East Greenland Ice Sheet retreat history from Scoresby Sund and Storstrømmen Glacier during the last deglaciation

Climate of the Past
By: , and 

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Abstract

The lack of geological constraints on past ice-sheet change in marine-based sectors of the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) following the Last Glacial Maximum limits our ability to assess (1) the drivers of ice-sheet change, and (2) the performance of ice-sheet models that are benchmarked against the paleo-record of GrIS change. Here, we provide new in situ 10Be surface exposure chronologies of ice-sheet margin retreat from the outer Scoresby Sund and Storstrømmen Glacier regions in eastern and northeastern Greenland, respectively. Ice retreated from Rathbone Island, east of Scoresby Sund, by  14.1 ka, recording some of the earliest documentations of terrestrial deglaciation in Greenland. The mouth of Scoresby Sund deglaciated by  13.2 ka, and retreated at an average rate of  43 m yr−1 between 13.2 and 9.7 ka. Storstrømmen Glacier retreated from the outer coast to within  3 km of the modern ice margin between  12.7 and 8.6 ka at an average rate of  28 m yr−1. Retreat then slowed or reached a stillstand as ice retreated  3 km between  8.6 ka to the modern ice margin at  8.0 ka. These retreat rates are consistent with late glacial and Holocene estimates for marine-terminating outlet glaciers across East Greenland, and comparable to modern retreat rates observed at the largest ice streams in northeastern, and northwestern Greenland.

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Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title East Greenland Ice Sheet retreat history from Scoresby Sund and Storstrømmen Glacier during the last deglaciation
Series title Climate of the Past
DOI 10.5194/cp-21-2263-2025
Volume 21
Issue 11
Publication Date November 18, 2025
Year Published 2025
Language English
Publisher European Geosciences Union
Contributing office(s) Florence Bascom Geoscience Center
Description 19 p.
First page 2263
Last page 2281
Country Greenland
Other Geospatial Scoresby Sund, Storstrømmen Glacier
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