title: Holocene elephant seal distribution implies warmer-than-present climate in the Ross Sea.
abstract: We show that southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina) colonies existed proximate to the Ross Ice Shelf during the Holocene, well south of their core sub-Antarctic breeding and molting grounds. We propose that this was due to warming (including a previously unrecognized period from approximately 1,100 to 2,300 (14)C yr B.P.) that decreased coastal sea ice and allowed penetration of warmer-than-present climate conditions into the Ross Embayment. If, as proposed in the literature, the ice shelf survived this period, it would have been exposed to environments substantially warmer than present.
authors.affiliation: *Climate Change Institute and brendah@maine.edu.|Department of Earth Sciences, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469.
authors.forename: B L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Hall
authors.affiliation: School of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, University of Durham, Durham DH1 3HP, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: A R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Hoelzel
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Istituto di Geoscienze e Georisorse, Università di Pisa and Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, 56126 Pisa, Italy; and.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Baroni
authors.affiliation: *Climate Change Institute and debbies@maine.edu.|Department of Earth Sciences, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469.
authors.forename: G H
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Denton
authors.affiliation: **Institute of Marine Studies and Department of Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064.
authors.forename: B J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Le Boeuf
authors.affiliation: *Climate Change Institute and.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Overturf
authors.affiliation: School of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, University of Durham, Durham DH1 3HP, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: A L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Töpf
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000864:Antarctic Regions; D002980:Climate; D009792:Oceans and Seas; D010802:Phylogeny; D011156:Population Density; D046048:Seals, Earless / Q000502:physiology*; D046429:Spheniscidae; D013696:Temperature