Recent precipitation trends over the polar ice sheets

Summary Meteorological and glaciological analyses are integrated to examine the precipitation trends during the last three decades over the ice sheets covering Antarctica and Greenland. For Antarctica, the best data source is provided by glaciologically-measured trends of snow accumulation, and for limited sectors of East Antarctica consistency with precipitation amounts calculated from the atmospheric water balance equation is obtained. For Greenland, precipitation rates parameterized from atmospheric analyses yield the only comprehensive depiction. The precipitation rate over Antarctica appears to have increased by about 5% over a time period spanning the accumulation means for the 1955–65 to 1965–75 periods, while over Greenland it has decreased by about 15% since 1983 with a secondary increase over the southern part of the ice sheet starting in 1977. At the end of the 10-year overlapping period, the global sea-level impact of the precipitation changes over Antarctica dominates that for Greenland and yields a net ice-sheet precipitation contribution of roughly 0.02 mm yr^–1. These changes are likely due to marked variations in the cyclonic forcing affecting the ice sheets, but are only weakly reflected in the temperature regime, consistent with the episodic nature of cyclonic precipitation. These conclusions are not founded on high quality data bases. The importance of such changes for understanding global sea-level variations argues for a modest research effort to collect simultaneous meteorological and glaciological observations in order to describe and understand the current precipitation variations over both ice sheets. Some suggestions are offered for steps that could be taken.With 8 Figures     

The Natural Fluctuations of Firn Densification and Their Effect on the Geodetic Determination of Ice Sheet Mass Balance

A one-dimensional, numerical model of time-evolving firn densification was used to simulate the response of the density profile through an ice sheet to changes in the temperature, density and accumulation rate at the surface. The equilibrium response of the model was compared with ice-core density profiles from Byrd, Antarctica and Site 2, Greenland, and the model predicted the density to within 10% of both cores. The response of the model to step-wise changes and random fluctuations in the surface boundary conditions was investigated. The standard deviation of elevation changes as a function of observation interval was computed. These changes were found to be small in comparison with the magnitude of present uncertainties in the mass balances of the Antarctic and Greenland Ice Sheets. It was concluded that, in the dry snow zones, natural variability in the densification will not prevent the geodetic determination of ice sheet mass balance from improving upon current estimates. Uncertainty in the constitutive equation for snow and firn is the dominant source of error in the calculations.     

Sensitivity of a Greenland ice sheet model to ice flow and ablation parameters: consequences for the evolution through the last climatic cycle

Sensitivity experiments are conducted to test the influence of poorly known model parameters on the simulation of the Greenland ice sheet by means of a three dimensional numerical model including the mechanical and thermal processes within the ice. Two types of experiments are performed: steady-state climatic conditions and simulations over the last climatic cycle with a climatic forcing derived from the GRIP record. The experiments show that the maximum altitude of the ice sheet depends on the ice flow parameters (deformation and sliding law coefficients, geothermal flux) and that it is low when the ice flow is fast. On the other hand, the maximum altitude is not sensitive to the ablation strength and consequently during the climatic cycle it is driven by changes in accumulation rate. The ice sheet extension shows the opposite sensitivity: it is barely affected by ice flow velocity and the ice covered area is smaller for large ablation coefficients. For colder climates, when there is no ablation, the ice sheet extension depends on the sea level. An interesting result is that the variations with time of the altitude at the ice divide (Summit) do not depend on the parameters we tested. The present modelled ice sheets resulting from the climatic cycle experiments are compared with the present measured ice sheet in order to find the set of parameters that gives the best fit between modelled and measured geometry. It seems that, compared to the parameter set most commonly used, higher ablation rate coefficents must be used. Received: 19 September 1995 / Accepted: 30 May 1996     

Late Pliocene to Pleistocene sensitivity of the Greenland Ice Sheet in response to external forcing and internal feedbacks

