AFI 04/17_01 - Glacial-interglacial changes in the lost drainage basin on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet - EM120 Swath Bathymetry and TOPAS sub-bottom profiler data, Bellingshausen Sea, 2004

The main aim of this project was to carry out the first systematic investigation of the former ice drainage basin in the southern Bellingshausen Sea, using sediment cores, swath bathymetry by means of the EM120 multibeam echo sounder and the TOPAS sub-bottom profiling system on RRS James Clark Ross (JR104). Reconnaissance data collected on previous cruises JR04 (1993) and cruises of R/V Polarstern in 1994 and 1995 suggested that this area contained the outlet of a very large ice drainage basin during late Quaternary glacial periods. The data and samples collected allowed us to address questions about the timing and rate of grounding line retreat from the continental shelf, the dynamic character of the ice that covered the shelf, and its influence on glaciomarine processes on the adjacent continental slope.