The Petermann 2015 expedition to Petermann Fjord and adjacent Hall Basin recovered a transect of cores, extending from Nares Strait to underneath the 48 km long ice tongue of Petermann glacier, offering a unique opportunity to study ice-ocean-sea ice interactions at the interface of these realms. First results suggest that no ice tongue existed in Petermann Fjord for large parts of the Holocene, raising the question of the role of the ocean and the marine cryosphere in the collapse and re-establishment of the ice tongue. Here we use a multi-proxy approach (sea-ice-related biomarkers, total organic carbon and its carbon isotopic composition, and benthic and planktonic foraminiferal abundances) to explore Holocene sea ice dynamics at OD1507-03TC-41GC-03PC in outer Petermann Fjord. Our results are in line with a tight coupling of the marine and terrestrial cryosphere in this region and, in connection with other regional sea ice reconstructions, give insights into the Holocene evolution of ice arches and associated landfast ice in Nares Strait. The late stages of the regional Holocene Thermal Maximum (6900-5500 cal yr BP) were marked by reduced seasonal sea ice concentrations in Nares Strait and the lack of ice arch formation. This was followed by a transitional period towards Neoglacial cooling from 5500-3500 cal yr BP, where a southern ice arch might have formed, but an early seasonal breakup and late formation likely caused a prolonged open water season and enhanced pelagic productivity in Nares Strait. Between 3500 and 1400 cal yr BP, regional records suggest the formation of a stable northern ice arch only, with a short period from 2500-2100 cal yr BP where a southern ice arch might have formed intermittently in response to atmospheric cooling spikes. A stable southern ice arch, or even double arching, is also inferred for the period after 1400 cal yr BP. Thus, both the inception of a small Petermann ice tongue at similar to 2200 cal yr BP and its rapid expansion at similar to 600 cal yr BP are preceded by a transition towards a southern ice arch regime with landfast ice formation in Nares Strait, suggesting a stabilizing effect of landfast sea ice on Petermann Glacier.

Knowledge about the future response of the Greenland Ice Sheet to global climate change, including ice sheet contributions to sea level rise, is important for understanding the impact of climate change on society. Such studies rely in ice sheet model predictions and improved chronological constraints of past ice sheet extents and paleoclimatic trends. Many regions in Greenland are well studied, but northwest Greenland and especially Melville Bay, being one of the most important regions in terms of dynamical ice mass loss, lack a firm chronology of Holocene ice marginal fluctuations. In this study, we present the first comprehensive chronology for Melville Bay spanning 73.1-75.7 degrees N based on 36 new Be-10 exposure ages of boulders and 39 new radiocarbon ages of marine molluscs in Little Ice Age moraines. From weighted mean Be-10 exposure ages, excluding 6 outliers, we find that the outer coast in Melville Bay was deglaciated similar to 11.6 +/- 0.3 ka (n = 15) and the ice margin reached its present-day position 40 km farther inland similar to 11.5 +/- 0.3 ka (n = 15). Our results suggest an interval of rapid ice-marginal retreat (i.e. collapse) of the northwest GrIS in Melville Bay, most likely triggered by rapidly rising atmospheric temperatures in early Holocene. Additionally, combining the comprehensive dataset of new radiocarbon ages with 26 radiocarbon ages from previous studies shows a restricted ice sheet extent from 9.1 +/- 0.2 to 0.4 +/- 0.1 cal ka BP, which coincides with increased sea surface temperatures. Our results highlight past ice sheet sensitivity towards climate changes in one of the least explored and most vulnerable regions of Greenland. Furthermore, comparing our new results to already existing ice sheet models (Huy3 and Huy3b) emphasize the proximal relevance of the Agassiz ice core temperature reconstruction for Melville Bay, which indicates the possible sensitivity of the ice sheet to a warming climate and place improved constraints on ice sheet simulations.

The origins and Pleistocene evolution of plateau landscapes along passive continental margins of the North Atlantic have been debated for more than a century. A key question in this debate concerns whether glacial and periglacial surface processes have substantially eroded plateau areas during late Cenozoic climatic cooling or whether the plateaus have mainly been protected from erosion by cold-based and largely nonerosive ice sheets. Here we investigate the Pleistocene evolution of a prominent plateau landscape in Reinheimen National Park, southern Norway. We estimate erosion rates across the plateau via inverse modeling of 141 new cosmogenic Be-10 and Al-26 measurements in regolith profiles and bedrock. We combine these results with sedimentological analyses of the regolith. In the vicinity of Reinheimen's regolith-covered summits, the combination of uniformly slow erosion (<10m/Myr) and near-parabolic slope geometry suggests long-term equilibrium with the presently active periglacial mass-wasting processes. Outside summit areas, erosion is faster (up to >50m/Myr), possibly due to episodic glacial erosion. Despite some indications of chemical alteration, such as grusic saprolite and small amounts of secondary minerals, the fine regolith comprises low clay/silt ratios and is dominated by primary minerals with no sign of dissolution. Together with our modeled erosion rates, this indicates that the regolith cover formed, and continues to develop, during the cold climate of the Late Pleistocene. Plain Language Summary Plateaus dissected by steep-sided valleys and fjords are common landscape elements within the mountains bordering the North Atlantic. Most of these plateaus have likely experienced millions of years of near-freezing temperatures and were repeatedly covered by ice sheets during recent glacial periods. Yet the imprint of cold-climate erosion processes on the plateau landscape evolution remains poorly understood. Here we investigate the Pleistocene evolution of an extensive Scandinavian plateau landscape in Reinheimen National Park, southern Norway. We measure cosmogenic nuclides within the surficial layers of rock and sediment on the plateau. The concentration of these cosmogenic nuclides reflects the erosion of the plateau landscape and thereby the impact of recent cold-climate surface processes. We find that erosion has influenced the plateaus within the latest glacial cycles. In the vicinity of the highest, sediment-clad summits, the plateau shape is determined by processes related to freezing and thawing of rocks and sediment, while the influence of erosion by glaciers and streams increases further downslope.