The timing and nature of ice sheet variations on Greenland over the last ～5 million years remain largely uncertain. Here, we use a coupled climate-vegetation-ice sheet model to determine the climatic sensitivity of Greenland to combined sets of external forcings and internal feedbacks operating on glacial-interglacial timescales. In particular, we assess the role of atmospheric pCO₂, orbital forcing, and vegetation dynamics in modifying thresholds for the onset of glaciation in late Pliocene and Pleistocene. The response of circum-Arctic vegetation to declining levels of pCO₂ (from 400 to 200 ppmv) and decreasing summer insolation includes a shift from boreal forest to tundra biomes, with implications for the surface energy balance. The expansion of tundra amplifies summer surface cooling and heat loss from the ground, leading to an expanded summer snow cover over Greenland. Atmospheric and land surface fields respond to forcing most prominently in late spring-summer and are more sensitive at lower Pleistocene-like levels of pCO₂. We find cold boreal summer orbits produce favorable conditions for ice sheet growth, however simulated ice sheet extents are highly dependent on both background pCO₂ levels and land-surface characteristics. As a result, late Pliocene ice sheet configurations on Greenland differ considerably from late Pleistocene, with smaller ice caps on high elevations of southern and eastern Greenland, even when orbital forcing is favorable for ice sheet growth.     

GCM simulations of the Last Glacial Maximum surface climate of Greenland and Antarctica

 The LMDz variable grid GCM was used to simulate the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, 21 ky Bp.) climate of Greenland and Antarctica at a spatial resolution of about 100 km.The high spatial resolution allows to investigate the spatial variability of surface climate change signals, and thus to address the question whether the sparse ice core data can be viewed as representative for the regional scale climate change. This study addresses primarily surface climate parameters because these can be checked against the, limited, ice core record. The changes are generally stronger for Greenland than for Antarctica, as the imposed changes of the forcing boundary conditions (e.g., sea surface temperatures) are more important in the vicinity of Greenland. Over Greenland, and to a limited extent also in Antarctica, the climate shows stronger changes in winter than in summer. The model suggests that the linear relationship between the surface temperature and inversion strength is modified during the LGM. The temperature dependency of the moisture holding capacity of the atmosphere alone cannot explain the strong reduction in snowfall over central Greenland; atmospheric circulation changes also play a crucial role. Changes in the high frequency variability of snowfall, atmospheric pressure and temperature are investigated and possible consequences for the interpretation of ice core records are discussed. Using an objective cyclone tracking scheme, the importance of changes of the atmospheric dynamics off the coasts of the ice sheets, especially for the high frequency variability of surface climate parameters, is illustrated. The importance of the choice of the LGM ice sheet topography is illustrated for Greenland, where two different topographies have been used, yielding results that differ quite strongly in certain nontrivial respects. This means that the paleo-topography is a significant source of uncertainty for the modelled paleoclimate. The sensitivity of the Greenland LGM climate to the prescribed sea surface conditions is examined by using two different LGM North Atlantic data sets. Received: 23 October 1997 / Accepted: 17 March 1998     

Climate modification by future ice sheet changes and consequences for ice sheet mass balance

The future evolution of global ice sheets under anthropogenic greenhouse forcing and its impact on the climate system, including the regional climate of the ice sheets, are investigated with a comprehensive earth system model consisting of a coupled Atmosphere–Ocean General Circulation Model, a dynamic vegetation model and an ice sheet model. The simulated control climate is realistic enough to permit a direct coupling of the atmosphere and ice sheet components, avoiding the use of anomaly coupling, which represents a strong improvement with respect to previous modelling studies. Glacier ablation is calculated with an energy-balance scheme, a more physical approach than the commonly used degree-day method. Modifications of glacier mask, topographic height and freshwater fluxes by the ice sheets influence the atmosphere and ocean via dynamical and thermodynamical processes. Several simulations under idealized scenarios of greenhouse forcing have been performed, where the atmospheric carbon dioxide stabilizes at two and four times pre-industrial levels. The evolution of the climate system and the ice sheets in the simulations with interactive ice sheets is compared with the simulations with passively coupled ice sheets. For a four-times CO₂ scenario forcing, a faster decay rate of the Greenland ice sheet is found in the non-interactive case, where melting rates are higher. This is caused by overestimation of the increase in near-surface temperature that follows the reduction in topographic height. In areas close to retreating margins, melting rates are stronger in the interactive case, due to changes in local albedo. Our results call for careful consideration of the feedbacks operating between ice sheets and climate after substantial decay of the ice sheets.     

