title: Exposure age and ice-sheet model constraints on Pliocene East Antarctic ice sheet dynamics.
abstract: The Late Pliocene epoch is a potential analogue for future climate in a warming world. Here we reconstruct Plio-Pleistocene East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS) variability using cosmogenic nuclide exposure ages and model simulations to better understand ice sheet behaviour under such warm conditions. New and previously published exposure ages indicate interior-thickening during the Pliocene. An ice sheet model with mid-Pliocene boundary conditions also results in interior thickening and suggests that both the Wilkes Subglacial and Aurora Basins largely melted, offsetting increased ice volume. Considering contributions from West Antarctica and Greenland, this is consistent with the most recent IPCC AR5 estimate, which indicates that the Pliocene sea level likely did not exceed +20 m on Milankovitch timescales. The inception of colder climate since ∼3 Myr has increased the sea ice cover and inhibited active moisture transport to Antarctica, resulting in reduced ice sheet thickness, at least in coastal areas.
authors.affiliation: Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, University of Tokyo, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Chiba 277-8564, Japan.
authors.forename: Masako
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yamane
authors.affiliation: Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, University of Tokyo, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Chiba 277-8564, Japan.|Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyoku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan.|Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, 2-15 Natsushima-cho, Yokosuka 237-0061, Japan.
authors.forename: Yusuke
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yokoyama
authors.affiliation: Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, University of Tokyo, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Chiba 277-8564, Japan.|Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyoku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan.|Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, 3173-25, Showa-machi, Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 236-0001, Japan.
authors.forename: Ayako
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Abe-Ouchi
authors.affiliation: Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, University of Tokyo, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Chiba 277-8564, Japan.|Faculty of International Resource Science, Akita University 1-1 Tegata Gakuin-cho, Akita 010-8502, Japan.
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Obrochta
authors.affiliation: Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, 3173-25, Showa-machi, Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 236-0001, Japan.
authors.forename: Fuyuki
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Polar Research, 10-3, Midoricho, Tachikawa, Tokyo 190-8518, Japan.
authors.forename: Kiichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Moriwaki
authors.affiliation: The University Museum, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Matsuzaki