Abstract: The International Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Site U1537 is located in the Dove Basin off the northeast coast of the Antarctic Peninsula in the Scotia Sea, a region known as “Iceberg Alley.” After an iceberg breaks off the Antarctic Ice Sheet, it travels northward towards “Iceberg Alley” via the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, and the Weddell Sea gyre and melts, resulting in iceberg-rafted debris (IRD) being deposited on the seafloor. Grain-size analyses of IRD from Site U1537 sediment cores allows us to track and recreate glacial and climatic changes in the source of Antarctic ice over the last few million years. Here I present the grain-size and weight percent IRD data from roughly three million years ago (MYA) in order to determine past Antarctic Ice Sheet dynamics. Recent climate models and other proxy data suggest that 3 MYA global surface temperatures were around 3ºC warmer than pre-industrial temperatures as a result of elevated greenhouse gas concentrations. As modern global temperatures continue to skyrocket at an unprecedented rate, it is vital that we understand past changes in the Antarctic Ice Sheet to better predict future changes in polar ice-sheet volume and global sea level over the next century.
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