Multiple instabilities and modes of glacial rhythmicity in the plio-Pleistocene: a general theory of late Cenozoic climatic change

It has been noted that several distinct modes of glacial oscillation have existed during the past few million years, ranging from low-amplitude, high-frequency oscillations in the early Pliocene, through relatively high amplitude, predominantly near-40 ky period, oscillations in the late Pliocene and early Pleistocene, to the major near-100 ky period oscillations of the late Pleistocene. In addition to other plausible mechanisms suggested previously to explain aspects of this multirhythmic phenomenon, we now illustrate another possible contributor to this type of behavior based on the hypothesis that the slow-response climatic system is bistable and that two kinds of internal instability may be operative along with externally imposed forcing due to earth-orbital (Milankovitch) radiation changes and slow, tectonically-induced changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide. These two instabilities have been discussed previously: one is due to positive feedback in the global carbon cycle leading to near-100 ky free oscillations of the ice sheets, and the other is due to the potential for ice-calving catastrophes associated with bedrock variations that can lead to oscillations of a period near 40 ky, independent of obliquity forcing. Within the framework of a dynamical model containing the possibility for these two instabilities, as well as for stable modes, we show (1) how Milankovitch radiative changes or stochastic forcing influencing ice sheets can induce aperiodic (chaotic) transitions between the possible stable and unstable modes, and more significantly, (2) how progressive, long-term, tectonically-induced, changes in carbon dioxide, acting in concert with earth-orbital radiative variations in high Northern Hemisphere latitudes, can force systematic transitions between the modes. Such systematic changes can result in an ice mass chronology for the past 5 My that is qualitatively similar to the observed record of global ice mass. In essence, we have constructed a minimum dynamical model of the late Cenozoic climatic changes, containing what are believed to be the main physical factors determining these changes: ice mass, bedrock depression, atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration, deep ocean thermohaline state, Milankovitch radiation forcing, and slow tectonically-induced carbon dioxide forcing. This model forms the basis for a coherent theory for the complex climatic events of this long period.     

Sensitivity of the last glacial inception to initial and surface conditions

We investigate the sensitivity of simulations of the last glacial inception (LGI) with respect to initial (size of the Greenland ice sheet) and surface (state of ocean/vegetation) conditions and two different CO₂ reconstructions. Utilizing the CLIMBER-2 Earth system model, we obtain the following results: (a) ice-sheet expansion in North America at the end of the Eemian can be reduced or even completely suppressed when pre-industrial or Eemian ocean/vegetation is prescribed. (b) A warmer surrounding ocean and, in particular, a large Laurentide ice sheet reduce the size of the Greenland ice sheet before and during the LGI. (c) A changing ocean contributes much stronger to the expansion of the Laurentide ice sheet when we apply the CO₂ reconstruction according to Barnola et al. (Nature 329:408–414, 1987) instead of Petit et al. (Nature 399:429–436, 1999). (d) In the fully coupled model, the CO₂ reconstruction used has only a small impact on the simulated ice sheets but it does impact the course of the climatic variables. (e) For the Greenland ice sheet, two equilibrium states exist under the insolation and CO₂ forcing at 128,000 years before present (128 kyear BP); the one with an ice sheet reduced by about one quarter as compared to its simulated pre-industrial size and the other with nearly no inland ice in Greenland. (f) Even the extreme assumption of no ice sheet in Greenland at the beginning of our transient simulations does not alter the simulated expansion of northern hemispheric ice sheets at the LGI.     

