Changes in the extent of North American ice sheets during the late Cenozoic

1998 ◽  
Vol 35 (5) ◽  
pp. 504-509 ◽  
Author(s):  
René W Barendregt ◽  
Edward Irving
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
North American ◽  
Ice Sheets ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Early Pleistocene ◽  
Pleistocene Glaciations ◽  
Late Cenozoic ◽  
Ice Volume

Magnetostratigraphy indicates that Early Pleistocene glaciations in North America, instead of forming one continuous ice mass from Atlantic to Pacific as they did in the Late Pleistocene, were characterized by eastern and western ice masses separated by a 2000 km wide north-south ice-free corridor down the centre of the continent. We argue, therefore, that the area covered by ice during periods of glaciation, and hence probably ice volume, in North America was considerably less in the first 2 Ma of the late Cenozoic than it was in the last 0.7 Ma. This is consistent with delta 18O records of ocean cores indicating the ice volumes were much less in the earlier than in the later part of the Cenozoic Ice Age.

Emergence of critical climate states during the Pleistocene

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Golledge
Keyword(s):  
Dynamical Systems ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Dominant Frequency ◽  
Climate System ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Early Pleistocene ◽  
Glacial Cycles ◽  
Pleistocene Climate ◽  
System Nodes ◽  
Systems Framework

<p>During the Pleistocene (approximately 2.6 Ma to present) glacial to interglacial climate variability evolved from dominantly 40 kyr cyclicity (Early Pleistocene) to 100 kyr cyclicity (Late Pleistocene to present). Three aspects of this period remain poorly understood: Why did the dominant frequency of climate oscillation change, given that no major changes in orbital forcing occurred? Why are the longer glacial cycles of the Late Pleistocene characterised by a more asymmetric form with abrupt terminations? And how can the Late Pleistocene climate be controlled by 100 kyr cyclicity when astronomical forcings of this frequency are so much weaker than those operating on shorter periods? Here we show that the decreasing frequency and increasing asymmetry that characterise Late Pleistocene ice age cycles both emerge naturally in dynamical systems in response to increasing system complexity, with collapse events (terminations) occuring only once a critical state has been reached. Using insights from network theory we propose that evolution to a state of criticality involves progressive coupling between climate system 'nodes', which ultimately allows any component of the climate system to trigger a globally synchronous termination. We propose that the climate state is synchronised at the 100 kyr frequency, rather than at shorter periods, because eccentricity-driven insolation variability controls mean temperature change globally, whereas shorter-period astronomical forcings only affect the spatial pattern of thermal forcing and thus do not favour global synchronisation. This dynamical systems framework extends and complements existing theories by accomodating the differing mechanistic interpretations of previous studies without conflict.</p>

Bayesian analysis of sea-level sensitivity to CO2 forcing across the mid-Pleistocene transition: possible implications for early-Pleistocene ice-sheet extent

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Parker Liautaud ◽  
Peter Huybers
Keyword(s):  
Energy Balance ◽  
Bayesian Analysis ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Radiative Forcing ◽  
Ice Sheets ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Early Pleistocene ◽  
Middle Pleistocene ◽  
Model Parameters

