Motivated to help improve the robustness of predictions of sea level rise, the BRITICE‐CHRONO project advanced knowledge of the former British–Irish Ice Sheet, from 31 to 15 ka, so that it can be used as a data‐rich environment to improve ice sheet modelling. The project comprised over 40 palaeoglaciologists, covering expertise in terrestrial and marine geology and geomorphology, geochronometric dating and the modelling of ice...

New optically stimulated luminescence dating and Bayesian models integrating all legacy and BRITICE‐CHRONO geochronology facilitated exploration of the controls on the deglaciation of two former sectors of the British–Irish Ice Sheet, the Donegal Bay (DBIS) and Malin Sea ice‐streams (MSIS). Shelf‐edge glaciation occurred ~27 ka, before the global Last Glacial Maximum, and shelf‐wide retreat began 26–26.5 ka at a rate of ~18.7–...

Predicting the future response of ice sheets to climate warming and rising global sea level is important but difficult. This is especially so when fast‐flowing glaciers or ice streams , buffered by ice shelves, are grounded on beds below sea level. What happens when these ice shelves are removed? And how do the ice stream and the surrounding ice sheet respond to the abruptly altered boundary conditions? To address these questi...

Understanding the pace and drivers of marine‐based ice‐sheet retreat relies upon the integration of numerical ice‐sheet models with observations from contemporary polar ice sheets and well‐constrained palaeo‐glaciological reconstructions. This paper provides a reconstruction of the retreat of the last British–Irish Ice Sheet (BIIS) from the Atlantic shelf west of Ireland during and following the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). It...

The findings of BRITICE‐CHRONO Transect 2 through the North Sea Basin and eastern England are reported. We define ice‐sheet marginal oscillation between ~31 and 16 ka, with seven distinctive former ice‐sheet limits (L1–7) constrained by Bayesian statistical analysis. The southernmost limit of the North Sea Lobe is recorded by the Bolders Bank Formation (L1; 25.8–24.6 ka). L2 represents ice‐sheet oscillation and early retreat t...

Here we reconstruct the last advance to maximum limits and retreat of the Irish Sea Glacier (ISG), the only land‐terminating ice lobe of the western British Irish Ice Sheet. A series of reverse bedrock slopes rendered proglacial lakes endemic, forming time‐transgressive moraine‐ and bedrock‐dammed basins that evolved with ice marginal retreat. Combining, for the first time on glacial sediments, optically stimulated luminescenc...

The offshore sector around Shetland remains one of the least well‐studied parts of the former British–Irish Ice Sheet with several long‐standing scientific issues unresolved. These key issues include (i) the dominance of a locally sourced ‘Shetland ice cap’ vs an invasive Fennoscandian Ice Sheet; (ii) the flow configuration and style of glaciation at the Last Glacial Maximum (i.e. terrestrial vs marine glaciation); (iii) the n...

During decline of the last British–Irish Ice Sheet (BIIS) down‐wasting of ice meant that local sources played a larger role in regulating ice flow dynamics and driving the sediment and landform record. At the Last Glacial Maximum, glaciers in north‐western England interacted with an Irish Sea Ice Stream (ISIS) occupying the eastern Irish Sea basin (ISB) and advanced as a unified ice‐mass. During a retreat constrained to 21–17....

We present an 8000‐year history spanning 650 km of ice margin retreat for the largest marine‐terminating ice stream draining the former British–Irish Ice Sheet. Bayesian modelling of the geochronological data shows the ISIS expanded 34.0–25.3 ka, accelerating into the Celtic Sea to reach maximum limits 25.3–24.5 ka before a collapse with rapid marginal retreat to the northern Irish Sea Basin (ISB). This retreat was rapid and d...

Cumulative probability functions (CPFs) for large numbers of radiocarbon age determinations are increasingly being used by scientists as a methodology to discern environmental histories. While the recent compilation of regional databases of the radiocarbon dating control for fluvial sediment sequences has been beneficial for identifying gaps in knowledge and stimulating new research, there are a number of problems that critica...

The Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) of Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 2 is defined here as the period either of maximum global ice volume or in which major ice sheets reached their maximum extent. Both definitions lack clarity as there is no reason to suppose that maximum volumes or limits were reached simultaneously at either all ice sheets or around the margins of individual ice sheets. Here we review the traditional terrestrial limi...

The historic era, which in Cumbria begins with the Roman invasion of AD 71, is a frequently neglected period in palaeoecological research, but its study can bring benefits in improving knowledge of landscape history and in understanding the significance and limitations of palaeoecological records. Pollen and geochemical data are presented for late Holocene records from Deer Dyke and Hulleter Mosses in southern Cumbria. The rec...