Please join me in congratulating of GRG collaborator Dr Karen Vyverberg on the publication of her new paper in the journal Science Advances  and the accompanying press release here. 

Vyverberg, K., A. Dutton, B. Dechnik, J. M. Webster, R. L. Edwards, D. Zwartz, P. Zhang, M. Pythoud and R. M. DeConto (2025). “Episodic reef growth in the Last Interglacial driven by competing influence of polar ice sheets to sea level rise.” Science Advances 11(24): https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/sciadv.adu3701

Fig 1. Vyverberg et al., 2025 – Science Advances

This paper presents a new analysis of fossil coral reefs in the Seychelles (~129–116 ka) to reconstruct relative and global mean sea-level (RSL, GMSL) changes during the Last Interglacial (LIG).

Key findings of the paper include:

• Episodic Reef Growth: Three distinct reef-building phases (A–C) interrupted by two brief sea-level falls at ~126 and ~124 ka, inferred from sedimentary discontinuities.
• Peak Sea Level: Occurred at ~122–123 ka, reaching ~+7.4 m RSL; not consistent with a late rapid sea-level peak.
• Drivers of Sea-Level Change: Suggest asynchronous ice sheet behavior—early Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS) melt followed by later Greenland Ice Sheet (GIS) and Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS) contributions.
• Sea-Level Oscillations: Rapid (possibly <500 yrs) pulses of sea-level fall and rise point to high sensitivity of polar ice sheets to climatic changes.
• Implications: LIG peak GMSL may underestimate total future sea-level rise because LIG contributions were out-of-phase, whereas future warming will affect both poles simultaneously.

Fig 2. Vyverberg et al., 2025 – Science Advances

The study is part of a wonderful ongoing collaboration between the GRG and Professor Andrea Dutton’s sea level and ice sheet dynamics research group at the University of Madison Wisconsin-Madison. To find out more you can check out the really interesting and interactive article discussing the wider program of research in the Washington Post here.

The new Sciences Advances paper represents an important contribution to our understanding of the dynamic behaviour of the polar ice sheets to past (and possibly future) warming.

Bravo Karen, Andrea and the whole team!

Cheers

Jody

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Scenes from the Seyschelles