Collaborative Research: West Antarctic Ice Sheet Stability

The data set describes the cosmogenic 3He, 21Ne, and 10Be exposure ages of erratics and bedrock samples from the Ohio Range near the head of Mercer Ice Stream (formerly Ice Stream A) in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS). The field location is situated in the “Bottleneck”, a unique, relatively narrow passage in the Transantarctic Mountains connecting the West and East Antarctic ice sheets. The location lies near the ice divide. The location of the glacial erractics constrain interior ice elevation in the past while the exposure ages constrain the timing of the ice highstand. Exposure ages of erractics along Mercer Ridge, on the Buckyee Table, provide a local proxy climate record. Glaciers on the Mercer Ridge are sensitive to changes in accumulation of snow and predominant wind direction. Compared to the record of the adjacent WAIS ice sheet fluctuations, the timing of alpine glacier advance yields information on climate changes in the Ohio Range that can be used to test climate reconstructions based on Antarctic ice core records.