Air-Ice-Ocean Feedback Mechanisms and Ice Oscillation on Millennial Time Scales

• Main Author: Chu, P. C.
• Other Authors: NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL MONTEREY CA DEPT OF OCEANOGRAPHY
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1990
• Subjects: Atmospheric Physics; Physical and Dynamic Oceanography; Snow; Ice and Permafrost; *AIR; *ICE; *GLACIERS; *OCEANS; REPRINTS; TEMPERATURE; ATMOSPHERIC TEMPERATURE; ACCUMULATION; SEA LEVEL; HEIGHT; OSCILLATION; CLIMATE; STRENGTH(GENERAL); FREEZING; MODIFICATION; LOW TEMPERATURE; *ICE OSCILLATION; Ice; permafrost
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA480185; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA480185

Air-ice-ocean feedback mechanisms, which are not conventionally incorporated within either climate or glacial models, are investigated to illustrate their potential role in generating ice advance/retreat on the time scale of 10(3) - 10(4) years; i.e. for examining the internal causes for the ice oscillation. Three main feedback loops are found from a coupled air-ice-ocean model developed in this paper; (a) ice advance - lower air temperature - ice freezing - ice advance; and (b) ice advance - higher ocean temperature - ice melting - ice retreat; (c) ice advance/retreat - modification of evaporation rate - change of ice accumulation rate and sea-level height - ice advance/retreat. The relative strength of the three feedback mechanisms determines the characteristics of the modes; growing or decaying, oscillatory or nonoscillatory. The solutions show the generation of growing oscillatory modes with the time scale of 10(3) - 10(4) years in certain parameter ranges. Pub. Annals of Glaciology, v14, p28-31, 1990.