title: Evidence for the stability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet divide for 1.4 million years.
abstract: Past fluctuations of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) are of fundamental interest because of the possibility of WAIS collapse in the future and a consequent rise in global sea level. However, the configuration and stability of the ice sheet during past interglacial periods remains uncertain. Here we present geomorphological evidence and multiple cosmogenic nuclide data from the southern Ellsworth Mountains to suggest that the divide of the WAIS has fluctuated only modestly in location and thickness for at least the last 1.4 million years. Fluctuations during glacial-interglacial cycles appear superimposed on a long-term trajectory of ice-surface lowering relative to the mountains. This implies that as a minimum, a regional ice sheet centred on the Ellsworth-Whitmore uplands may have survived Pleistocene warm periods. If so, it constrains the WAIS contribution to global sea level rise during interglacials to about 3.3 m above present.
authors.affiliation: School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Drummond Street, Edinburgh EH8 9XP, UK.
authors.forename: Andrew S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Hein
authors.affiliation: Department of Geography, Northumbria University, Ellison Place, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8ST, UK.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Woodward
authors.affiliation: School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Drummond Street, Edinburgh EH8 9XP, UK.
authors.forename: Shasta M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Marrero
authors.affiliation: Department of Geography, Northumbria University, Ellison Place, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8ST, UK.|Department of Geography, School of Geography, Politics and Sociology, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, UK.
authors.forename: Stuart A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Dunning
authors.affiliation: School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Drummond Street, Edinburgh EH8 9XP, UK.|Quaternary Research Center and Department of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA.
authors.forename: Eric J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Steig
authors.affiliation: Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre, Rankine Avenue, East Kilbride G75 0QF, UK.
authors.forename: Stewart P H T
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Freeman
authors.affiliation: Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre, Rankine Avenue, East Kilbride G75 0QF, UK.
authors.forename: Finlay M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Stuart
authors.affiliation: Department of Geography, Northumbria University, Ellison Place, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8ST, UK.
authors.forename: Kate
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Winter
authors.affiliation: Department of Geography, Northumbria University, Ellison Place, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8ST, UK.
authors.forename: Matthew J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Westoby
authors.affiliation: School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Drummond Street, Edinburgh EH8 9XP, UK.
authors.forename: David E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Sugden
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