Long-term ice sheet–climate interactions under anthropogenic greenhouse forcing simulated with a complex Earth System Model

Several multi-century and multi-millennia simulations have been performed with a complex Earth System Model (ESM) for different anthropogenic climate change scenarios in order to study the long-term evolution of sea level and the impact of ice sheet changes on the climate system. The core of the ESM is a coupled coarse-resolution Atmosphere–Ocean General Circulation Model (AOGCM). Ocean biogeochemistry, land vegetation and ice sheets are included as components of the ESM. The Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) decays in all simulations, while the Antarctic ice sheet contributes negatively to sea level rise, due to enhanced storage of water caused by larger snowfall rates. Freshwater flux increases from Greenland are one order of magnitude smaller than total freshwater flux increases into the North Atlantic basin (the sum of the contribution from changes in precipitation, evaporation, run-off and Greenland meltwater) and do not play an important role in changes in the strength of the North Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (NAMOC). The regional climate change associated with weakening/collapse of the NAMOC drastically reduces the decay rate of the GrIS. The dynamical changes due to GrIS topography modification driven by mass balance changes act first as a negative feedback for the decay of the ice sheet, but accelerate the decay at a later stage. The increase of surface temperature due to reduced topographic heights causes a strong acceleration of the decay of the ice sheet in the long term. Other feedbacks between ice sheet and atmosphere are not important for the mass balance of the GrIS until it is reduced to 3/4 of the original size. From then, the reduction in the albedo of Greenland strongly accelerates the decay of the ice sheet.     

Global Warming and the Greenland Ice Sheet

The Greenland coastal temperatures have followed the early 20th century global warming trend. Since 1940, however, the Greenland coastal stations data have undergone predominantly a cooling trend. At the summit of the Greenland ice sheet the summer average temperature has decreased at the rate of 2.2 °C per decade since the beginning of the measurements in 1987. This suggests that the Greenland ice sheet and coastal regions are not following the current global warming trend. A considerable and rapid warming over all of coastal Greenland occurred in the 1920s when the average annual surface air temperature rose between 2 and 4 °C in less than ten years (at some stations the increase in winter temperature was as high as 6 °C). This rapid warming, at a time when the change in anthropogenic production of greenhouse gases was well below the current level, suggests a high natural variability in the regional climate. High anticorrelations (r = ?0.84 to?0.93) between the NAO (North Atlantic Oscillation) index and Greenland temperature time series suggest a physical connection between these processes. Therefore, the future changes in the NAO and Northern Annular Mode may be of critical consequence to the future temperature forcing of the Greenland ice sheet melt rates.     

A continuous simulation of global ice volume over the past 1 million years with 3-D ice-sheet models

Sea-level records show large glacial-interglacial changes over the past million years, which on these time scales are related to changes of ice volume on land. During the Pleistocene, sea-level changes induced by ice volume are largely caused by the waxing and waning of the large ice sheets in the Northern Hemisphere. However, the individual contributions of ice in the Northern and Southern Hemisphere are poorly constrained. In this study, for the first time a fully coupled system of four 3-D ice-sheet models is used, simulating glaciations on Eurasia, North America, Greenland and Antarctica. The ice-sheet models use a combination of the shallow ice and shelf approximations to determine sheet, shelf and sliding velocities. The framework consists of an inverse forward modelling approach to derive a self-consistent record of temperature and ice volume from deep-sea benthic δ¹⁸O data over the past 1 million years, a proxy for ice volume and temperature. It is shown that for both eustatic sea level and sea water δ¹⁸O changes, the Eurasian and North American ice sheets are responsible for the largest part of the variability. The combined contribution of the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets is about 10 % for sea level and about 20 % for sea water δ¹⁸O during glacial maxima. However, changes in interglacials are mainly caused by melt of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, with an average time lag of 4 kyr between melt and temperature. Furthermore, we have tested the separate response to changes in temperature and sea level for each ice sheet, indicating that ice volume can be significantly influenced by changes in eustatic sea level alone. Hence, showing the importance of a simultaneous simulation of all four ice sheets. This paper describes the first complete simulation of global ice-volume variations over the late Pleistocene with the possibility to model changes above and below present-day ice volume, constrained by observations of benthic δ¹⁸O proxy data.     