<p><span>Foregoing studies have found that sea-level transitioned to becoming approximately twice as sensitive to CO</span><span><sub>2</sub></span><span> radiative forcing between the early and late Pleistocene (Chalk et al., 2017; Dyez et al., 2018). In this study we analyze the relationships among sea-level, orbital variations, and CO</span><span><sub>2</sub></span><span> observations in a time-dependent, zonally-averaged energy balance model having a simple ice sheet. Probability distributions for model parameters are inferred using a hierarchical Bayesian method representing model and data uncertainties, including those arising from uncertain geological age models. We find that well-established nonlinearities in the climate system can explain sea-level becoming 2.5x (2.1x - 4.5x) more sensitive to radiative forcing between 2 and 0 Ma. Denial-of-mechanism experiments show that the increase in sensitivity is diminished by 36% (31% - 39%) if omitting geometric effects associated with thickening of a larger ice sheet, by 81% (73% - 92%) if omitting the ice-albedo feedback, and by more than 96% (93% - 98%) if omitting both. We also show that prescribing a fixed sea-level age model leads to different inferences of ice-sheet dimension, planetary albedo, and lags in the response to radiative forcing than if using a more complete approach in which sea-level ages are jointly inferred with model physics. Consistency of the model ice-sheet with geologic constraints on the southern terminus of the Laurentide ice sheet can be obtained by prescribing lower basal shear stress during the early Pleistocene, but such more-expansive ice sheets imply lower CO</span><span><sub>2</sub></span><span> levels than would an ice-sheet having the same aspect ratio as in the late Pleistocene, exacerbating disagreements with </span><span>𝛿</span><span><sup>11</sup></span><span>B-derived CO</span><span><sub>2</sub></span><span> estimates. These results raise a number of possibilities, including that (1) geologic evidence for expansive early-Pleistocene ice sheets represents only intermittent and spatially-limited ice-margin advances, (2) </span><span>𝛿</span><span><sup>11</sup></span><span>B-derived CO</span><span><sub>2</sub></span><span> reconstructions are biased high, or (3) that another component of the global energy balance system, such as the average ice albedo or a process not included in our model, also changed through the middle Pleistocene. Future work will seek to better constrain early-Pleistocene CO</span><span><sub>2</sub></span><span> levels by way of a more complete incorporation of proxy uncertainties and biases into the Bayesian analysis.</span></p>

Paleoecology and Late Quaternary Environments of the Colorado Rockies

2001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott A. Elias
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Ice Sheets ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Rocky Mountain ◽  
Mountain Region ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Rocky Mountain Region ◽  
Last Ice Age ◽  
Teton Range

Present-day environments cannot be completely understood without knowledge of their history since the last ice age. Paleoecological studies show that the modern ecosystems did not spring full-blown onto the Rocky Mountain region within the last few centuries. Rather, they are the product of a massive reshuffling of species that was brought about by the last ice age and indeed continues to this day. Chronologically, this chapter covers the late Quaternary Period: the last 25,000 years. During this interval, ice sheets advanced southward, covering Canada and much of the northern tier of states in the United States. Glaciers crept down from mountaintops to fill high valleys in the Rockies and Sierras. The late Quaternary interval is important because it bridges the gap between the ice-age world and modern environments and biota. It was a time of great change, in both physical environments and biological communities. The Wisconsin Glaciation is called the Pinedale Glaciation in the Rocky Mountain region (after terminal moraines near the town of Pinedale, Wyoming; see chapter 4). The Pinedale Glaciation began after the last (Sangamon) Interglaciation, perhaps 110,000 radiocarbon years before present (yr BP), and included at least two major ice advances and retreats. These glacial events took different forms in different regions. The Laurentide Ice Sheet covered much of northeastern and north-central North America, and the Cordilleran Ice Sheet covered much of northwestern North America. The two ice sheets covered more than 16 million km2 and contained one third of all the ice in the world’s glaciers during this period. The history of glaciation is not as well resolved for the Colorado Front Range region as it is for regions farther north. For instance, although a chronology of three separate ice advances has been established for the Teton Range during Pinedale times, in northern Colorado we know only that there were earlier and later Pinedale ice advances. We do not know when the earlier advance (or multiple advances) took place. However, based on geologic evidence (Madole and Shroba 1979), the early Pinedale glaciation was more extensive than the late Pinedale was.

scholarly journals Ice-driven CO<sub>2</sub> feedback on ice volume

2006 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. F. Ruddiman
Keyword(s):  
Geographic Origin ◽  
Ice Sheets ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Early Pleistocene ◽  
Schematic Model ◽  
Co2 Response ◽  
Ice Volume ◽  
Summer Insolation ◽  
Northern Summer ◽  
Insolation Forcing

