We show that southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina) colonies existed proximate to the Ross Ice Shelf during the Holocene, well south of their core sub-Antarctic breeding and molting grounds. We propose that this was due to warming (including a previously unrecognized period from Ϸ1,100 to 2,300 14 C yr B.P.) that decreased coastal sea ice and allowed penetration of warmer-thanpresent climate conditions into the Ross Embayment. If, as proposed in the literature, the ice shelf survived this period, it would have been exposed to environments substantially warmer than present.Antarctica ͉ southern elephant seals

We report evidence of a large proglacial lake (Glacial Lake Wright) that existed in Wright Valley in the McMurdo Dry Valleys region of Antarctica at the last glacial maximum (LGM) and in the early Holocene. At its highstands, Glacial Lake Wright would have stretched 50 km and covered c. 210 km2. Chronology for lake-level changes comes from 30 AMS radiocarbon dates of lacustrine algae preserved in deltas, shorelines, and glaciolacustrine deposits that extend up to 480 m above present-day lakes. Emerging evidence suggests that Glacial Lake Wright was only one of a series of large lakes to occupy the McMurdo Dry Valleys and the valleys fronting the Royal Society Range at the LGM. Although the cause of such high lake levels is not well understood, it is believed to relate to cool, dry conditions which produced fewer clouds, less snowfall, and greater amounts of absorbed radiation, leading to increased meltwater production.

We present evidence of a large lake (Glacial Lake Victoria) that existed in Victoria Valley in the dry valleys region of Antarctica between at least 20 000 and 8600 14 C yr BP. At its highstands, Glacial Lake Victoria covered 100 km 2 and was ca. 200 m deep. The chronology for lake-level changes comes from 87 AMS radiocarbon dates of lacustrine algae preserved in deltas and glaciolacustrine deposits that extend up to 185 m above present-day lakes on the valley floor. The existence of Glacial Lake Victoria, as well as other large lakes in the dry valleys, indicates a climate regime significantly different from that of today at the last glacial maximum and in the early Holocene.