Joining Australia to Antarctica GCM implications for the Cenozoic record of Antarctic glaciation

A previous GCM study concerning the formation and maintenance of Antarctic glaciation is expanded to include the joining of Australia to Antarctica; the two continents were physically connected prior to about 40 million years ago. It has been proposed that the increased continentality resulting from the enlarged landmass inhibited glaciation by increasing the degree of summer heating. However, simulations with the NCAR CCM1 suggest little change in the net Antarctic snow accumulation when Australia is joined to Antarctica, even under extreme variations in SST and topography. If anything, there is a slight increase in the net accumulation with the larger landmass. The climate of Australia does change markedly, consistent with the roughly 30° poleward shift in latitude. These results may not be inconsistent with paleoclimatic data from the early Cenozoic and the Cretaceous, with temperate flora and fauna along the coast, and large ice sheets inland.