History of sea ice in the Arctic

Polyak, L, Alley, R. B, Andrews, J. T, Brigham-Grette, J, Cronin, TM, Darby, D. A., Dyke, A. S., Fitzpatrick, J. J., Funder, S., Holland, M, Jennings, A. E., Miller, G. H., O'Regan, Matthew, Savelle, J., Serreze, M., St John, K., White, J. W. C. and Wolff, E. 2010. History of sea ice in the Arctic. Quaternary Science Reviews 29 (15-16) , pp. 1757-1778. 10.1016/j.quascirev.2010.02.010

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Abstract

Arcticsea-ice eextentandvolumearedecliningrapidly.SeveralstudiesprojectthattheArcticOceanmay becomeseasonallyice-freebytheyear2040orevenearlier.Puttingthisintoperspectiverequiresinfor- mationonthehistoryofArcticsea-iceconditionsthroughthegeologicpast.Thisinformationcanbeprovided byproxyrecordsfromtheArcticOceanfloorandfromthesurroundingcoasts.Althoughexistingrecordsare farfromcomplete,theyindicatethatseaicebecameafeatureoftheArcticby47Ma,followingapronounced declineinatmosphericpCO2 afterthePaleocene–EoceneThermalOptimum,andconsistentlycoveredat leastpartoftheArcticOceanfornolessthanthelast13–14millionyears.Icewasapparentlymostwide- spreadduringthelast2–3millionyears,inaccordancewithEarth’soverallcoolerclimate.Nevertheless, episodesofconsiderablyreducedseaiceorevenseasonallyice-freeconditionsoccurredduringwarmer periodslinkedtoorbitalvariations.Thelastlow-iceeventrelatedtoorbitalforcing(highinsolation)wasin theearlyHolocene,afterwhichthenorthernhighlatitudescooledoverall,withsomesuperimposedshorter- term(multidecadaltomillennial-scale)andlower-magnitudevariability.ThecurrentreductioninArcticicecoverstartedinthelate19thcentury,consistentwiththerapidlywarmingclimate,andbecameverypronouncedoverthelastthreedecades.Thisicelossappearstobeunmatchedoveratleastthelastfewthousandyearsandunexplainablebyanyoftheknownnaturalvariabilities.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Earth and Environmental Sciences
Subjects:	Q Science > QE Geology
Last Modified:	19 Mar 2016 22:12
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/7539

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