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1: Science. 2006 Mar 24;311(5768):1751-3.Click here to read Links
Comment in:
Science. 2006 Aug 25;313(5790):1043-5; author reply 1043-5.

Simulating Arctic climate warmth and icefield retreat in the last interglaciation.

Otto-Bliesner BL, Marshall SJ, Overpeck JT, Miller GH, Hu A.

Climate and Global Dynamics Division, National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), Boulder, CO 80305, USA. ottobli@ucar.edu

In the future, Arctic warming and the melting of polar glaciers will be considerable, but the magnitude of both is uncertain. We used a global climate model, a dynamic ice sheet model, and paleoclimatic data to evaluate Northern Hemisphere high-latitude warming and its impact on Arctic icefields during the Last Interglaciation. Our simulated climate matches paleoclimatic observations of past warming, and the combination of physically based climate and ice-sheet modeling with ice-core constraints indicate that the Greenland Ice Sheet and other circum-Arctic ice fields likely contributed 2.2 to 3.4 meters of sea-level rise during the Last Interglaciation.

PMID: 16556838 [PubMed]