Northern Hemisphere Ice-Sheet Influences on Global Climate Change

Large ice sheets actively interact with the rest of the climate system by amplifying, pacing, and potentially driving global climate change over several time scales. Direct and indirect influences of ice sheets on climate cause changes in ocean surface temperatures, ocean circulation, continental wa...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science
Main Authors: Clark, Peter U., Alley, Richard B., Pollard, David
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 1999
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.286.5442.1104
https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.286.5442.1104
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Summary:Large ice sheets actively interact with the rest of the climate system by amplifying, pacing, and potentially driving global climate change over several time scales. Direct and indirect influences of ice sheets on climate cause changes in ocean surface temperatures, ocean circulation, continental water balance, vegetation, and land-surface albedo, which in turn cause additional feedbacks in the climate system and help to synchronize global climate change. The effect of the underlying geological substrate on ice-sheet dynamics may be the missing link in understanding the ice sheet–climate interactions that are integral to the middle Pleistocene transition; the 100,000-year climate cycle; high-amplitude, millennial-scale climate variability; and low–aspect ratio ice sheets of the Last Glacial Maximum.