Spatially variable response of Antarctica's ice sheets to orbital forcing during the Pliocene

Molly P. Patterson; Christiana  Rosenberg; Masanobu  Yamamoto; Oscar  Romero; Mei  Nelissen; Francesca Sangiorigi; Nick  Golledge; Georgia  Grant; William  Arnuk; Benjamin  Keisling; Tim  Naish; Richard  Levy; Stephen  Meyers; Nicholas Sullivan; Jeanine  Ash; Denise  Kulhanek; Brian  Romans; Natalia Verela; Harold  Jones; Francois  Beny; Imogene Browne; Giuseppe  Cortese; Isabela  Cordeiro de Sousa; Justin  Dodd; Oliver Esper; Jenny Gales; David Harwood; Saki Ishino; Sookwan  Kim; Sunghan  Kim; Jan Sverre Laberg; R Leckie; J  Muller; Amelia  Shevenell; Shiv  Singh; Saiko Sugisaki; Tina  Van de Flierdt; Tim  van Peer; Wenshen  Xiao; Laura  De Santis; Robert  McKay

doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-4837964/v1

Spatially variable response of Antarctica's ice sheets to orbital forcing during the Pliocene

Molly P. Patterson^*, Christiana Rosenberg , Masanobu Yamamoto , Oscar Romero , Mei Nelissen , Francesca Sangiorigi, Nick Golledge , Georgia Grant , William Arnuk, Benjamin Keisling , Tim Naish , Richard Levy , Stephen Meyers , Nicholas Sullivan , Jeanine Ash , Denise Kulhanek , Brian Romans , Natalia Verela , Harold Jones , Francois Beny Imogene Browne, Giuseppe Cortese, Isabela Cordeiro de Sousa , Justin Dodd , Oliver Esper, Jenny Gales, David Harwood , Saki Ishino , Sookwan Kim , Sunghan Kim , Jan Sverre Laberg , R Leckie , J Muller , Amelia Shevenell , Shiv Singh , Saiko Sugisaki , Tina Van de Flierdt , Tim van Peer , Wenshen Xiao, Laura De Santis , Robert McKay

^*Corresponding author for this work

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

State University of New York Binghamton University

Research output: Working paper / Preprint › Preprint

Abstract

Variations in Earth’s orbit pace global ice-volume/sea-level changes, but the variability in the response for different sectors of the Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS) to orbitally-forced climate change remains unclear. We present geological records of iceberg-rafted debris (IBRD) and other proxies from locations adjacent to the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) and East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS) spanning ~3.3-2.3 Ma. Iceberg calving events from the WAIS recorded in Ross Sea sediment cores show a linear response to orbital forcing at timescales corresponding to obliquity (40 kyr) and precession (23-19 kyr) modulated by eccentricity (100 kyr). This contrasts with records adjacent to the EAIS, which lack obliquity pacing. Geological data and ice sheet model sensitivity tests show the WAIS is highly dynamic and responsive to oceanic melt driven by changes in Southern Ocean circulation, together with atmospheric forcing through variations in local insolation. Conversely, the EAIS appears less responsive to oceanic forcing, despite being the dominant source of meltwater to the global ocean during the mid-Pliocene. Our results imply a significant role for atmospheric warming on mid-Pliocene sea-level.

Original language	English
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4837964/v1
Publication status	Accepted/In press - 2 Oct 2025

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Name	Nature Geoscience
Publisher	Nature Publishing Group
ISSN (Print)	1752-0894

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Patterson, M. P., Rosenberg , C., Yamamoto , M., Romero , O., Nelissen , M., Sangiorigi, F., Golledge , N., Grant , G., Arnuk, W., Keisling , B., Naish , T., Levy , R., Meyers , S., Sullivan , N., Ash , J., Kulhanek , D., Romans , B., Verela , N., Jones , H., ... McKay, R. (Accepted/In press). Spatially variable response of Antarctica's ice sheets to orbital forcing during the Pliocene. (Nature Geoscience). https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4837964/v1

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abstract = "Variations in Earth{\textquoteright}s orbit pace global ice-volume/sea-level changes, but the variability in the response for different sectors of the Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS) to orbitally-forced climate change remains unclear. We present geological records of iceberg-rafted debris (IBRD) and other proxies from locations adjacent to the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) and East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS) spanning \textasciitilde{}3.3-2.3 Ma. Iceberg calving events from the WAIS recorded in Ross Sea sediment cores show a linear response to orbital forcing at timescales corresponding to obliquity (40 kyr) and precession (23-19 kyr) modulated by eccentricity (100 kyr). This contrasts with records adjacent to the EAIS, which lack obliquity pacing. Geological data and ice sheet model sensitivity tests show the WAIS is highly dynamic and responsive to oceanic melt driven by changes in Southern Ocean circulation, together with atmospheric forcing through variations in local insolation. Conversely, the EAIS appears less responsive to oceanic forcing, despite being the dominant source of meltwater to the global ocean during the mid-Pliocene. Our results imply a significant role for atmospheric warming on mid-Pliocene sea-level.",

author = "Patterson, \{Molly P.\} and Christiana Rosenberg and Masanobu Yamamoto and Oscar Romero and Mei Nelissen and Francesca Sangiorigi and Nick Golledge and Georgia Grant and William Arnuk and Benjamin Keisling and Tim Naish and Richard Levy and Stephen Meyers and Nicholas Sullivan and Jeanine Ash and Denise Kulhanek and Brian Romans and Natalia Verela and Harold Jones and Francois Beny and Imogene Browne and Giuseppe Cortese and \{Cordeiro de Sousa\}, Isabela and Justin Dodd and Oliver Esper and Jenny Gales and David Harwood and Saki Ishino and Sookwan Kim and Sunghan Kim and Laberg, \{Jan Sverre\} and R Leckie and J Muller and Amelia Shevenell and Shiv Singh and Saiko Sugisaki and \{Van de Flierdt\}, Tina and \{van Peer\}, Tim and Wenshen Xiao and \{De Santis\}, Laura and Robert McKay",