Abstract. The origin of the major ice-sheet variations during the last 2.7 million years is a long-standing mystery. Neither the dominant 41 000-year cycles in δ18O/ice-volume during the late Pliocene and early Pleistocene nor the late-Pleistocene oscillations near 100 000 years is a linear ("Milankovitch") response to summer insolation forcing. Both responses must result from non-linear behavior within the climate system. Greenhouse gases (primarily CO2) are a plausible source of the required non-linearity, but confusion has persisted over whether the gases force ice volume or are a positive feedback. During the last several hundred thousand years, CO2 and ice volume (marine δ18O) have varied in phase at the 41 000-year obliquity cycle and nearly in phase within the ~100 000-year band. This timing rules out greenhouse-gas forcing of a very slow ice response and instead favors ice control of a fast CO2 response. In the schematic model proposed here, ice sheets responded linearly to insolation forcing at the precession and obliquity cycles prior to 0.9 million years ago, but CO2 feedback amplified the ice response at the 41 000-year period by a factor of approximately two. After 0.9 million years ago, with slow polar cooling, ablation weakened. CO2 feedback continued to amplify ice-sheet growth every 41 000 years, but weaker ablation permitted some ice to survive insolation maxima of low intensity. Step-wise growth of these longer-lived ice sheets continued until peaks in northern summer insolation produced abrupt deglaciations every ~85 000 to ~115 000 years. Most of the deglacial ice melting resulted from the same CO2/temperature feedback that had built the ice sheets. Several processes have the northern geographic origin, as well as the requisite orbital tempo and phasing, to be candidate mechanisms for ice-sheet control of CO2 and their own feedback.

On the astronomical forcing of simple conceptual ice age models

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gaëlle Leloup ◽  
Didier Paillard
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Model ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Early Pleistocene ◽  
Model Parameters ◽  
Ice Ages ◽  
Glacial Cycles ◽  
Orbital Parameters ◽  
Ice Volume ◽  
Astronomical Forcing

&lt;p&gt;Variations of the Earth&amp;#8217;s orbital parameters are known to pace the ice volume variations of the last million year [1], even if the precise mechanisms remain unknown.&lt;br&gt;Several conceptual models have been used to try to better understand the connection between ice-sheet changes and the astronomical forcing. An often overlooked question is to decide which astronomical forcing can best explain the observed cycles.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;A rather traditional practice was to use the insolation at a some specific day of the year, for instance at mid-july [2] or at the june solstice [3].&lt;br&gt;But it was also suggested that the integrated forcing above some given threshold could be a better alternative [4]. In a more recent paper, Tzedakis et al. [5] have shown that simple rules, based on the original Milankovitch forcing or caloric seasons, could also be used to explain the timing of ice ages.&lt;br&gt;Here we adapt and simplify the conceptual model of Parrenin and Paillard 2003 [6], to first reduce the set of parameters.&lt;br&gt;Like in the original conceptual model from [6], this simplified conceptual model is based on climate oscillations between two states: glaciation and deglaciation. It switches to one another when crossing a defined threshold. While the triggering of glaciations is only triggered by orbital parameters, the triggering of deglaciations is triggered by a combination of orbital parameters and ice volume. &lt;br&gt;Then, we apply the different possible forcings listed above and we try to adapt the model parameters to reproduce the ice volume record, at least in a qualitative way. This allows us to discuss which kind of astronomical forcing better explains the Quaternary ice ages, in the context of such simple threshold-based models.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;[1] Variations in the Earth's Orbit: Pacemaker of the Ice Ages, Hays et al., 1976, Science&amp;#8232;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;[2] Modeling the Climatic Response to Orbital Variations, Imbrie and Imbrie, 1980, Science&amp;#8232;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;[3] The timing of Pleistocene glaciations from a simple multiple-state climate model, Paillard, 1998, Nature&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;[4] Early Pleistocene Glacial Cycles and the Integrated Summer Insolation Forcing, Huybers et al., 2006, Science&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;[5] A simple rule to determine which insolation cycles lead to interglacials, Tzedakis et al., 2017, Nature&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;[6] Amplitude and phase of glacial cycles from a conceptual model, Parrenin Paillard, 2003, EPSL.&lt;/p&gt;

scholarly journals Reconstructing the evolution of ice sheets, sea level, and atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub> during the past 3.6 million years

