Grant success: Tracing the collapse of the last British and Irish Ice Sheet
We know that ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland are losing mass at surprising rates, raising concerns about their future, and their impact on sea level. To better our understanding of the mechanisms and rate of change during periods with rapid ice sheet decline, then why not examine one that has disappeared already?
Richard Chiverrell (Liverpool P-I) has received a NERC award (£360k) to do just that, as part of the £3.6m BRITICE-CHRONO consortium led by Chris Clark (Sheffield) and involving some 40+ researchers from eight universities, plus the British Geological Survey, British Antarctic Survey, NERC's radiocarbon facility and Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre. Richard is a member of the project steering group, leading the terrestrial work package, and leading transects in the Irish Sea and parts of other sectors of the former British and Irish Ice Sheet.
The team will use geophysical techniques and collect samples on and offshore to quantify how rapidly ice retreated across the continental shelf and across the marine-to-terrestrial transition. The results should help improve the numerical ice sheet models used to predict changes in present day ice sheets.