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

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 ant...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geophysical Research Letters
Main Authors: Driesschaert, Emmanuelle, Fichefet, Thierry, Goosse, Hugues, Huybrechts, P., Janssens, I., Mouchet, A., Munhoven, G., Brovkin, Victor, Weber, Shlomo
Other Authors: UCL - SC/PHYS - Département de physique, UCL - SST/ELI/ELIC - Earth & Climate
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Amer Geophysical Union 2007
Subjects:
Greenland
Ice Sheet
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/37599
https://doi.org/10.1029/2007GL029516
Description
Summary: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.

Similar Items