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Abstract:
The last deglaciation experienced the retreat of massive ice sheets and a transition from the cold Last Glacial Maximum to the warmer Holocene. Key simulation challenges for this period include the timing and extent of ice sheet decay and meltwater input into the oceans. Here, major uncertainties and forcing factors for the last deglaciation are evaluated. Two sets of transient simulations are performed based on the novel ice-sheet reconstruction PaleoMist and the more established GLAC1D. The simulations reveal that the proximity of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) to a bifurcation point, where it can switch between on- and off-modes, is primarily determined by the interplay of greenhouse gas concentrations, orbital forcing and freshwater forcing. The PaleoMist simulation qualitatively replicates the Bølling-Allerød (BA)/Younger Dryas (YD) sequence: a warming in Greenland and Antarctica during the BA, followed by a cooling northern North Atlantic and an Antarctic warming during the YD.
