The initiation of ice sheet growth,Milankovitch solar radiation variations,and the 100 ky ice age cycle

Much work has gone into deciphering the causes of the large scale glacial/interglacial variations in the climate system over the last 900 000 years. While variations on the 41 thousand year (ky) and 23 ky time scales seem to be linearly linked to the variations in the distribution of solar radiation at the top of the atmosphere, Milankovitch solar radiation variations, the causes of the dominant 100 ky cycle in the geologic record are still unknown. One of the aspects of this cycle that is not well understood is how large scale ice sheet growth is initiated. Here we describe the mechanisms by which large scale ice sheet growth may have been initiated by the changes in the seasonal and latitudinal distribution of solar radiation over the past 160 ky. This is done through the use of a coupled energy balance climate-thermodynamic sea ice model that includes a hydrologic cycle which computes precipitation, and a land surface energy balance which determines the net accumulation of snow and ice. Results indicate that the initiation of ice sheet growth is possible during times of extremely low summer solstice solar radiation as a result of a large decrease in ablation during the critical melt season.