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Geophysical ice-sheet models are used to predict future ice-sheet dimensions and, in turn, these projections help estimate the magnitude of eustatic sea-level rise. Before models can confidently predict ice-sheet behavior, they must be validated by being able to duplicate the geological record of ice-sheet change. Here, we review geological records of Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) change, with emphasis on the warmer-than-present middle Holocene, and compare these records to published studies that numerically simulate GrIS behavior through the Holocene. Geological records are concentrated in West and Southwest Greenland, which are also the regions where the GrIS margin likely experienced the greatest distance of inland retreat during the middle Holocene. Several records spanning from Melville Bugt to Jakobshavn Isfjord in western Greenland indicate the GrIS achieved its minimum extent between ~5 and 3 ka, and farther south in the Kangerlussuaq region, new data presented here indicate the ice margin reached its minimum extent between ~4.2 and 1.8 ka. In the Narsarsuaq region in southern Greenland, the GrIS likely achieved its minimum configuration between ~7 and 4 ka. We highlight key similarities and discrepancies between these reconstructions and model results, and finally, we suggest that despite some degree of inland retreat, the West and Southwest GrIS margin remained relatively stable and close to its current position through the Holocene thermal maximum.

We present 34 new cosmogenic 10Be exposure ages that constrain the Lateglacial (Bølling–Preboreal) history of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet in the Lysefjorden region, south-western Norway. We find that the classical Lysefjorden moraines, earlier thought to be entirely of Younger Dryas age, encompass three adjacent moraines attributed to at least two ice sheet advances of distinctly different ages. The 10Be age of the outermost moraine (14.0 ± 0.6 ka; n = 4) suggests that the first advance is of Older Dryas age. The innermost moraine is at least 2000 years younger and was deposited near the end of the Younger Dryas (11.4 ± 0.4 ka; n = 7). After abandonment of the innermost Lysefjorden Moraine, the ice front receded quickly towards the head of the fjord, where recession was interrupted by an advance that deposited the Trollgaren Moraine at 11.3 ± 0.9 ka (n = 5). 10Be ages from the inboard side of the Trollgaren Moraine suggest final retreat by 10.7 ± 0.3 ka (n = 7). The late culmination of the Younger Dryas advance contrasts with other sectors of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet where the margin appears to have culminated earlier during the Younger Dryas stadial, followed by retreat during the middle and late part of the Younger Dryas.

A global overview of glacier advances and retreats (grouped by regions and by millennia) for the Holocene is compiled from previous studies. The reconstructions of glacier fluctuations are based on 1) mapping and dating moraines defined by ¹⁴C, TCN, OSL, lichenometry and tree rings (discontinuous records/time series), and 2) sediments from proglacial lakes and speleothems (continuous records/time series). Using 189 continuous and discontinuous time series, the long-term trends and centennial fluctuations of glaciers were compared to trends in the recession of Northern and mountain tree lines, and with orbital, solar and volcanic studies to examine the likely forcing factors that drove the changes recorded. A general trend of increasing glacier size from the early–mid Holocene, to the late Holocene in the extra-tropical areas of the Northern Hemisphere (NH) is related to overall summer temperature, forced by orbitally-controlled insolation. The glaciers in New Zealand and in the tropical Andes also appear to follow the orbital trend, i.e., they were decreasing from the early Holocene to the present. In contrast, glacier fluctuations in some monsoonal areas of Asia and southern South America generally did not follow the orbital trends, but fluctuated at a higher frequency possibly triggered by distinct teleconnections patterns. During the Neoglacial, advances clustered at 4.4–4.2 ka, 3.8–3.4 ka, 3.3–2.8 ka, 2.6 ka, 2.3–2.1 ka, 1.5–1.4 ka, 1.2–1.0 ka, 0.7–0.5 ka, corresponding to general cooling periods in the North Atlantic. Some of these episodes coincide with multidecadal periods of low solar activity, but it is unclear what mechanism might link small changes in irradiance to widespread glacier fluctuations. Explosive volcanism may have played a role in some periods of glacier advances, such as around 1.7–1.6 ka (coinciding with the Taupo volcanic eruption at 232 ± 5 CE) but the record of explosive volcanism is poorly known through the Holocene. The compilation of ages suggests that there is no single mechanism driving glacier fluctuations on a global scale. Multidecadal variations of solar and volcanic activity supported by positive feedbacks in the climate system may have played a critical role in Holocene glaciation, but further research on such linkages is needed. The rate and the global character of glacier retreat in the 20th through early 21st centuries appears unusual in the context of Holocene glaciation, though the retreating glaciers in most parts of the Northern Hemisphere are still larger today than they were in the early and/or mid-Holocene. The current retreat, however, is occurring during an interval of orbital forcing that is favorable for glacier growth and is therefore caused by a combination of factors other than orbital forcing, primarily strong anthropogenic effects. Glacier retreat will continue into future decades due to the delayed response of glaciers to climate change.

The climatic mechanisms driving the shift from the Medieval Warm Period (MWP) to the Little Ice Age (LIA) in the North Atlantic region are debated. We use cosmogenic beryllium-10 dating to develop a moraine chronology with century-scale resolution over the last millennium and show that alpine glaciers in Baffin Island and western Greenland were at or near their maximum LIA configurations during the proposed general timing of the MWP. Complimentary paleoclimate proxy data suggest that the western North Atlantic region remained cool, whereas the eastern North Atlantic region was comparatively warmer during the MWP—a dipole pattern compatible with a persistent positive phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation. These results demonstrate that over the last millennium, glaciers approached their eventual LIA maxima before what is considered the classic LIA in the Northern Hemisphere. Furthermore, a relatively cool western North Atlantic region during the MWP has implications for understanding Norse migration patterns during the MWP. Our results, paired with other regional climate records, point to nonclimatic factors as contributing to the Norse exodus from the western North Atlantic region.