Articles | Volume 18, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1517-2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1517-2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
05 Apr 2024
Research article |
| 05 Apr 2024
| 05 Apr 2024
The influence of glacial landscape evolution on Scandinavian ice-sheet dynamics and dimensions
Gustav Jungdal-Olesen
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Department of Geoscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
Jane Lund Andersen
Department of Physical Geography, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
Andreas Born
Department of Earth Science and Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
Vivi Kathrine Pedersen
Department of Geoscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
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Arjen P. Stroeven, Gunhild C. Rosqvist, Allie J. Koester, Jane L. Andersen, Carl-Anton Wahlström, and Nathaniel A. Lifton
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-447, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-447, 2026
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Climate of the Past (CP).
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Did Scandinavian glaciers survive the warmer conditions of the early Holocene? Ice thickness measurements, proglacial lake sediment, and cosmogenic nuclides in bedrock alongside Riukojietna, a small low-elevation ice cap in northern Sweden, all combine to constrain a glacier advance and retreat history since 9.8 thousand years ago. Riukojietna was small but persisted through the early Holocene, illustrating that other but higher-elevation valley glaciers in the region may also have done so.
Robert Law, Andreas Born, Philipp Voigt, Joseph A. MacGregor, and Claire Marie Guimond
The Cryosphere, 20, 1071–1086, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-1071-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-1071-2026, 2026
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Convection has been previously, yet contentiously, suggested for ice sheets, but never before comprehensively explored using numerical models. We use mantle dynamics code to test the hypothesis that convection gives rise to enigmatic plume-like features observed in radio-stratigraphy observations of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Our results provide very good agreement with field observations, but could imply that ice in northern Greenland is significantly softer than commonly thought.
Konstanze Haubner, Heiko Goelzer, and Andreas Born
Earth Syst. Dynam., 17, 57–80, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-17-57-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-17-57-2026, 2026
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We add a new dynamic component – an ice sheet model simulating the Greenland ice sheet – to an Earth system model that already captures the global climate evolution including ocean, atmosphere, land and sea ice. Under a strong warming scenario, the global warming of 10°C over 250 years is dominating the climate evolution. Changes from the ice-climate interaction are mainly local yet impacting the evolution of the Greenland ice sheet. Hence, ice-climate feedbacks should be considered beyond 2100.
Charlotte Rahlves, Heiko Goelzer, Andreas Born, and Petra M. Langebroek
The Cryosphere, 19, 6403–6419, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-6403-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-6403-2025, 2025
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We present a method to better simulate how Greenland’s ice sheet may change over thousands of years in response to climate change. Using a stand-alone ice sheet model, we adjust snowfall and melting patterns based on changes in the ice sheet’s shape. This approach avoids complex coupled models and enables faster testing of many future scenarios to understand the long-term stability of Greenland’s ice.
Heiko Goelzer, Petra M. Langebroek, Andreas Born, Stefan Hofer, Konstanze Haubner, Michele Petrini, Gunter Leguy, William H. Lipscomb, and Katherine Thayer-Calder
Geosci. Model Dev., 18, 7853–7867, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-7853-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-7853-2025, 2025
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On the backdrop of observed accelerating ice sheet mass loss over the last few decades, there is growing interest in the role of ice sheet changes in global climate projections. In this regard, we have coupled an Earth system model with an ice sheet model and have produced an initial set of climate projections including an interactive coupling with a dynamic Greenland ice sheet.
Robert G. Bingham, Julien A. Bodart, Marie G. P. Cavitte, Ailsa Chung, Rebecca J. Sanderson, Johannes C. R. Sutter, Olaf Eisen, Nanna B. Karlsson, Joseph A. MacGregor, Neil Ross, Duncan A. Young, David W. Ashmore, Andreas Born, Winnie Chu, Xiangbin Cui, Reinhard Drews, Steven Franke, Vikram Goel, John W. Goodge, A. Clara J. Henry, Antoine Hermant, Benjamin H. Hills, Nicholas Holschuh, Michelle R. Koutnik, Gwendolyn J.-M. C. Leysinger Vieli, Emma J. MacKie, Elisa Mantelli, Carlos Martín, Felix S. L. Ng, Falk M. Oraschewski, Felipe Napoleoni, Frédéric Parrenin, Sergey V. Popov, Therese Rieckh, Rebecca Schlegel, Dustin M. Schroeder, Martin J. Siegert, Xueyuan Tang, Thomas O. Teisberg, Kate Winter, Shuai Yan, Harry Davis, Christine F. Dow, Tyler J. Fudge, Tom A. Jordan, Bernd Kulessa, Kenichi Matsuoka, Clara J. Nyqvist, Maryam Rahnemoonfar, Matthew R. Siegfried, Shivangini Singh, Vjeran Višnjević, Rodrigo Zamora, and Alexandra Zuhr
The Cryosphere, 19, 4611–4655, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-4611-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-4611-2025, 2025
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The ice sheets covering Antarctica have built up over millenia through successive snowfall events which become buried and preserved as internal surfaces of equal age detectable with ice-penetrating radar. This paper describes an international initiative working together on these archival data to build a comprehensive 3-D picture of how old the ice is everywhere across Antarctica and how this is being used to reconstruct past and to predict future ice and climate behaviour.
