Reappraisal of sea-ice distribution in Atlantic and Pacific sectors of the Southern Ocean at 18,000 yr BP

The question of the distribution of winter and summer sea-ice cover during the last glacial maximum (18,000 yr BP ) is important in climatic modelling of the glacial world. We have now compared satellite-derived 5-yr monthly averages of per cent summer sea-ice cover in the Atlantic and Pacific sectors of the Southern Ocean with the distribution of reported sedimentological indicators of sea-ice cover at the sediment–water interface. These data strongly suggest that sediment type cannot be used to identify summer sea-ice limits, neither in Recent sediments nor in sediments of the last glacial maximum. Rather, the data seem to indicate that sediment type can be used to identify spring sea-ice limits for these two time intervals.