Snowpack model estimates of the mass balance of the Greenland ice sheet and its changes over the twentyfirst century

The performance of a snow cover model in capturing the ablation on the Greenland ice sheet is evaluated. This model allows an explicit calculation of the formation of melt water, of the fraction of melt water which re-freezes, and of runoff in the ablation region. The input climate variables to the snowpack model come from two climate models. While the higher resolution general circulation model (ECHAM 4), is closest to observations in its estimate of accumulation, it fails to give accurate results in its predictions of runoff, primarily in the southern half of the ice sheet. The two-dimensional low-resolution climate model (MIT 2D LO) produces estimates of runoff from the Greenland ice sheet within the range of uncertainty of the Inter governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC1) 1995 estimates. Both models reproduce some of the characteristics of the extent of the wet snow zone observed with satellite remote sensing; the MIT model is closer to observations in terms of areal extent and intensity of the melting in the southern half of the ice-sheet in July and August while the ECHAM model reproduces melting in the northern half of the ice sheet well. Changes in runoff from Greenland and Antarctica are often cited as one of the major concerns linked to anthropogenic changes in climate. Because it is based on physical principles and relies on the surface energy balance as input, the snow cover model can respond to the current climatic forcing as well as to future changes in climate on the century time scale without the limitations inherent in empirical parametrizations. For a reference climate scenario similar to the IPCC's IS92a, the model projects that the Greenland ice sheet does not contribute significantly to changes in the level of the ocean over the twenty-first century. Increases in accumulation over the central portion of the ice sheet offset most of the increase in melting and runoff, which takes place along the margins of the ice sheet. The range of uncertainty in the predictions of sea-level rise is estimated by repeating the calculation with the MIT model for seven climate change scenarios. The range is –0.5 to 1.7 cm.     

Short‐term volume changes of the Greenland ice sheet in response to doubled CO2 conditions

This paper focuses on the rôle of accumulation and cloudiness changes in the response of the Greenland ice sheet to global warming. Changes in accumulation or cloudiness were often neglected, or coupled to temperature changes. We used model output on temperature, precipitation and cloudiness from a GCM (ECHAM4 T106). The GCM output was used to drive the Greenland model that exists of a vertically averaged ice flow model, coupled to a 1D surface energy balance model that calculates the ablation. Variables are temperature, accumulation and cloudiness. Sensitivity experiments with this model show that changes in accumulation are very important for the ice sheet mass balance, whereas cloudiness is of secondary importance. If the Greenland model is forced by the GCM output, the Greenland model is found to contribute 70% less to sea level rise after 70 years than is indicated by the results presented in the IPCC report. This large discrepancy is mainly due to the fact that the enhanced ablation is strongly compensated by increased accumulation. Comparing the result obtained here with changes in mass balance derived directly from the same general circulation model, indicates a 20% larger contribution to sea level. This increase is due to changes in ice flow, and a different method for the ablation calculation.     

Simulations of the Last Glacial Maximum climates using a general circulation model: prescribed versus computed sea surface temperatures

 The climate during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) has been simulated using the UK Universities Global Atmospheric Modelling Programme (UGAMP) general circulation model (GCM) with both prescribed sea surface temperatures (SSTs) based on the CLIMAP reconstruction and computed SSTs with a simple thermodynamic slab ocean. Consistent with the Paleoclimate Modelling Intercomparison Project (PMIP), the other boundary conditions include the large changes in ice-sheet topography and geography, a lower sea level, a lower concentration of CO₂ in the atmosphere, and a slightly different insolation pattern at the top of the atmosphere. The results are analysed in terms of changes in atmospheric circulation. Emphasis is given to the changes in surface temperatures, planetary waves, storm tracks and the associated changes in distribution of precipitation. The model responds in a similar manner to the changes in boundary conditions to previous studies in global mean statistics, but differs in its treatment of regional climates. Results also suggest that both the land ice sheets and sea ice introduce significant changes in planetary waves and transient eddy activity, which in turn affect regional climates. The computed SST simulations predict less sea ice and cooler tropical temperatures than those based on CLIMAP SSTs. It is unclear as to whether this is a model and/or a data problem, but the resulting changes in land temperatures and precipitation can be large. Snow mass budget analysis suggests that there is net ice loss along the southern edges of the Laurentide and Fennoscandian ice sheets and net ice gain over other parts of the two ice sheets. The net accumulation is mainly due to the decrease in ablation in the cold climate rather than to the changes in snowfall. The characteristics of the Greenland ice-sheet mass balance in the LGM simulations is also quite different from those in the present-day (PD) simulations. The ablation in the LGM simulations is negligible while it is a very important process in the ice mass budget in the PD simulations. Received: 10 January 1997 / Accepted: 11 December 1997     