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Patterson, MP, Rosenberg , C, Yamamoto , M, Romero , O, Nelissen , M, Sangiorigi, F, Golledge , N, Grant , G, Arnuk, W, Keisling , B, Naish , T, Levy , R, Meyers , S, Sullivan , N, Ash , J, Kulhanek , D, Romans , B, Verela , N, Jones , H, Beny , F, Browne, I, Cortese, G, Cordeiro de Sousa , I, Dodd , J, Esper, O, Gales, J, Harwood , D, Ishino , S, Kim , S, Kim , S, Laberg , JS, Leckie , R, Muller , J, Shevenell , A, Singh , S, Sugisaki , S, Van de Flierdt , T, van Peer , T, Xiao, W, De Santis , L & McKay, R 2025 'Spatially variable response of Antarctica's ice sheets to orbital forcing during the Pliocene' Nature Geoscience. https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4837964/v1

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T1 - Spatially variable response of Antarctica's ice sheets to orbital forcing during the Pliocene

AU - Patterson, Molly P.

AU - Rosenberg , Christiana

AU - Yamamoto , Masanobu

AU - Romero , Oscar

AU - Nelissen , Mei

AU - Sangiorigi, Francesca

AU - Golledge , Nick

AU - Grant , Georgia

AU - Arnuk, William

AU - Keisling , Benjamin

AU - Naish , Tim

AU - Levy , Richard

AU - Meyers , Stephen

AU - Sullivan , Nicholas

AU - Ash , Jeanine

AU - Kulhanek , Denise

AU - Romans , Brian

AU - Verela , Natalia

AU - Jones , Harold

AU - Beny , Francois

AU - Browne, Imogene

AU - Cortese, Giuseppe

AU - Cordeiro de Sousa , Isabela

AU - Dodd , Justin

AU - Esper, Oliver

AU - Gales, Jenny

AU - Harwood , David

AU - Ishino , Saki

AU - Kim , Sookwan

AU - Kim , Sunghan

AU - Laberg , Jan Sverre

AU - Leckie , R

AU - Muller , J

AU - Shevenell , Amelia

AU - Singh , Shiv

AU - Sugisaki , Saiko

AU - Van de Flierdt , Tina

AU - van Peer , Tim

AU - Xiao, Wenshen

AU - De Santis , Laura

AU - McKay, Robert

PY - 2025/10/2

Y1 - 2025/10/2

N2 - Variations in Earth’s orbit pace global ice-volume/sea-level changes, but the variability in the response for different sectors of the Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS) to orbitally-forced climate change remains unclear. We present geological records of iceberg-rafted debris (IBRD) and other proxies from locations adjacent to the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) and East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS) spanning ~3.3-2.3 Ma. Iceberg calving events from the WAIS recorded in Ross Sea sediment cores show a linear response to orbital forcing at timescales corresponding to obliquity (40 kyr) and precession (23-19 kyr) modulated by eccentricity (100 kyr). This contrasts with records adjacent to the EAIS, which lack obliquity pacing. Geological data and ice sheet model sensitivity tests show the WAIS is highly dynamic and responsive to oceanic melt driven by changes in Southern Ocean circulation, together with atmospheric forcing through variations in local insolation. Conversely, the EAIS appears less responsive to oceanic forcing, despite being the dominant source of meltwater to the global ocean during the mid-Pliocene. Our results imply a significant role for atmospheric warming on mid-Pliocene sea-level.

AB - Variations in Earth’s orbit pace global ice-volume/sea-level changes, but the variability in the response for different sectors of the Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS) to orbitally-forced climate change remains unclear. We present geological records of iceberg-rafted debris (IBRD) and other proxies from locations adjacent to the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) and East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS) spanning ~3.3-2.3 Ma. Iceberg calving events from the WAIS recorded in Ross Sea sediment cores show a linear response to orbital forcing at timescales corresponding to obliquity (40 kyr) and precession (23-19 kyr) modulated by eccentricity (100 kyr). This contrasts with records adjacent to the EAIS, which lack obliquity pacing. Geological data and ice sheet model sensitivity tests show the WAIS is highly dynamic and responsive to oceanic melt driven by changes in Southern Ocean circulation, together with atmospheric forcing through variations in local insolation. Conversely, the EAIS appears less responsive to oceanic forcing, despite being the dominant source of meltwater to the global ocean during the mid-Pliocene. Our results imply a significant role for atmospheric warming on mid-Pliocene sea-level.

UR - https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-4837964/v1

UR - https://pearl.plymouth.ac.uk/bms-research/2268/

U2 - 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4837964/v1

DO - 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4837964/v1

M3 - Preprint

T3 - Nature Geoscience

BT - Spatially variable response of Antarctica's ice sheets to orbital forcing during the Pliocene

ER -

Spatially variable response of Antarctica's ice sheets to orbital forcing during the Pliocene

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