Modeling the influence of Greenland ice sheet melting on the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation during the next millennia

peer reviewed A three-dimensional Earth system model of intermediate complexity including a dynamic ice sheet component has been used to investigate the long-term evolution of the Greenland ice sheet and its effects on the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) in response to a range of...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geophysical Research Letters
Main Authors: Driesschaert, E., Fichefet, T., Goosse, H., Huybrechts, P., Janssens, I., Mouchet, Anne, Munhoven, Guy, Brovkin, V., Weber, S. L.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: American Geophysical Union 2007
Subjects:
Online Access:https://orbi.uliege.be/handle/2268/5018
https://doi.org/10.1029/2007GL029516
Description
Summary:peer reviewed A three-dimensional Earth system model of intermediate complexity including a dynamic ice sheet component has been used to investigate the long-term evolution of the Greenland ice sheet and its effects on the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) in response to a range of stabilized anthropogenic forcings. Our results suggest that the Greenland ice sheet volume should experience a significant decrease in the future. For a radiative forcing exceeding 7.5 W m(-2), the modeled ice sheet melts away within 3000 years. A number of feedbacks operate during this deglaciation, implying a strong nonlinear relationship between the radiative forcing and the melting rate. Only in the most extreme scenarios considered, the freshwater flux from Greenland into the surrounding oceans ( of ca. 0.1 Sv during a few centuries) induces a noticeable weakening of the AMOC in the model.