Data from: Using Antarctic subglacial relic landscapes to inform past ice sheet retreat in the warm Pliocene

We use high-resolution ice sheet model simulations to better understand if
the preservation of a relic landscape precludes significant glacial
retreat into the Aurora Subglacial Basin sector of East Antarctica in at
least the past 3 million years. Transient ice sheet model (ISM)
simulations were performed through selected glacial-interglacial cycles of
the mid-Piacenzian warm period (mPWP). We use the PSU-ISM, a 3-D
thermomechanical ice sheet-shelf model, with climatic forcing applied
using the multi-dimensional matrix method. To ensure stability of the
high-resolution runs, a sequence of simulations at increasing spatial and
temporal resolution was required. To explore the relationship between
retreat in this sector and the preserved landscape, an ensemble of
simulations was created by invoking the Marine Ice Cliff Instability
(MICI) process at a range of levels. Continental scale simulations at 40
km resolution were run for 500 kyrs (3.4–2.9 Ma) to identify time periods
of greatest retreat for each calving parameter set. We focused on four
interglacial periods for the highest resolution (5 km) simulations, which
relate to the Marine Isotope Stages (MIS): MG1, KM5, K1, G17. To
understand controls on the preservation of the Highland A relic landscape,
we present key model variables relating to the basal thermal regime and
erosional potential.