Background of a Geophysical Model of the Initiation of the Next Glaciation

• Published in: Quaternary Research
• Main Author: Flohn, Hermann
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1974
• Subjects: Antarctic; Antarc*; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0033-5894(74)90036-2; http://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:0033589474900362?httpAccept=text/xml; http://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:0033589474900362?httpAccept=text/plain; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0033589400031264

Evidence of (at least) five rapid hemispheric coolings of about 5°C during the last 10 5 yr has been found, each event spread over not more than about a century, as examples of a global-scale climatic intransitivity. Only some of them lead to a complete glaciation at the northern continents, others ended after a few centuries by a sudden warming (“abortive glaciation”). Starting from a modified version of Wilson's hypothesis of Antarctic ice surges, an air-sea interaction model with realistic geophysical parameters is outlined to interpret the sudden initiation of the North American ice sheet. Special attention is given to the Atlantic section, where the climatic anomalies during the last glaciation appear to have been significantly larger than in other sections.