Sensitivity studies of the ice sheet model and forcing in the McGill Paleoclimate Model (MPM) are presented. The MPM is a five component (atmosphere, ocean, sea ice, land surface, ice sheet) sectorially averaged Earth system Model of Intermediate Complexity (EMIC). / The ice flow rate factor is found to have a large effect on both the ice volume and the extent of the southern margin. Values corresponding to equivalent temperatures of -7°C and -4°C are most appropriate for the initiation of glaciation (formation of Laurentide and Fennoscandian ice sheets) during the last glacial period. The formulation for the lateral ice discharge is improved to allow for a more realistic description of the east-west length scale of the ice sheets. Significant increases in both the ice volume and growth rate are obtained. / To improve the ice sheet-atmosphere coupling in the MPM, a high resolution nested land surface component is introduced. By calculating the land surface processes on the higher resolution of the ice sheet component, a more accurate representation of the dependence of the surface air temperature on the surface elevation of the ice sheet can be included. This removes grid related artifacts from the equilibrium ice sheets determined by the model. It is shown that this high resolution nested component does not significantly affect the growth rate of the ice sheets during the initiation phase of glaciation.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.33030 |
| Date | January 2001 |
| Creators | Smith, Gregory C. |
| Contributors | Mysak, Lawrence A. (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001845558, proquestno: MQ75344, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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