title: Evidence for an ice shelf covering the central Arctic Ocean during the penultimate glaciation.
abstract: The hypothesis of a km-thick ice shelf covering the entire Arctic Ocean during peak glacial conditions was proposed nearly half a century ago. Floating ice shelves preserve few direct traces after their disappearance, making reconstructions difficult. Seafloor imprints of ice shelves should, however, exist where ice grounded along their flow paths. Here we present new evidence of ice-shelf groundings on bathymetric highs in the central Arctic Ocean, resurrecting the concept of an ice shelf extending over the entire central Arctic Ocean during at least one previous ice age. New and previously mapped glacial landforms together reveal flow of a spatially coherent, in some regions >1-km thick, central Arctic Ocean ice shelf dated to marine isotope stage 6 (∼ 140 ka). Bathymetric highs were likely critical in the ice-shelf development by acting as pinning points where stabilizing ice rises formed, thereby providing sufficient back stress to allow ice shelf thickening.
authors.affiliation: Department of Geological Sciences, Stockholm University, Stockholm 106 91, Sweden.|Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University, Stockholm 106 91, Sweden.|UNIS - The University Centre in Svalbard, Longyearbyen N-9171, Svalbard.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jakobsson
authors.affiliation: Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University, Stockholm 106 91, Sweden.|Department of Meteorology, Stockholm University, Stockholm 106 91, Sweden.
authors.forename: Johan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nilsson
authors.affiliation: Department of Marine Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg 405 30, Sweden.
authors.forename: Leif
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.affiliation: Department of Geological Sciences, Stockholm University, Stockholm 106 91, Sweden.|Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University, Stockholm 106 91, Sweden.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Backman
authors.affiliation: Department of Marine Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg 405 30, Sweden.
authors.forename: Göran
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Björk
authors.affiliation: US Geological Survey Reston, 12201 Sunrise Valley Drive, Reston, Virginia 20192, USA.
authors.forename: Thomas M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Cronin
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Geography, Stockholm University, Stockholm 106 91, Sweden.
authors.forename: Nina
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kirchner
authors.affiliation: National Research Tomsk Polytechnic University, Tomsk 634050, Russia.|Department of Geocryology, Moscow State University, Moscow 119991, Russia.
authors.forename: Andrey
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Koshurnikov
authors.affiliation: Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping, University of New Hampshire, 24 Colovos Road, Durham, New Hampshire 03824, USA.
authors.forename: Larry
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mayer
authors.affiliation: UNIS - The University Centre in Svalbard, Longyearbyen N-9171, Svalbard.
authors.forename: Riko
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Noormets
authors.affiliation: Department of Geological Sciences, Stockholm University, Stockholm 106 91, Sweden.|Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University, Stockholm 106 91, Sweden.
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: O'Regan
authors.affiliation: Department of Geological Sciences, Stockholm University, Stockholm 106 91, Sweden.|Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University, Stockholm 106 91, Sweden.|Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping, University of New Hampshire, 24 Colovos Road, Durham, New Hampshire 03824, USA.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Stranne
authors.affiliation: National Research Tomsk Polytechnic University, Tomsk 634050, Russia.|Department of Geocryology, Moscow State University, Moscow 119991, Russia.
authors.forename: Roman
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ananiev
authors.affiliation: Department of Geological Sciences, Stockholm University, Stockholm 106 91, Sweden.|Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University, Stockholm 106 91, Sweden.
authors.forename: Natalia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Barrientos Macho
authors.affiliation: National Research Tomsk Polytechnic University, Tomsk 634050, Russia.|Russian Academy of Sciences, Pacific Oceanological Institute, 43 Baltiiskaya Street, Vladivostok 690041, Russia.
authors.forename: Denis
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cherniykh
authors.affiliation: Department of Geological Sciences, Stockholm University, Stockholm 106 91, Sweden.|Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University, Stockholm 106 91, Sweden.
authors.forename: Helen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Coxall
authors.affiliation: Department of Geological Sciences, Stockholm University, Stockholm 106 91, Sweden.|Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University, Stockholm 106 91, Sweden.
authors.forename: Björn
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Eriksson
authors.affiliation: Department of Geological Sciences, Stockholm University, Stockholm 106 91, Sweden.
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Flodén
authors.affiliation: US Geological Survey Reston, 12201 Sunrise Valley Drive, Reston, Virginia 20192, USA.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gemery
authors.affiliation: Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University, Stockholm 106 91, Sweden.|Department of Environmental Science and Analytical Chemistry, Stockholm University, Stockholm 106 91, Sweden.
authors.forename: Örjan
authors.initials: Ö
authors.lastname: Gustafsson
authors.affiliation: Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping, University of New Hampshire, 24 Colovos Road, Durham, New Hampshire 03824, USA.
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Jerram
authors.affiliation: Department of Geological Sciences, Stockholm University, Stockholm 106 91, Sweden.|Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University, Stockholm 106 91, Sweden.
authors.forename: Carina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Johansson
authors.affiliation: National Research Tomsk Polytechnic University, Tomsk 634050, Russia.
authors.forename: Alexey
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Khortov
authors.affiliation: Department of Geological Sciences, Stockholm University, Stockholm 106 91, Sweden.|Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University, Stockholm 106 91, Sweden.
authors.forename: Rezwan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mohammad
authors.affiliation: National Research Tomsk Polytechnic University, Tomsk 634050, Russia.|Russian Academy of Sciences, Pacific Oceanological Institute, 43 Baltiiskaya Street, Vladivostok 690041, Russia.
authors.forename: Igor
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Semiletov