Lise Seland Graff, Jerry Tjiputra, Ada Gjermundsen, Andreas Born, Jens Boldingh Debernard, Heiko Goelzer, Yan-Chun He, Petra Margaretha Langebroek, Aleksi Nummelin, Dirk Olivié, Øyvind Seland, Trude Storelvmo, Mats Bentsen, Chuncheng Guo, Andrea Rosendahl, Dandan Tao, Thomas Toniazzo, Camille Li, Stephen Outten, and Michael Schulz
Earth Syst. Dynam., 16, 1671–1698, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-16-1671-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-16-1671-2025, 2025
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The magnitude of future Arctic amplification is highly uncertain. Using the Norwegian Earth System Model, we explore the effect of improving the representation of clouds, ocean eddies, the Greenland ice sheet, sea ice, and ozone on the projected Arctic winter warming in a coordinated experiment set. These improvements all lead to enhanced projected Arctic warming, with the largest changes found in the sea ice retreat regions and the largest uncertainty found on the Atlantic side.
Sina Loriani, Yevgeny Aksenov, David I. Armstrong McKay, Govindasamy Bala, Andreas Born, Cristiano Mazur Chiessi, Henk A. Dijkstra, Jonathan F. Donges, Sybren Drijfhout, Matthew H. England, Alexey V. Fedorov, Laura C. Jackson, Kai Kornhuber, Gabriele Messori, Francesco S. R. Pausata, Stefanie Rynders, Jean-Baptiste Sallée, Bablu Sinha, Steven C. Sherwood, Didier Swingedouw, and Thejna Tharammal
Earth Syst. Dynam., 16, 1611–1653, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-16-1611-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-16-1611-2025, 2025
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In this work, we draw on palaeo-records, observations, and modelling studies to review tipping points in the ocean overturning circulations, monsoon systems, and global atmospheric circulations. We find indications for tipping in the ocean overturning circulations and the West African monsoon, with potentially severe impacts on the Earth system and humans. Tipping in the other considered systems is regarded as conceivable but is currently not sufficiently supported by evidence.
Sjur Barndon, Robert Law, Andreas Born, Thomas Chudley, and Stefanie Brechtelsbauer
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1304, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1304, 2025
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By simulating a section of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet over a deep fjord, we aim to understand the behaviour of ice sheets over rough landscapes. For perpendicular flow, we find reduced speed within the fjord and reverse flow at its base. Comparing real and smoothed topography shows that low-resolution models fail to capture these effects. Our findings have implications for Greenland ice sheet models, as commonly used bedrock resolutions likely overlook the influence of similar rough landscapes.
Anya Schlich-Davies, Ann Rowan, Andrew Ross, Duncan Quincey, and Vivi Pedersen
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.31223/X5SH7C, https://doi.org/10.31223/X5SH7C, 2025
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Glaciers in the Himalaya are rapidly losing ice in response to climate change. We use a representation of mesoscale meteorological variables to force a climate-glacier model that represents important surface processes such as sublimation, avalanching, and the evolution of supraglacial debris. We find that warming air temperatures increase annual precipitation sufficiently to offset half of glacier volume loss by the end of the century compared with simulations forced only by temperature change.
Charlotte Rahlves, Heiko Goelzer, Andreas Born, and Petra M. Langebroek
The Cryosphere, 19, 1205–1220, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-1205-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-1205-2025, 2025
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Mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet significantly contributes to rising sea levels, threatening coastal communities globally. To improve future sea-level projections, we simulated ice sheet behavior until 2100, initializing the model with observed geometry and using various climate models. Predictions indicate a sea-level rise of 32 to 228 mm by 2100, with climate model uncertainty being the main source of variability in projections.
Thi-Khanh-Dieu Hoang, Aurélien Quiquet, Christophe Dumas, Andreas Born, and Didier M. Roche
Clim. Past, 21, 27–51, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-27-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-27-2025, 2025
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To improve the simulation of surface mass balance (SMB) that influences the advance–retreat of ice sheets, we run a snow model, the BErgen Snow SImulator (BESSI), with transient climate forcing obtained from an Earth system model, iLOVECLIM, over Greenland and Antarctica during the Last Interglacial (LIG; 130–116 ka). Compared to the simple existing SMB scheme of iLOVECLIM, BESSI gives more details about SMB processes with higher physics constraints while maintaining a low computational cost.
