Still no evidence for an ice flow over the Somerset levels.

Correcting the record with regards to an embarrassing flight of fancy that there is evidence in the latest research for a glacial ice flow towards Stonehenge. 

“The paper by Ely et al. (2024) provides no basis for asserting that ice flowed over the Somerset Levels, as this region is not mentioned in connection with any ice advance. The simulation extending furthest south into the Celtic Sea, covering parts of Cornwall and Devon, is explicitly noted as lacking empirical support (Page 23). "In the simulation which reaches the furthest south in the Celtic Sea, an ice extent for which there is currently no evidence occurs over south‐west England (Cornwall and Devon), with ice advanced over the present‐day coastline." The claim of ice flowing over the Somerset Levels would thus be an overreach beyond the paper’s findings. In the broader Celtic Sea and Irish Sea regions, ice flow is generally inferred to be southwards or south-westwards, particularly associated with the Irish Sea Ice Stream, with no evidence presented for a south-easterly flow in the Bristol Channel. Figure 21, which addresses ice extent and fast-flowing regions, does not depict specific flow directions in the Bristol Channel but highlights model-data mismatches in the Celtic Sea.”

Ely, J.C., Clark, C.D., Bradley, S.L., Gregoire, L., Gandy, N., Gasson, E., Veness, R.L.J. and Archer, R. (2024), Behavioural tendencies of the last British–Irish Ice Sheet revealed by data–model comparison. J. Quaternary Sci, 39: 839-871. https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.3628

Figure 21. The location and persistence of fast flow. Fast flow was defined as regions of ice flowing above 100m a−1. Values reflect the number of NROY simulations (likelihood) that produce ice stream flow for over 100 years (persistence), once the differing durations of ice cover each NROY produces are accounted for. (a) Overall persistence of ice stream conditions map. (b) and (c) show the locations of trimlines (Clark et al., 2018) in relation to ice streams. Note how many are co‐located with regions of low ice stream persistence and likelihood. Overall, this map could be viewed as a proxy for glaciation‐scaled erosivity and compared with the distribution and type of landforms such as tors, roches moutonnées, U‐shaped valleys, bedforms, etc. Modern‐day coastline is shown for orientation. [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]