An Investigation into the Stability and Dynamics of the Antarctic Peninsular Ice Sheet During the Last Deglaciation

The Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS) has been thinning and retreating over the past 40 years prompting
fears that anthropogenic climate change could initiate a rapid collapse of parts of the West AIS and
a subsequent increase in global sea levels. Reliable predictions of the response of this major ice
sheet to global warming are necessary for effective sea level rise adaptation strategies to be
formulated. However, present day observations only cover a very small fraction of its evolution
history. Palaeo reconstructions are able to offer information about the past dynamics and
morphology of the AIS, providing the longer term context required to fully understand its possible
responses to climate change.
This project will collect and analyse echo sounding data to produce seafloor morphology maps and
acoustic and seismic profiles of the Antarctic Peninsula (AP) continental shelf. The identification of
glacio-marine landforms from these data will enable inferences to be made about the evolution of
the Antarctic Peninsula Ice Sheet (APIS) since the Last Glacial Maximum. Conclusions drawn from
these analyses will then be used to help constrain and validate numerical ice sheet models. As
such, this project will contribute to the body of research required to improved our ability to adapt to,
and mitigate, climate change.