Present and future near-surface wind climate of Greenland from high resolution regional climate modelling

The present and twenty-first century near-surface wind climate of Greenland is presented using output from the regional atmospheric climate model RACMO2. The modelled wind variability and wind distribution compare favourably to observations from three automatic weather stations in the ablation zone of southwest Greenland. The Weibull shape parameter is used to classify the wind climate. High values (κ > 4) are found in northern Greenland, indicative of uniform winds and a dominant katabatic forcing, while lower values (κ < 3) are found over the ocean and southern Greenland, where the synoptic forcing dominates. Very high values of the shape parameter are found over concave topography where confluence strengthens the katabatic circulation, while very low values are found in a narrow band along the coast due to barrier winds. To simulate the future (2081–2098) wind climate RACMO2 was forced with the HadGEM2-ES general circulation model using a scenario of mid-range radiative forcing of +4.5 W m^?2 by 2100. For the future simulated climate, the near-surface potential temperature deficit reduces in all seasons in regions where the surface temperature is below the freezing point, indicating a reduction in strength of the near-surface temperature inversion layer. This leads to a wind speed reduction over the central ice sheet where katabatic forcing dominates, and a wind speed increase over steep coastal topography due to counteracting effects of thermal and katabatic forcing. Thermally forced winds over the seasonally sea ice covered region of the Greenland Sea are reduced by up to 2.5 m s^?1.     

Present And Past Ice-Sheet Mass Balance Simulations For Greenland And The Tibetan Plateau

Net annual mass balance was evaluated for Greenland and the Tibetan Plateau using the meteorological forcings from the NCEP reanalysis and two GCMs (FOAM1.0 and CSM1.4) for modern climate and for different time periods extending back to the beginning of the Holocene (11,000 years ago) for the climate models. The ice-sheet budget calculations, using the degree day methodology, were performed on a finer grid than the model output by interpolating monthly precipitation and surface temperature and correcting the latter to account for the GCMs smoothed topography. The computed net mass balance for Greenland in the present day is positive and it ranges between 290–300 mm water equivalent (w.e.)/year for the two models, values close to the NCEP estimate of 250 mm/year. The past climate simulations show that the Greenland mass balance has become slightly more positive since the beginning of the Holocene. The Tibetan Plateaus present-day area average net mass balance is negative and ranges between –1200 and –2000 mm w.e. /year for the two models, values bracketing the NCEP estimate of 1700 mm/year, although the balance is positive over small regions of the plateau consistent with the existence of small ice caps and glaciers. The calculated past mass balance shows an increasingly less negative value for FOAM from 11,000 years ago towards the present and expansion of the positive mass balance areas, mainly due to decreased snow ablation as the summertime insolation decreases with the changes in orbital forcing; in CSM the opposite trend occurs but changes are smaller and less systematic. The result from FOAM shows that the likelihood of ice sheets developing on the Tibetan Plateau may have increased since 11000 years ago, which is consistent with some glacial records.     

Impact of Greenland and Antarctic ice sheet interactions on climate sensitivity

We use the Earth system model of intermediate complexity LOVECLIM to show the effect of coupling interactive ice sheets on the climate sensitivity of the model on a millennial time scale. We compare the response to a 2×CO₂ warming scenario between fully coupled model versions including interactive Greenland and Antarctic ice sheet models and model versions with fixed ice sheets. For this purpose an ensemble of different parameter sets have been defined for LOVECLIM, covering a wide range of the model??s sensitivity to greenhouse warming, while still simulating the present-day climate and the climate evolution over the last millennium within observational uncertainties. Additional freshwater fluxes from the melting ice sheets have a mitigating effect on the model??s temperature response, leading to generally lower climate sensitivities of the fully coupled model versions. The mitigation is effectuated by changes in heat exchange within the ocean and at the sea?Cair interface, driven by freshening of the surface ocean and amplified by sea?Cice-related feedbacks. The strength of the effect depends on the response of the ice sheets to the warming and on the model??s climate sensitivity itself. The effect is relatively strong in model versions with higher climate sensitivity due to the relatively large polar amplification of LOVECLIM. With the ensemble approach in this study we cover a wide range of possible model responses.     

