Simulating Arctic Climate Warmth and Icefield Retreat in the Last Interglaciation

• Published in: Science
• Main Authors: Otto-Bliesner, Bette L., Marshall, Shawn J., Overpeck, Jonathan T., Miller, Gifford H., Hu, Aixue
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 2006
• Subjects: Arctic; Greenland; ice core; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1120808; https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.1120808

In the future, Arctic warming and the melting of polar glaciers will be considerable, but the magnitude of both is uncertain. We used a global climate model, a dynamic ice sheet model, and paleoclimatic data to evaluate Northern Hemisphere high-latitude warming and its impact on Arctic icefields during the Last Interglaciation. Our simulated climate matches paleoclimatic observations of past warming, and the combination of physically based climate and ice-sheet modeling with ice-core constraints indicate that the Greenland Ice Sheet and other circum-Arctic ice fields likely contributed 2.2 to 3.4 meters of sea-level rise during the Last Interglaciation.