Sustainability of regional Antarctic ice sheets under late Eocene seasonal atmospheric conditions

Vermeulen, Dennis H. A.; Baatsen, Michiel L. J.; von der Heydt, Anna S.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-95-2025

Articles | Volume 21, issue 1

https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-95-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-95-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 21, issue 1

Research article

|

14 Jan 2025

Research article |

| 14 Jan 2025

Sustainability of regional Antarctic ice sheets under late Eocene seasonal atmospheric conditions

Dennis H. A. Vermeulen, Michiel L. J. Baatsen, and Anna S. von der Heydt

Data sets

Supporting datasets for Response of Late-Eocene warmth to incipient glaciation on Antarctica by Dennis Vermeulen et al. Dennis Vermeulen https://doi.org/10.24416/UU01-YDFULA

Short summary

Late Eocene summers, 34 million years ago, were hot on Antarctica, with temperatures up to 30 °C. We also know that during this period the first Antarctic ice sheet formed. Since climate models do not show the transition from this warm climate to ice sheet formation accurately, we imposed regional ice sheets onto the continent in a realistic climate and show that these ice sheets do not melt away. This suggests that the initiation of ice sheet growth might have happened during warmer periods.