Past and future polar amplification of climate change: climate model intercomparisons and ice-core constraints

Climate model simulations available from the PMIP1, PMIP2 and CMIP (IPCC-AR4) intercomparison projects for past and future climate change simulations are examined in terms of polar temperature changes in comparison to global temperature changes and with respect to pre-industrial reference simulations. For the mid-Holocene (MH, 6,000 years ago), the models are forced by changes in the Earth’s orbital parameters. The MH PMIP1 atmosphere-only simulations conducted with sea surface temperatures fixed to modern conditions show no MH consistent response for the poles, whereas the new PMIP2 coupled atmosphere–ocean climate models systematically simulate a significant MH warming both for Greenland (but smaller than ice-core based estimates) and Antarctica (consistent with the range of ice-core based range). In both PMIP1 and PMIP2, the MH annual mean changes in global temperature are negligible, consistent with the MH orbital forcing. The simulated last glacial maximum (LGM, 21,000 years ago) to pre-industrial change in global mean temperature ranges between 3 and 7°C in PMIP1 and PMIP2 model runs, similar to the range of temperature change expected from a quadrupling of atmospheric CO₂ concentrations in the CMIP simulations. Both LGM and future climate simulations are associated with a polar amplification of climate change. The range of glacial polar amplification in Greenland is strongly dependent on the ice sheet elevation changes prescribed to the climate models. All PMIP2 simulations systematically underestimate the reconstructed glacial–interglacial Greenland temperature change, while some of the simulations do capture the reconstructed glacial–interglacial Antarctic temperature change. Uncertainties in the prescribed central ice cap elevation cannot account for the temperature change underestimation by climate models. The variety of climate model sensitivities enables the exploration of the relative changes in polar temperature with respect to changes in global temperatures. Simulated changes of polar temperatures are strongly related to changes in simulated global temperatures for both future and LGM climates, confirming that ice-core-based reconstructions provide quantitative insights on global climate changes. An erratum to this article can be found at     

Quantifying Arctic contributions to climate predictability in a regional coupled ocean-ice-atmosphere model

The relative importance of regional processes inside the Arctic climate system and the large scale atmospheric circulation for Arctic interannual climate variability has been estimated with the help of a regional Arctic coupled ocean-ice-atmosphere model. The study focuses on sea ice and surface climate during the 1980s and 1990s. Simulations agree reasonably well with observations. Correlations between the winter North Atlantic Oscillation index and the summer Arctic sea ice thickness and summer sea ice extent are found. Spread of sea ice extent within an ensemble of model runs can be associated with a surface pressure gradient between the Nordic Seas and the Kara Sea. Trends in the sea ice thickness field are widely significant and can formally be attributed to large scale forcing outside the Arctic model domain. Concerning predictability, results indicate that the variability generated by the external forcing is more important in most regions than the internally generated variability. However, both are in the same order of magnitude. Local areas such as the Northern Greenland coast together with Fram Straits and parts of the Greenland Sea show a strong importance of internally generated variability, which is associated with wind direction variability due to interaction with atmospheric dynamics on the Greenland ice sheet. High predictability of sea ice extent is supported by north-easterly winds from the Arctic Ocean to Scandinavia.     

Equilibrium ice sheet scaling in climate modeling

A set of simple scaling formulas related to ice sheet evolution is derived from the dynamic and thermodynamic equations for ice and is used to consider two common situations: (a) when we wish to estimate potential ice sheet characteristics given the prescribed net snow accumulation over an area; and (b) when we wish to reconstruct net snow accumulation and vertical temperature difference within the ice sheet given empirical data only concerning ice sheet area and volume. The scaling formulas are applied to the present day Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets, as well as to some ancient ice sheets, and are used to estimate the potential global sea level change due to greenhouse warming.