Do blue-ice moraines in the Heritage Range show the West Antarctic ice sheet survived the last interglacial?

We present a hypothesis that best explains cosmogenic isotope data on blue-ice moraines in the Heritage Range, West Antarctica. The age of the moraines implies that they, and the related ice-sheet surface with which they are associated, have persisted on the flanks of nunataks throughout at least the last interglacial/glacial cycle. The implication is that although the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) may have fluctuated in thickness during glacial cycles, the central dome has remained intact for at least 200 kyr and possibly even for 400 kyr. Such a finding, if substantiated, would contribute to our understanding of the sensitivity of the WAIS to climate change. Further it would be a powerful geomorphic constraint on models of the past behaviour of the ice sheet during glacial cycles and thus those predicting the future of the ice sheet in a warming world.

► We propose a hypothesis that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet survived intact for at least one glacial cycle.
► This is based on the age of blue-ice moraines on the ice surface and adjacent nunataks.
► The continuity and dating points to the persistence of the ice sheet for 200 kyr.
► The Weddell Sea sector behaved differently to the Ross and Amundsen Sea sectors.