Glacial Inception on Baffin Island: The Role of Insolation, Meteorology, and Topography
Geologic evidence suggests that the last glacial inception (115 kya) occurred within the mountains of Baffin Island. Global climate models (GCMs) have difficulty simulating this climate transition, likely because of their coarse horizontal resolution that smooths topography and necessitates the use...
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American Meteorological Society
2018
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/114862 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7807-2878 |
| _version_ | 1811072300056838144 |
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| author | Birch, Leah Tziperman, Eli Cronin, Timothy Wallace |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences Birch, Leah Tziperman, Eli Cronin, Timothy Wallace |
| author_sort | Birch, Leah |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Geologic evidence suggests that the last glacial inception (115 kya) occurred within the mountains of Baffin Island. Global climate models (GCMs) have difficulty simulating this climate transition, likely because of their coarse horizontal resolution that smooths topography and necessitates the use of cumulus parameterizations. A regional configuration of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model is used to simulate the small-scale topographic and cloud processes neglected by GCMs, and the sensitivity of the region to Milankovitch forcing, topography, and meteorology is tested. It is found that ice growth is possible with 115-kya insolation, realistic topography, and slightly colder-than-average meteorology, represented by specific years within the past three decades. The simulation with low GCM-like topography shows a negative surface mass balance, even with the relevant orbital parameter configuration, demonstrating the criticality of realistic topography. The downslope growth of the ice sheets is studied by looking at the sensitivity of the mass balance to initial snow cover prescribed beyond that of the present day. It is found that the snow-albedo feedback, via its effects on the mass balance, allows such larger snow cover to persist. Implications for GCM studies of glacial inception are discussed. Keywords: Climate change; Climate variability; Glaciation; Paleoclimate |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T09:03:47Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/114862 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T09:03:47Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publisher | American Meteorological Society |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1148622022-09-26T10:11:55Z Glacial Inception on Baffin Island: The Role of Insolation, Meteorology, and Topography Birch, Leah Tziperman, Eli Cronin, Timothy Wallace Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences Cronin, Timothy Wallace Geologic evidence suggests that the last glacial inception (115 kya) occurred within the mountains of Baffin Island. Global climate models (GCMs) have difficulty simulating this climate transition, likely because of their coarse horizontal resolution that smooths topography and necessitates the use of cumulus parameterizations. A regional configuration of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model is used to simulate the small-scale topographic and cloud processes neglected by GCMs, and the sensitivity of the region to Milankovitch forcing, topography, and meteorology is tested. It is found that ice growth is possible with 115-kya insolation, realistic topography, and slightly colder-than-average meteorology, represented by specific years within the past three decades. The simulation with low GCM-like topography shows a negative surface mass balance, even with the relevant orbital parameter configuration, demonstrating the criticality of realistic topography. The downslope growth of the ice sheets is studied by looking at the sensitivity of the mass balance to initial snow cover prescribed beyond that of the present day. It is found that the snow-albedo feedback, via its effects on the mass balance, allows such larger snow cover to persist. Implications for GCM studies of glacial inception are discussed. Keywords: Climate change; Climate variability; Glaciation; Paleoclimate 2018-04-23T14:44:08Z 2018-04-23T14:44:08Z 2017-05 2016-08 2018-04-20T13:47:04Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0894-8755 1520-0442 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/114862 Birch, Leah et al. “Glacial Inception on Baffin Island: The Role of Insolation, Meteorology, and Topography.” Journal of Climate 30, 11 (June 2017): 4047–4064 © 2017 American Meteorological Society https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7807-2878 http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-16-0576.1 Journal of Climate Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf American Meteorological Society American Meteorological Society |
| spellingShingle | Birch, Leah Tziperman, Eli Cronin, Timothy Wallace Glacial Inception on Baffin Island: The Role of Insolation, Meteorology, and Topography |
| title | Glacial Inception on Baffin Island: The Role of Insolation, Meteorology, and Topography |
| title_full | Glacial Inception on Baffin Island: The Role of Insolation, Meteorology, and Topography |
| title_fullStr | Glacial Inception on Baffin Island: The Role of Insolation, Meteorology, and Topography |
| title_full_unstemmed | Glacial Inception on Baffin Island: The Role of Insolation, Meteorology, and Topography |
| title_short | Glacial Inception on Baffin Island: The Role of Insolation, Meteorology, and Topography |
| title_sort | glacial inception on baffin island the role of insolation meteorology and topography |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/114862 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7807-2878 |
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