Articles | Volume 16, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-16-451-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-16-451-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
14 Mar 2025
Research article |
| 14 Mar 2025
| 14 Mar 2025
Impact of Greenland Ice Sheet disintegration on atmosphere and ocean disentangled
Malena Andernach
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg, Germany
International Max Planck Research School on Earth System Modelling (IMPRS-ESM), Hamburg, Germany
Marie-Luise Kapsch
Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg, Germany
Uwe Mikolajewicz
Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg, Germany
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Malena Andernach, Marie-Luise Kapsch, and Uwe Mikolajewicz
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-4736, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-4736, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for The Cryosphere (TC).
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Using a novel climate-ice sheet model, we find that the Greenland Ice Sheet experiences at least four steady states under pre-industrial CO2 concentrations, which are stabilized through different climate-ice sheet feedbacks. We also show that interactions with the Antarctic Ice Sheet impact the timing of the transitions between some of these states. The multistability implies that once a certain warming threshold is passed, the mass loss of the Greenland Ice Sheet would be irreversible.
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Using a novel climate-ice sheet model, we find that the Greenland Ice Sheet experiences at least four steady states under pre-industrial CO2 concentrations, which are stabilized through different climate-ice sheet feedbacks. We also show that interactions with the Antarctic Ice Sheet impact the timing of the transitions between some of these states. The multistability implies that once a certain warming threshold is passed, the mass loss of the Greenland Ice Sheet would be irreversible.
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Differences in surface albedo and large-scale circulation are often considered to drive the contrasts between monsoons and deserts. However, using a radiation-circulation framework, we find that large-scale circulation serves primarily as a trigger for this contrast. It is the radiative feedbacks from water vapor and clouds, rather than surface albedo, that amplify the contrast between these climates.
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Katharina Dorothea Six and Uwe Mikolajewicz
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Marie-Luise Kapsch, Uwe Mikolajewicz, Florian A. Ziemen, Christian B. Rodehacke, and Clemens Schannwell
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Xavier Fettweis, Stefan Hofer, Uta Krebs-Kanzow, Charles Amory, Teruo Aoki, Constantijn J. Berends, Andreas Born, Jason E. Box, Alison Delhasse, Koji Fujita, Paul Gierz, Heiko Goelzer, Edward Hanna, Akihiro Hashimoto, Philippe Huybrechts, Marie-Luise Kapsch, Michalea D. King, Christoph Kittel, Charlotte Lang, Peter L. Langen, Jan T. M. Lenaerts, Glen E. Liston, Gerrit Lohmann, Sebastian H. Mernild, Uwe Mikolajewicz, Kameswarrao Modali, Ruth H. Mottram, Masashi Niwano, Brice Noël, Jonathan C. Ryan, Amy Smith, Jan Streffing, Marco Tedesco, Willem Jan van de Berg, Michiel van den Broeke, Roderik S. W. van de Wal, Leo van Kampenhout, David Wilton, Bert Wouters, Florian Ziemen, and Tobias Zolles
The Cryosphere, 14, 3935–3958, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3935-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3935-2020, 2020
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We evaluated simulated Greenland Ice Sheet surface mass balance from 5 kinds of models. While the most complex (but expensive to compute) models remain the best, the faster/simpler models also compare reliably with observations and have biases of the same order as the regional models. Discrepancies in the trend over 2000–2012, however, suggest that large uncertainties remain in the modelled future SMB changes as they are highly impacted by the meltwater runoff biases over the current climate.
Suzanne Alice Ghislaine Leroy, Klaus Arpe, Uwe Mikolajewicz, and Jing Wu
Clim. Past, 16, 2039–2054, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-16-2039-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-16-2039-2020, 2020
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The biodiversity of temperate deciduous trees in eastern Asia is greater than in Europe. During the peak of the last ice age, their distribution was obtained based on pollen data literature. A climate model, after validation on the present, was used to calculate the potential distribution of such trees in the past. It shows that the shift of the tree belt was only 2° latitude to the south. Moreover, greater population connectivity was shown for the Yellow Sea and southern Himalayas.
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Using a comprehensive set of simulations with the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology Earth System Model, we disentangle and quantify the impacts of a disintegrated Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) on the global climate, including the deep ocean. We find most of the climate response is driven by Greenland’s lower elevation and enhanced by changed surface properties, although regional differences exist. Despite the confinement of most responses to the Arctic, the GrIS also influences remote climates.
Using a comprehensive set of simulations with the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology Earth...
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