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Updated: Sep 22, 2025

Using Generative Art to Convey Past and Future Climate Transitions
Published on: March 31, 2023
Holocene melting of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet driven by tropical Pacific warming
Adam D Sproson1,2, Yusuke Yokoyama3,4,5,6,7, Yosuke Miyairi3
1Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, The University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Japan. adamsproson@gmail.com.
Abstract:
The primary Antarctic contribution to modern sea-level rise is glacial discharge from the Amundsen Sea sector of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. The main processes responsible for ice mass loss include: (1) ocean-driven melting of ice shelves by upwelling of warm water onto the continental shelf; and (2) atmospheric-driven surface melting of glaciers along the Antarctic coast. Understanding the relative influence of these processes on glacial stability is imperative to predicting sea-level rise. Employing a beryllium isotope-based reconstruction of ice-shelf history, we demonstrate that glaciers flowing into the Amundsen Sea Embayment underwent melting and retreat between 9 and 6 thousand years ago. Despite warm ocean water influence, this melting event was mainly forced by atmospheric circulation changes over continental West Antarctica, linked via a Rossby wave train to tropical Pacific Ocean warming. This millennial-scale glacial history may be used to validate contemporary ice-sheet models and improve sea-level projections.
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