CLIMATE MODEL STUDIES OF INTER:ACTIONS BETWEEN ICE SHEETS AND THE ATMOSPHERE-oCEAN SYSTEM

A number of climate modeling studies have been conducted at the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory to study the irlteraction of continental ice sheets with the climate system. This paper reviews some! of the primary results from these studies. Substantial changes in atmospheric circul~~tion, location and intensity of storm tracks, precipitation distribution, sea surface temlperature, sea ice extent, and soil moisture occur in response to the ice sheets of the Ic~st glacial maximum. Estimates of the mass budgets of these ice sheets suggest that they are not in equilibrium with the simulated LGM climate, although questions regardinlg the refreezing of surface meltwater make this result uncertain. Results from climate model experiments with and without orography suggest that orographic uplift could have produced a climate slightly more favorable for ice sheet initiation.