Interactions between ice sheets and atmospheric circulation during ice ages

• Main Author: Beghin, Pauline
• Other Authors: Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement Gif-sur-Yvette (LSCE), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Direction de Recherche Fondamentale (CEA) (DRF (CEA)), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA), Université de Versailles-Saint Quentin en Yvelines, Sylvie Charbit
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: French
• Published: HAL CCSD 2015
• Subjects: Atmospheric circulation; Ice ages; Ice sheets; Circulation atmosphérique; Ages glaciaires; Calottes de glaces; Dernier maximum glaciaire; [SDU.STU.CL]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Climatology; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: https://theses.hal.science/tel-01236500; https://theses.hal.science/tel-01236500/document; https://theses.hal.science/tel-01236500/file/pdf2star-1448978454-2015VERS003V.pdf

The last glacial period is characterized by the presence of two large ice sheets covering Canada and North Eurasia. These ice sheets are a key element of the climatic system by interacting with all the components of the Earth system. The aim of this thesis is to determine by which mechanisms changes in atmospheric circulation may have induced a teleconnexionbetween the Northern hemisphere paleo-ice sheets. The use of a simplified coupled climate-ice sheet model allowed to test separately the influence of the ice-sheet topography and albedo on temperature and precipitation fields throughout the last glacial cycle and to highlight the role of atmospheric circulation within the synergy of past boreal ice sheets.To investigate in more details the underlying mechanisms, the use of a general circulation model was necessary.I therefore carried out an inter-comparisonof the PMIP3 models to examine the GCM responsesto glacial conditions. This work allowed to determinethe role of glacial conditions on the shift of the NorthAtlantic jet stream position and to establish a relationshipbetween this shift and the amount of precipitationover southern Europe. The last part of this thesisis devoted to the respective role of each ice sheeton atmospheric circulation changes observed underglacial conditions. To achieve this, I performed idealizedexperiments with the atmospheric circulationmodel LMDZ. The results highlight the key influenceof the North American ice sheet on the Eurasian icesheet surface mass balance. La dernière période glaciaire est marquée par la présence de deux grandes calottes boréales recouvrant l’actuel Canada et le nord de l’Eurasie. Ces calottes constituent un élément actif du système climatique en interagissant avec les différentes composantes du système Terre. L’objectif de cette thèse est de déterminer par quels mécanismes les changements de circulation atmosphérique lors du dernier cycle glaciaire induisent potentiellement une téléconnexion entre les paléo-calottes de l’hémisphère nord. L’utilisation ...