Identification

Title

A technique for generating consistent ice sheet initial conditions for coupled ice sheet/climate models

Abstract

A transient technique for generating ice sheet preindustrial initial conditions for long-term coupled ice sheet/climate model simulations is developed and demonstrated over the Greenland ice sheet using the Community Earth System Model (CESM). End-member paleoclimate simulations of the last glacial maximum, mid-Holocene optimum and the preindustrial are combined using weighting provided by ice core data time series to derive continuous energy-balance-model-derived surface mass balance and surface temperature fields, which are subsequently used to force a long transient ice sheet model simulation of the last glacial cycle, ending at the preindustrial. The procedure accounts for the evolution of climate through the last glacial period and converges to a simulated preindustrial ice sheet that is geometrically and thermodynamically consistent with the preindustrial CESM state, yet contains a transient memory of past climate. The preindustrial state generated using this technique notably improves upon the standard equilibrium spin-up technique, relative to observations and other model studies, although in the demonstration we present here, large biases remain due primarily to climate model forcing biases. Ultimately, the method we describe provides a clear template for generating initial conditions for ice sheets within a fully coupled climate model framework that allows for the effects of past climate history to be self-consistently included in long-term simulations of the fully coupled ice sheet/climate system

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7ws8v66

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2014-06-24T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact