PP009-0001
Elevation Changes of the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet Interior During the Last Deglaciation

Tuesday, 8 December 2020
Poster
Øyvind Paasche1, Timothy P Lane2, Bjørn Christian Kvisvik3, Kathryn Adamson4, Angel Rhodés5, Henry Patton6, Natalya A Gomez7, Delia M Gheorghiu8, Jostein Bakke9 and Alun Hubbard II6, (1)Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, Bergen, Norway, (2)University of Durham, Durham, United Kingdom, (3)COWI, Bergen, Norway, (4)Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, United Kingdom, (5)SUERC, Glasgow, United Kingdom, (6)CAGE - Centre for Arctic Gas Hydrate, Environment and Climate, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Department of Geoscience, Tromsø, Norway, (7)McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada, (8)Scottish Universities Environmental Research Center at the University of Glasgow, East Kilbride, United Kingdom, (9)University of Bergen, Department of Earth Science, Bergen, Norway
Abstract:
The dynamics and paleo‐glaciology of ice sheet interiors during the last deglaciation are poorly constrained, hindering ice sheet model. We provide direct evidence of Fennoscandian Ice Sheet (FIS) interior behavior during deglaciation through surface exposure dating. Our results demonstrate early thinning of the FIS, prior to the Younger Dryas (YD, 12.8–11.7 ka). Interior thinning in central Norway was concurrent with retreat along the coastline, exposing ice‐free mountainous tracts, potentially as early as 20–15 ka. The FIS then formed moraines in these ice‐free tracts during the YD. This is contrary to current hypotheses advocating a landscape fully covered by cold, inactive ice during this period. Present empirical and model reconstructions fail to capture rapid interior downwastage, increasing uncertainties in ice sheet volume estimates and sea level contributions.
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