Arctic and Antarctic glacier ice build up began about 5,000 years ago after the Holocene Climate Optimum. Significant glacier advances occurred in many regions between the first and twelfth centuries CE, and more rapidly accumulated during the Little Ice Age (13th to 19th centuries). Much of this glacier ice melted after the mid-19th century as the sun entered its grand solar maximum phase.
Part A) of the image presents three smaller images (from 15) extracted from a time series of the Laurentide and Greenland ice sheets during the Holocene. The complete time series shows a stepwise reduction in ice extent from 11,500 years ago to its minimum extent 5,800 years ago.[1] B) A stacked time series of glacier advances and retractions during the last two millennia. A small number of glacier advances occurred in many regions between the first and twelfth centuries CE. There was a sharp increase in the number of glacier advances from the 13th century to the mid-19th century, after which glaciers started to recede.[2]
The Arctic has more ice today than at the Holocene Climate Optimum
More generally, the Arctic’s Holocene Climate Optimum occurred between 8,000 and 5,000 years ago, varying regionally in onset. Temperatures were in general two to four degrees Celsius higher than today.[3],[4],[5]
Greenland’s ice sheet margins retreated to less than their extent today between seven and four thousand years ago,[6] reaching their minimum extent between five and three thousand years ago.[7] The zone of coastal ice melt in the Arctic also retreated five hundred kilometers farther north, and there were summers free of sea ice.[8]
After the climate optimum, ice began to accumulate once again. This is evidenced by an abrupt ice accumulation along Greenland’s north coast starting 5,500 years ago; northeast Greenland was ice-locked by about 3,000 years ago.[9] In Greenland’s southeast, today’s Kulusuk glacier region had been ice-free during the climate optimum. Then, between 4,100 and 1,300 years ago, there were six major glacial advances, which coincided with major cooling episodes in the North Atlantic Ocean.[10]
The number of glacial advances in the second millennium CE was greater than in the first millennium, with most of the geographically widespread and extensive advances taking place during the Little Ice Age between the 13th and mid-19th centuries (see Figure 3.4B).[11] During this time winter sea ice closed off previously accessible sea routes between Scandinavia and Greenland.[12]
Beginning in the mid-19th century, as temperatures increased again, glacier ice began to melt, with this accelerating over the past five decades.[13],[14],[15]
Antarctica has more ice today than at the Holocene Climate Optimum
During the last glacial maximum, about 20,000 years ago, some parts of the Antarctic ice sheet reached the continental shelf edge.[16],[17] Initial ice retreat from the last glacial maximum was under way by between 17,000 and 14,000 years ago, and between 10,000 and 8,000 years ago melting extended into Antarctica’s interior, with deglaciation continuing until about 5,000 years ago.[18]
A widespread early Holocene Climate Optimum took place between 11,500 and 9,000 years ago, with a secondary optimum between 8,000 and 5,000 years ago. By 5,000 years ago most of the Antarctic glaciers had retreated to, or behind, their current positions.[19] During Antarctica’s climate optimum the central interior domes of the ice sheet were actually about one hundred meters lower than today, telling us there was less ice than exists today.[20]
During the last eight centuries Antarctica’s ice mass has waxed and waned. Periods of high ice accumulation occurred during the last millennia, most notably between the 14th and early 17th centuries, coinciding with the Little Ice Age. Since the 1960s ice accumulation has increased in the high coastal regions and over the highest part of east Antarctica.[21]
Click on this page and download a free copy of my book “Revolution: Ice Age Re-Entry,” and read more about this topic in Chapter 3.
[1] Jason P. Briner et al., “Holocene climate change in Arctic Canada and Greenland.” Quaternary Science Reviews, Volume 147, 2016, 340-364, ISSN 0277-3791. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2016.02.010.
[2] O.N. Solomina et al., 2016, “Glacier fluctuations during the past 2000 years.” Quaternary Science Reviews, 149, 61-90. DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2016.04.008. [See Figure 5, page 276. This figure collates a stacked time series of the number of glacier advances and recessions in each region into a global total.].