Tobias Zolles and Andreas Born
The Cryosphere, 18, 4831–4844, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-4831-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-4831-2024, 2024
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The Greenland ice sheet largely depends on the climate state. The uncertainties associated with the year-to-year variability have only a marginal impact on our simulated surface mass budget; this increases our confidence in projections and reconstructions. Basing the simulations on proxies, e.g., temperature, results in overestimates of the surface mass balance, as climatologies lead to small amounts of snowfall every day. This can be reduced by including sub-monthly precipitation variability.
Therese Rieckh, Andreas Born, Alexander Robinson, Robert Law, and Gerrit Gülle
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 6987–7000, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-6987-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-6987-2024, 2024
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We present the open-source model ELSA, which simulates the internal age structure of large ice sheets. It creates layers of snow accumulation at fixed times during the simulation, which are used to model the internal stratification of the ice sheet. Together with reconstructed isochrones from radiostratigraphy data, ELSA can be used to assess ice sheet models and to improve their parameterization. ELSA can be used coupled to an ice sheet model or forced with its output.
Paul A. Carling, John D. Jansen, Teng Su, Jane Lund Andersen, and Mads Faurschou Knudsen
Earth Surf. Dynam., 11, 817–833, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-11-817-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-11-817-2023, 2023
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Many steep glaciated rock walls collapsed when the Ice Age ended. How ice supports a steep rock wall until the ice decays is poorly understood. A collapsed rock wall was surveyed in the field and numerically modelled. Cosmogenic exposure dates show it collapsed and became ice-free ca. 18 ka ago. The model showed that the rock wall failed very slowly because ice was buttressing the slope. Dating other collapsed rock walls can improve understanding of how and when the last Ice Age ended.
Bjørg Risebrobakken, Mari F. Jensen, Helene R. Langehaug, Tor Eldevik, Anne Britt Sandø, Camille Li, Andreas Born, Erin Louise McClymont, Ulrich Salzmann, and Stijn De Schepper
Clim. Past, 19, 1101–1123, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-1101-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-1101-2023, 2023
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In the observational period, spatially coherent sea surface temperatures characterize the northern North Atlantic at multidecadal timescales. We show that spatially non-coherent temperature patterns are seen both in further projections and a past warm climate period with a CO2 level comparable to the future low-emission scenario. Buoyancy forcing is shown to be important for northern North Atlantic temperature patterns.
Katharina M. Holube, Tobias Zolles, and Andreas Born
The Cryosphere, 16, 315–331, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-315-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-315-2022, 2022
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We simulated the surface mass balance of the Greenland Ice Sheet in the 21st century by forcing a snow model with the output of many Earth system models and four greenhouse gas emission scenarios. We quantify the contribution to uncertainty in surface mass balance of these two factors and the choice of parameters of the snow model. The results show that the differences between Earth system models are the main source of uncertainty. This effect is localised mostly near the equilibrium line.
Martim Mas e Braga, Richard Selwyn Jones, Jennifer C. H. Newall, Irina Rogozhina, Jane L. Andersen, Nathaniel A. Lifton, and Arjen P. Stroeven
The Cryosphere, 15, 4929–4947, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4929-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4929-2021, 2021
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Mountains higher than the ice surface are sampled to know when the ice reached the sampled elevation, which can be used to guide numerical models. This is important to understand how much ice will be lost by ice sheets in the future. We use a simple model to understand how ice flow around mountains affects the ice surface topography and show how much this influences results from field samples. We also show that models need a finer resolution over mountainous areas to better match field samples.
Andreas Born and Alexander Robinson
The Cryosphere, 15, 4539–4556, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4539-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4539-2021, 2021
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Ice penetrating radar reflections from the Greenland ice sheet are the best available record of past accumulation and how these layers have been deformed over time by the flow of ice. Direct simulations of this archive hold great promise for improving our models and for uncovering details of ice sheet dynamics that neither models nor data could achieve alone. We present the first three-dimensional ice sheet model that explicitly simulates individual layers of accumulation and how they deform.
Tobias Zolles and Andreas Born
The Cryosphere, 15, 2917–2938, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2917-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2917-2021, 2021
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We investigate the sensitivity of a glacier surface mass and the energy balance model of the Greenland ice sheet for the cold period of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and the present-day climate. The results show that the model sensitivity changes with climate. While for present-day simulations inclusions of sublimation and hoar formation are of minor importance, they cannot be neglected during the LGM. To simulate the surface mass balance over long timescales, a water vapor scheme is necessary.
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Short summary
We explore how the shape of the land and underwater features in Scandinavia affected the former Scandinavian ice sheet over time. Using a computer model, we simulate how the ice sheet evolved during different stages of landscape development. We discovered that early glaciations were limited in size by underwater landforms, but as these changed, the ice sheet expanded more rapidly. Our findings highlight the importance of considering landscape changes when studying ice-sheet history.
We explore how the shape of the land and underwater features in Scandinavia affected the former...
