice samples is challenging due to typically low cell numbers and the presence of interfering mineral particles. We quantified for the first time the abundance of microbial cells in surface ice from geographically distinct sites on the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS), using three enumeration methods: epifluorescence microscopy (EFM), flow cytometry (FCM), and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). In addition, we reviewed published data on microbial abundance in glacier ice and tested the three methods on artificial ice samples of realistic cell (10(2)-10(7) cells ml(-1)) and mineral particle (0.1-100 mg ml(-1)) concentrations, simulating a range of glacial ice types, from clean subsurface ice to surface ice to sediment-laden basal ice. We then used multivariate statistical analysis to identify factors responsible for the variation in microbial abundance on the ice sheet. EFM gave the most accurate and reproducible results of the tested methodologies, and was therefore selected as the most suitable technique for cell enumeration of ice containing dust. Cell numbers in surface ice samples, determined by EFM, ranged from ~ 2 × 10(3) to ~ 2 × 10(6) cells ml(-1) while dust concentrations ranged from 0.01 to 2 mg ml(-1). The lowest abundances were found in ice sampled from the accumulation area of the ice sheet and in samples affected by fresh snow; these samples may be considered as a reference point of the cell abundance of precipitants that are deposited on the ice sheet surface. Dust content was the most significant variable to explain the variation in the abundance data, which suggests a direct association between deposited dust particles and cells and/or by their provision of limited nutrients to microbial communities on the GrIS.

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East Greenland ice core dust record reveals timing of Greenland ice sheet advance and retreat.

Publications

East Greenland ice core dust record reveals timing of Greenland ice sheet advance and retreat.

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