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 361-377
Author(s):  
Constantijn J. Berends ◽  
Bas de Boer ◽  
Roderik S. W. van de Wal
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
Radiative Forcing ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Ice Sheets ◽  
Early Pleistocene ◽  
Glacial Cycles ◽  
Proxy Data ◽  
Late Pliocene ◽  
Ice Volume ◽  
The Past

Abstract. Understanding the evolution of, and the interactions between, ice sheets and the global climate over geological timescales is important for being able to project their future evolution. However, direct observational evidence of past CO2 concentrations, and the implied radiative forcing, only exists for the past 800 000 years. Records of benthic δ18O date back millions of years but contain signals from both land ice volume and ocean temperature. In recent years, inverse forward modelling has been developed as a method to disentangle these two signals, resulting in mutually consistent reconstructions of ice volume, temperature, and CO2. We use this approach to force a hybrid ice-sheet–climate model with a benthic δ18O stack, reconstructing the evolution of the ice sheets, global mean sea level, and atmospheric CO2 during the late Pliocene and the Pleistocene, from 3.6 million years (Myr) ago to the present day. During the warmer-than-present climates of the late Pliocene, reconstructed CO2 varies widely, from 320–440 ppmv for warm periods to 235–250 ppmv for the early glacial excursion ∼3.3 million years ago. Sea level is relatively stable during this period, with maxima of 6–14 m and minima of 12–26 m during glacial episodes. Both CO2 and sea level are within the wide ranges of values covered by available proxy data for this period. Our results for the Pleistocene agree well with the ice-core CO2 record, as well as with different available sea-level proxy data. For the Early Pleistocene, 2.6–1.2 Myr ago, we simulate 40 kyr glacial cycles, with interglacial CO2 decreasing from 280–300 ppmv at the beginning of the Pleistocene to 250–280 ppmv just before the Mid-Pleistocene Transition (MPT). Peak glacial CO2 decreases from 220–250 to 205–225 ppmv during this period. After the MPT, when the glacial cycles change from 40 to 80 120 kyr cyclicity, the glacial–interglacial contrast increases, with interglacial CO2 varying between 250–320 ppmv and peak glacial values decreasing to 170–210 ppmv.

scholarly journals A theory of glacial cycles: resolving Pleistocene puzzles

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hsien-Wang Ou
Keyword(s):  
Freezing Point ◽  
Surface Air Temperature ◽  
Climate System ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Early Pleistocene ◽  
Polar Ice ◽  
Glacial Cycles ◽  
Convective Flux ◽  
Ice Volume ◽  
Ice Cap

Abstract. Since the summer surface air temperature that regulates the ice margin is anchored on the sea surface temperature, we posit that the climate system constitutes the intermediary of the orbital forcing of the glacial cycles. As such, the relevant forcing is the annual solar flux absorbed by the ocean, which naturally filters out the precession effect in early Pleistocene but mimics the Milankovitch insolation in late Pleistocene. For a coupled climate system that is inherent turbulent, we show that the ocean may be bistable with a cold state defined by the freezing point subpolar water, which would translate to ice bistates between a polar ice cap and an ice sheet extending to mid-latitudes, enabling large ice-volume signal regardless the forcing amplitude so long as the bistable thresholds are crossed. Such thresholds are set by the global convective flux, which would be lowered during the Pleistocene cooling, whose interplay with the ice-albedo feedback leads to transitions of the ice signal from that dominated by obliquity to the emerging precession cycles to the ice-age cycles paced by eccentricity. Through a single dynamical framework, the theory thus may resolve many long-standing puzzles of the glacial cycles.

scholarly journals Forcing of late Pleistocene ice volume by spatially variable insolation

