HR: 0800h
AN: GC51D-1067    [Abstracts]
TI: Simulation of the Last Glacial Inception with the Green McGill Paleoclimate Model
AU: Cochelin, A B
EM: acoche@po-box.mcgill.ca
AF: McGill University, 805 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, QC H3A 2K6 Canada
AU: * Mysak, L A
EM: lawrence.mysak@mcgill.ca
AF: McGill University, 805 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, QC H3A 2K6 Canada
AU: Wang, Z
EM: wangz@zephyr.meteo.mcgill.ca
AF: McGill University, 805 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, QC H3A 2K6 Canada
AU: Wang, Y
EM: yiwang@zephyr.meteo.mcgill.ca
AF: McGill University, 805 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, QC H3A 2K6 Canada
AB: The ``green'' McGill Paleoclimate Model (MPM), which now includes an interactive vegetation component, is run between 122 and 80 kyr Before Present (BP) under variable insolation (Milankovitch forcing) and Vostok-derived atmospheric $CO_2$ concentration (radiative forcing). The model simulates the last glacial inception at around 119 kyr BP, which is followed by the buildup of huge ice sheets over the high northern latitudes, especially North America. Due to the addition of a vegetation component to the MPM, more realistic ice volumes and ice sheet distributions are simulated. In agreement with observations, the ice sheets are smaller over Eurasia and larger over North America. The changes in tree, grass and desert cover during the ice growth phase are also investigated. The results show a southward shift of the treeline and an expansion of the desert at high latitudes, as the ice sheets develop.
DE: 3322 Land/atmosphere interactions
DE: 3344 Paleoclimatology
DE: 1827 Glaciology (1863)
DE: 1620 Climate dynamics (3309)
SC: Global Climate Change [GC]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting