The Eurasian and North American ice sheets at the Last and Penultimate glacial maxima: coupled atmosphere–ice sheet model sensitivity and calibration

Patterson, Violet L.; Gregoire, Lauren J.; Ivanovic, Ruza F.; Gandy, Niall; Cornford, Stephen; Owen, Jonathan; Sherriff-Tadano, Sam; Smith, Robin S.

doi:10.5194/tc-20-2589-2026

Articles | Volume 20, issue 4

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-2589-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-2589-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 20, issue 4

Research article

|

30 Apr 2026

Research article |

| 30 Apr 2026

The Eurasian and North American ice sheets at the Last and Penultimate glacial maxima: coupled atmosphere–ice sheet model sensitivity and calibration

Violet L. Patterson, Lauren J. Gregoire, Ruza F. Ivanovic, Niall Gandy, Stephen Cornford, Jonathan Owen, Sam Sherriff-Tadano, and Robin S. Smith

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-2589-2026-supplement

Data sets

FAMOUS-BISICLES simulations with interactive Northern Hemisphere ice sheets (21ka and 140ka) Violet Patterson et al. https://doi.org/10.5285/4ce75927eab444b89b5439e33ecf1a80

Short summary

Simulations of the last two glacial periods are ran using a computer model in which the atmosphere and ice sheets interact. The model is able to produce ice sheet volumes, extents and dynamics in good agreement with data. Sensitivity analysis is undertaken and shows the Northern Hemisphere ice sheet size is particularly sensitive to the albedo of the ice in the model but the different ice sheets display different sensitivities to other processes.