Glacial History of Ridge AB, West Antarctica

Constraining these century-scale changes from satellite observations that span only the last 40 years is challenging. Here, we take a different approach of carefully synthesizing different data sets to infer changes in the configurations of van der Veen and Mercer Ice Streams on the Siple Coast over the past 3000 years from englacial features encoded in ice-penetrating radar data.

Englacial radar data from Conway Ridge reveal smooth, surface conformal layers overlying disrupted stratigraphy that suggest the van der Veen Ice Stream was 40 km wider over 3000 years ago. Englacial layer dating indicates that the ice stream narrowed to its present configuration between $\sim3000$ and $\sim1000$ years ago. Similarly disrupted stratigraphy and buried crevasses suggest that ice flowing from Mercer to Whillans Ice Stream across the northwestern tip of the ridge slowed shortly after.