Late Holocene glacier reconstruction reveals retreat behind present limits and two‐stage Little Ice Age on subantarctic South Georgia

A two-stage Little Ice Age, marked by glacier advances around 300 and 120 years ago, has been identified on subantarctic South Georgia using sediment analysis from Middle Hamberg Lake. The study also reveals an unreported retreat of glaciers behind present limits around 500 years ago, providing new insights into Late Holocene climate variability in the Southern Ocean region. Researchers used titanium counts in rock flour, validated with sediment density and grain size data, to reconstruct continuous glacier variations over the past ~1250 years. This approach, combined with local moraine evidence and data from other Southern Hemisphere glaciers, offers a high-resolution paleoclimate record that challenges previous assumptions about glacial behavior during the Little Ice Age.

van der Bilt, W. G. M., Bakke, J., Werner, J. P., Paasche, Ø., Rosqvist, G., & Vatle, S. S. (2017). Late Holocene glacier reconstruction reveals retreat behind present limits and two‐stage Little Ice Age on subantarctic South Georgia. Journal of Quaternary Science, 32(6), 888–901. Portico. https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.2937