The Case for a Stable East Antarctic Ice Sheet: The Background

There are two primary views concerning the stability of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. One view, relying critically on the interpretation of Sirius Group glacial deposits in the Transantarctic Mountains, is that the ice sheet has been fluctuating dramatically throughout its existence and that it last disappeared during the Pliocene ∼3 Ma ago. By analogy with the warmer Pliocene, it is argued that the current ice sheet is susceptible to global warming. The other view, originating from marine and terrestrial work in the 1970s and 1980s is that the ice sheet has been stable for ∼14 Ma and that the continent has been subjected to unbroken, cold polar conditions subsequently. After summarising the status of the two hypotheses, we explain the rationale for this volume. Building on the Vega Syposium of April 1993, it presents the case for the stability of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet and includes new work on terrestrial geomorphology and geology, marine cores and ice-sheet modelling.