Melting of Northern Greenland during the last interglaciation
Using simulated climate data from the comprehensive coupled climate model IPSL CM4, we simulate the Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) during the Eemian interglaciation with the three-dimensional ice sheet model SICOPOLIS. The Eemian is a period 126 000 yr before present (126 ka) with Arctic temperatures co...
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ftcopernicus:oai:publications.copernicus.org:tc13513 2023-05-15T15:06:29+02:00 Melting of Northern Greenland during the last interglaciation Born, A. Nisancioglu, K. H. 2018-09-27 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-6-1239-2012 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/6/1239/2012/ eng eng doi:10.5194/tc-6-1239-2012 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/6/1239/2012/ eISSN: 1994-0424 Text 2018 ftcopernicus https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-6-1239-2012 2020-07-20T16:25:39Z Using simulated climate data from the comprehensive coupled climate model IPSL CM4, we simulate the Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) during the Eemian interglaciation with the three-dimensional ice sheet model SICOPOLIS. The Eemian is a period 126 000 yr before present (126 ka) with Arctic temperatures comparable to projections for the end of this century. In our simulation, the northeastern part of the GrIS is unstable and retreats significantly, despite moderate melt rates. This result is found to be robust to perturbations within a wide parameter space of key parameters of the ice sheet model, the choice of initial ice temperature, and has been reproduced with climate forcing from a second coupled climate model, the CCSM3. It is shown that the northeast GrIS is the most vulnerable. Even a small increase in melt removes many years of ice accumulation, giving a large mass imbalance and triggering the strong ice-elevation feedback. Unlike the south and west, melting in the northeast is not compensated by high accumulation. The analogy with modern warming suggests that in coming decades, positive feedbacks could increase the rate of mass loss of the northeastern GrIS, exceeding the recent observed thinning rates in the south. Text Arctic Greenland Ice Sheet Copernicus Publications: E-Journals Arctic Greenland The Cryosphere 6 6 1239 1250 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Copernicus Publications: E-Journals |
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ftcopernicus |
language |
English |
description |
Using simulated climate data from the comprehensive coupled climate model IPSL CM4, we simulate the Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) during the Eemian interglaciation with the three-dimensional ice sheet model SICOPOLIS. The Eemian is a period 126 000 yr before present (126 ka) with Arctic temperatures comparable to projections for the end of this century. In our simulation, the northeastern part of the GrIS is unstable and retreats significantly, despite moderate melt rates. This result is found to be robust to perturbations within a wide parameter space of key parameters of the ice sheet model, the choice of initial ice temperature, and has been reproduced with climate forcing from a second coupled climate model, the CCSM3. It is shown that the northeast GrIS is the most vulnerable. Even a small increase in melt removes many years of ice accumulation, giving a large mass imbalance and triggering the strong ice-elevation feedback. Unlike the south and west, melting in the northeast is not compensated by high accumulation. The analogy with modern warming suggests that in coming decades, positive feedbacks could increase the rate of mass loss of the northeastern GrIS, exceeding the recent observed thinning rates in the south. |
format |
Text |
author |
Born, A. Nisancioglu, K. H. |
spellingShingle |
Born, A. Nisancioglu, K. H. Melting of Northern Greenland during the last interglaciation |
author_facet |
Born, A. Nisancioglu, K. H. |
author_sort |
Born, A. |
title |
Melting of Northern Greenland during the last interglaciation |
title_short |
Melting of Northern Greenland during the last interglaciation |
title_full |
Melting of Northern Greenland during the last interglaciation |
title_fullStr |
Melting of Northern Greenland during the last interglaciation |
title_full_unstemmed |
Melting of Northern Greenland during the last interglaciation |
title_sort |
melting of northern greenland during the last interglaciation |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-6-1239-2012 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/6/1239/2012/ |
geographic |
Arctic Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Greenland |
genre |
Arctic Greenland Ice Sheet |
genre_facet |
Arctic Greenland Ice Sheet |
op_source |
eISSN: 1994-0424 |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/tc-6-1239-2012 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/6/1239/2012/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-6-1239-2012 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
6 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
1239 |
op_container_end_page |
1250 |
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1766338077982195712 |