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristian Agasøster Haaga ◽  
Jo Brendryen ◽  
David Diego ◽  
Bjarte Hannisdal
Keyword(s):  
Northern Hemisphere ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Climate Changes ◽  
Ice Sheets ◽  
Reconstruction Method ◽  
Ice Volume ◽  
Model Free ◽  
Global Ice Volume ◽  
Quaternary Climate ◽  
Insolation Forcing

Changes in Earth's orbit have been dubbed a pacemaker of Quaternary glacial-interglacial climate variability. However, the significance of latitudinally varying insolation as a dynamical forcing of late Pleistocene climate changes remains unclear. Here we use a model-free state-space reconstruction method to quantify the strength of the dynamical influence of locally varying summer energy on global ice volume, with orbitally independent age assignments. Our empirical approach suggests that integrated summer insolation at specific latitudes was a significant driver of ice volume during the past 800,000 years. Summer energy impact on ice volume is detected in a continuous latitudinal band at 50-90°N, consistent with the role of summer melting of Northern Hemisphere ice sheets predicted by Milankovitch theory. Insolation forcing at southern mid-latitudes strongly covaries with the canonical Milankovitch forcing, and coincides with the subtropical front and the mid-latitude westerlies, the modulation of which has been implicated in Quaternary climate changes. In contrast, the dynamics of summer energy forcing in the Northern Hemisphere south of the extent of ice sheets is different, possibly capturing ice volume sensitivity to latitudinal insolation gradients. Our results show that the importance of external forcing on late Pleistocene ice ages cannot be fully accounted for by a unique insolation forcing time series. The global ice volume response to spatially variable summer energy encompasses a range of physical processes that operate at different times of the year, including forcing signals with a wide spectrum of obliquity-to-precession frequency ratios.

scholarly journals Reconstructing the Evolution of Ice Sheets, Sea Level and Atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub> During the Past 3.6 Million Years

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Constantijn J. Berends ◽  
Bas de Boer ◽  
Roderik S. W. van de Wal
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Ice Sheets ◽  
Early Pleistocene ◽  
Geological Time ◽  
Glacial Cycles ◽  
Proxy Data ◽  
Late Pliocene ◽  
Ice Volume ◽  
The Past

Abstract. Understanding the evolution of, and the interactions between, ice sheets and the global climate over geological time is important for being able to constrain earth system sensitivity. However, direct observational evidence of past CO2 concentrations only exists for the past 800 000 years. Records of benthic δ18O date back millions of years, but contain signals from both land ice volume and ocean temperature. In recent years, inverse forward modelling has been developed as a method to disentangle these two signals, resulting in mutually consistent reconstructions of ice volume, temperature and CO2. We use this approach to force a hybrid ice-sheet – climate model with a benthic δ18O stack, reconstructing the evolution of the ice sheets, global mean sea level and atmospheric CO2 during the late Pliocene and the Pleistocene, from 3.6 million years (Myr) ago to the present day. During the warmer-than-present climates of the Late Pliocene, reconstructed CO2 varies widely, from 320–440 ppmv for warm periods such as Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) KM5c, to 235–250 ppmv for the MIS M2 glacial excursion. Sea level is relatively stable during this period, with a high stand of 6–14 m, and a drop of 12–26 m during MIS M2. Both CO2 and sea level are within the wide ranges of values covered by available proxy data for this period. Our results for the Pleistocene agree well with the ice-core CO2 record, as well as with different available sea-level proxy data. During the early Pleistocene, 2.6–1.2 Myr ago, we simulate 40 kyr glacial cycles, with interglacial CO2 decreasing from 280–300 ppmv at the beginning of the Pleistocene, to 250–280 ppmv just before the Mid-Pleistocene Transition (MPT). Peak glacial CO2 decreases from 220–250 ppmv to 205–225 ppmv during this period. After the MPT, when the glacial cycles change from 40 kyr to 80/120 kyr cyclicity, the glacial-interglacial contrast increases, with interglacial CO2 varying between 250–320 ppmv, and peak glacial values decreasing to 170–210 ppmv.

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