[3] Nicolaj K. Larsen et al., “The response of the southern Greenland ice sheet to the Holocene thermal maximum.” Geology ; 43 (4): 291–294. doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/G36476.1.
[4] D.S. Kaufman et al., “Holocene thermal maximum in the western Arctic (0–1800W).” Quaternary Science Reviews 23 (2004) 529–560.
[5] J.P. Briner et al., “Holocene climate change in Arctic Canada and Greenland.” Quaternary Science Reviews (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2016.02.010.
[6] Nicolaj K. Larsen et al., “The response of the southern Greenland ice sheet to the Holocene thermal maximum.” Geology ; 43 (4): 291–294. doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/G36476.1.
[7] J.P. Briner et al., “Holocene climate change in Arctic Canada and Greenland.” Quaternary Science Reviews (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2016.02.010.
[8] Leonid Polyak et al., “History of sea ice in the Arctic.” Quaternary Science Reviews 29 (2010) 1757–1778, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2010.02.010.
[9] Leonid Polyak et al., “History of sea ice in the Arctic.” Quaternary Science Reviews 29 (2010) 1757–1778, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2010.02.010.
[10] N. L. Balascio et al., “Glacier response to North Atlantic climate variability during the Holocene.” Climate of the Past, 11, 1587-1598, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-11-1587-2015, 2015.
[11] O. N. Solomina et al., 2016, “Glacier fluctuations during the past 2000 years.” Quaternary Science Reviews, 149, 61-90. DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2016.04.008. [See Figure 5, page 276. This figure collates a stacked time series of the number of glacier advances and recessions in each region into a global total.].
[12] Michael E Mann, “Little Ice Age.” Volume 1, The Earth system: physical and chemical dimensions of global environmental change, 504–509. In Encyclopedia of Global Environmental Change (ISBN 0-471-97796-9).
[13] Leonid Polyak et al., “History of sea ice in the Arctic.” Quaternary Science Reviews 29 (2010) 1757–1778, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2010.02.010
[14] Christophe Kinnard et al., “A changing Arctic seasonal ice zone: Observations from 1870–2003 and possible oceanographic consequences.” Geophysical Research Letters, Volume 35, L02507, doi:10.1029/2007GL032507, 2008.
[15] O.N. Solomina et al., 2016, “Glacier fluctuations during the past 2000 years.” Quaternary Science Reviews, 149, 61-90. DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2016.04.008. [See Figure 5, page 276. This figure collates a stacked time series of the number of glacier advances and recessions in each region into a global total.].
[16] A.N. Mackintosh et al., 2014, “Retreat history of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet since the Last Glacial Maximum.” Quaternary Science Reviews 100, 10e30. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2013.07.024.
[17] The RAISED Consortium1, Michael J. Bentley et al. “A community-based geological reconstruction of Antarctic Ice Sheet deglaciation since the Last Glacial Maximum.” Quaternary Science Reviews. Volume 100, 15 September 2014, 1-9.
[18] Ó. Ingólfsson et al., 1998, “Antarctic glacial history since the Last Glacial Maximum: An overview of the record on land.” Antarctic Science, 10(3), 326-344. doi:10.1017/S095410209800039X.
[19] Ó. Ingólfsson et al., 1998, “Antarctic glacial history since the Last Glacial Maximum: An overview of the record on land. “Antarctic Science, 10(3), 326-344. doi:10.1017/S095410209800039X.
[20] The RAISED Consortium1, Michael J. Bentley et al. “A community-based geological reconstruction of Antarctic Ice Sheet deglaciation since the Last Glacial Maximum.” Quaternary Science Reviews. Volume 100, 15 September 2014, 1-9.
[21] M. Frezzotti1 et al., “A synthesis of the Antarctic surface mass balance during the last 800 years.” The Cryosphere, 7, 303–319, 2013. www.the-cryosphere.net/7/303/2013/doi:10.5194/tc-7-303-2013. [See Figure 5.A, 312.].
