Simulating the Laurentide Ice Sheet of the Last Glacial Maximum
In the last decades, great effort has been made to reconstruct the Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS) during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM; ca. 21 000 years before present, 21 kyr ago). Uncertainties underlying its modelling have led to notable differences in fundamental features such as its maximum elevati...
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Copernicus Publications
2023
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2139-2023 https://doaj.org/article/ecef6e7b7d43411da33c1b82175bd511 |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:ecef6e7b7d43411da33c1b82175bd511 2023-06-11T04:12:46+02:00 Simulating the Laurentide Ice Sheet of the Last Glacial Maximum D. Moreno-Parada J. Alvarez-Solas J. Blasco M. Montoya A. Robinson 2023-05-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2139-2023 https://doaj.org/article/ecef6e7b7d43411da33c1b82175bd511 EN eng Copernicus Publications https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/17/2139/2023/tc-17-2139-2023.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-17-2139-2023 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://doaj.org/article/ecef6e7b7d43411da33c1b82175bd511 The Cryosphere, Vol 17, Pp 2139-2156 (2023) Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 article 2023 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2139-2023 2023-05-28T00:35:41Z In the last decades, great effort has been made to reconstruct the Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS) during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM; ca. 21 000 years before present, 21 kyr ago). Uncertainties underlying its modelling have led to notable differences in fundamental features such as its maximum elevation, extent and total volume. As a result, the uncertainty in ice dynamics and thus in ice extent, volume and ice stream stability remains large. We herein use a higher-order three-dimensional ice sheet model to simulate the LIS under LGM boundary conditions for a number of basal friction formulations of varying complexity. Their consequences for the Laurentide ice streams, configuration, extent and volume are explicitly quantified. Total volume and ice extent generally reach a constant equilibrium value that falls close to prior LIS reconstructions. Simulations exhibit high sensitivity to the dependency of the basal shear stress on the sliding velocity. In particular, a regularised Coulomb friction formulation appears to be the best choice in terms of ice volume and ice stream realism. Pronounced differences are found when the basal friction stress is thermomechanically coupled: the base remains colder, and the LIS volume is lower than in the purely mechanical friction scenario counterpart. Thermomechanical coupling is fundamental for producing rapid ice streaming, yet it leads to a similar ice distribution overall. Article in Journal/Newspaper Ice Sheet The Cryosphere Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles The Cryosphere 17 5 2139 2156 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 |
spellingShingle |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 D. Moreno-Parada J. Alvarez-Solas J. Blasco M. Montoya A. Robinson Simulating the Laurentide Ice Sheet of the Last Glacial Maximum |
topic_facet |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 |
description |
In the last decades, great effort has been made to reconstruct the Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS) during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM; ca. 21 000 years before present, 21 kyr ago). Uncertainties underlying its modelling have led to notable differences in fundamental features such as its maximum elevation, extent and total volume. As a result, the uncertainty in ice dynamics and thus in ice extent, volume and ice stream stability remains large. We herein use a higher-order three-dimensional ice sheet model to simulate the LIS under LGM boundary conditions for a number of basal friction formulations of varying complexity. Their consequences for the Laurentide ice streams, configuration, extent and volume are explicitly quantified. Total volume and ice extent generally reach a constant equilibrium value that falls close to prior LIS reconstructions. Simulations exhibit high sensitivity to the dependency of the basal shear stress on the sliding velocity. In particular, a regularised Coulomb friction formulation appears to be the best choice in terms of ice volume and ice stream realism. Pronounced differences are found when the basal friction stress is thermomechanically coupled: the base remains colder, and the LIS volume is lower than in the purely mechanical friction scenario counterpart. Thermomechanical coupling is fundamental for producing rapid ice streaming, yet it leads to a similar ice distribution overall. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
D. Moreno-Parada J. Alvarez-Solas J. Blasco M. Montoya A. Robinson |
author_facet |
D. Moreno-Parada J. Alvarez-Solas J. Blasco M. Montoya A. Robinson |
author_sort |
D. Moreno-Parada |
title |
Simulating the Laurentide Ice Sheet of the Last Glacial Maximum |
title_short |
Simulating the Laurentide Ice Sheet of the Last Glacial Maximum |
title_full |
Simulating the Laurentide Ice Sheet of the Last Glacial Maximum |
title_fullStr |
Simulating the Laurentide Ice Sheet of the Last Glacial Maximum |
title_full_unstemmed |
Simulating the Laurentide Ice Sheet of the Last Glacial Maximum |
title_sort |
simulating the laurentide ice sheet of the last glacial maximum |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2139-2023 https://doaj.org/article/ecef6e7b7d43411da33c1b82175bd511 |
genre |
Ice Sheet The Cryosphere |
genre_facet |
Ice Sheet The Cryosphere |
op_source |
The Cryosphere, Vol 17, Pp 2139-2156 (2023) |
op_relation |
https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/17/2139/2023/tc-17-2139-2023.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-17-2139-2023 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://doaj.org/article/ecef6e7b7d43411da33c1b82175bd511 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2139-2023 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
17 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
2139 |
op_container_end_page |
2156 |
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1768388858809942016 |