Articles | Volume 20, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-1139-2026
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-1139-2026
Research article
 | 
12 Feb 2026
Research article |  | 12 Feb 2026

Hysteresis of the Greenland ice sheet from the Last Glacial Maximum to the future

Lucía Gutiérrez-González, Alexander Robinson, Jorge Alvarez-Solas, Ilaria Tabone, Jan Swierczek-Jereczek, Daniel Moreno-Parada, and Marisa Montoya

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Peer review completion

AR – Author's response | RR – Referee report | ED – Editor decision | EF – Editorial file upload
ED: Publish subject to revisions (further review by editor and referees) (18 Oct 2025) by Horst Machguth
AR by Lucía Gutiérrez-González on behalf of the Authors (28 Nov 2025)  Author's response   Author's tracked changes   Manuscript 
ED: Referee Nomination & Report Request started (30 Nov 2025) by Horst Machguth
RR by Takashi Obase (10 Dec 2025)
RR by Maria Zeitz (11 Jan 2026)
ED: Publish subject to technical corrections (20 Jan 2026) by Horst Machguth
AR by Lucía Gutiérrez-González on behalf of the Authors (21 Jan 2026)  Author's response   Manuscript 
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Short summary
The Greenland ice sheet is considered a tipping element: if temperatures exceed its threshold, it would transition to a virtually ice-free state and the ice losses could be irreversible on very long timescales. We study its stability across the full range of glacial-interglacial temperatures, as well as those expected in coming centuries. We find a future critical threshold between 1.5-2ºC of global warming, another under colder climates, and persistent hysteresis across the full range of study.
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