Climatic conditions for modelling the Northern Hemisphere ice sheets throughout the ice age cycle

• Main Authors: Abe-Ouchi, A., Segawa, T., Saito, F.
• Other Authors: Center for Climate System Research Kashiwa (CCSR), The University of Tokyo (UTokyo), Frontier Research Center for Global Change (FRCGC), Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2007
• Subjects: [SDU.ENVI]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Continental interfaces; environment; [SDU.STU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-00298176; https://hal.science/hal-00298176/document; https://hal.science/hal-00298176/file/cpd-3-301-2007.pdf

International audience The ice sheet-climate interaction as well as the climatic response to orbital parameters and atmospheric CO 2 content are examined in order to drive an ice sheet model throughout an ice age cycle. Feedback processes between ice sheet and atmosphere are analyzed by numerical experiments using a high resolution General Circulation Model (GCM) under different conditions at the Last Glacial Maximum. Among the proposed processes, the ice albedo feedback, the elevation-mass balance feedback and the desertification effect over ice sheet were found to be the dominant processes for the ice-sheet mass balance. The temperature lapse rate over the ice sheet is proposed to be about 5 °C km ?1 , which is weaker than assumed in other studies. Within the plausible range of parameters related to these processes, the ice sheet response to orbital parameters and atmospheric CO 2 content for the last glacial/interglacial cycle was simulated in terms of both ice volume and geographical distribution, using a three-dimensional ice-sheet model. Careful treatment related to climate-ice sheet feedback is essential for a reliable simulation of ice sheet changes during ice age cycles.