Climate Change Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Climate Change, including details on causes, effects, impact, facts, myths, information.

Holocene elephant seal distribution implies warmer-than-present climate in the Ross Sea.

Hall BL, Hoelzel AR, Baroni C, Denton GH, Le Boeuf BJ, Overturf B, Töpf AL

Climate Change Institute and Department of Earth Sciences, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469, USA. brendah@maine.edu

We show that southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina) colonies existed proximate to the Ross Ice Shelf during the Holocene, well south of their core sub-Antarctic breeding and molting grounds. We propose that this was due to warming (including a previously unrecognized period from approximately 1,100 to 2,300 (14)C yr B.P.) that decreased coastal sea ice and allowed penetration of warmer-than-present climate conditions into the Ross Embayment. If, as proposed in the literature, the ice shelf survived this period, it would have been exposed to environments substantially warmer than present.

Published 6 July 2006 in Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 103(27): 10213-7.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

© 2004-2008 Climate Change Research Today. All Rights Reserved.