Modelling of Last Glacial Maximum ice sheets using different accumulation parameterizations

• Published in: Annals of Glaciology
• Main Authors: Fabre, Adeline, Ritz, Catherine, Ramstein, Gilles
• Other Authors: Laboratoire de glaciologie et géophysique de l'environnement (LGGE), Observatoire des Sciences de l'Univers de Grenoble (OSUG), Université Joseph Fourier - Grenoble 1 (UJF)-Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology (Grenoble INP )-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies pour l'environnement et l'agriculture (IRSTEA)-Université Savoie Mont Blanc (USMB Université de Savoie Université de Chambéry )-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Joseph Fourier - Grenoble 1 (UJF)-Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology (Grenoble INP )-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies pour l'environnement et l'agriculture (IRSTEA)-Université Savoie Mont Blanc (USMB Université de Savoie Université de Chambéry )-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Laboratoire de Modélisation du Climat et de l'Environnement (LMCE)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 1997
• Subjects: [SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean; Atmosphere; [SDU.ENVI]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Continental interfaces; environment; Greenland; Peltier; Annals of Glaciology; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-03011909; https://hal.science/hal-03011909/document; https://hal.science/hal-03011909/file/annglacio.pdf; https://doi.org/10.3189/S0260305500012210

International audience We use a three-dimensional thermomechanical ice-sheet model, previously tested on the Greenland ice sheet, to reconstruct Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) ice sheets. We compare the effects on the results of the ice-sheet model of three different accumulation parameterization schemes. In the first and second schemes, LGM precipitation is computed from the present precipitation, taking and not taking into account moisture transport. In the third scheme, LGM precipitation and surface temperatures are computed using outputs of an atmospheric global circulation model (AGCM), treated in anomaly mode.Results are compared to the last reconstruction of the Northern Hemisphere ice sheets (Peltier, 1994), computed using global rebound rates in a visco-elastic model of the Earth’s crust. The first two accumulation parameterizations do not give satisfactory reconstructions of the LGM ice sheets, since they are unable to compute realistic LGM climatic conditions. The third method gives very satisfactory results, which leads us to conclude that the best way to obtain realistic LGM climatic conditions is to use AGCM outputs.