[Island Chris]

This is the SCAR meeting, which is Antarctic climate science. I did not post on what I did June 2-August 8: I worked with an excellent undergrad intern, and we together interpreted that Central Trough in Ross Sea is a >50 km-wide by 400 km-long pre-30 million year erosional trough. I is U-shaped. So, we interpret it as evidence for the earliest West Antarctic Ice sheet. The unconformity cuts down into what we interpret as faulted sedimentary rocks deposited during a rifting (extension) event that was over about 55 million years ago. The unconformity post dates the rifting, so its last erosion was after 55 Ma, and before 30 Ma. The first West Antarctic Ice was ~33.7 million years ago: recent work suggests the volume of the whole Antarctic Ice Sheet then was a bit larger than it is now.

Our glacial trough hypothesis was wildly controversial and 4 co-authors suggested we tone it down (we toned it down) and 1 asked to not be co-author.

I want to publish this: could be my highest impact paper. But could be the undergrad intern as first author; she will be famous and I will be "and others".

Chris