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Modeling the impact of atmospheric moisture transport on global ice volume

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dc.contributor.advisor Peter H. Stone. en_US
dc.contributor.author Nisancioglu, Kerim Hestnes, 1975- en_US
dc.contributor.other Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences. en_US
dc.date.accessioned 2005-05-17T14:59:29Z
dc.date.available 2005-05-17T14:59:29Z
dc.date.copyright 2004 en_US
dc.date.issued 2004 en_US
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/16703
dc.description Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, 2004. en_US
dc.description Includes bibliographical references (leaves 137-154). en_US
dc.description This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. en_US
dc.description.abstract Following Milankovitch's original hypothesis most model studies of changes in global ice volume on orbital time scales have focused on the impact of ablation on ice sheet mass balance. In most cases, poleward moisture flux is fixed and accumulation of snow only depends on local temperature. In this study, a simple coupled atmosphere-ice process model is introduced. An improved representation of the atmospheric hydrological cycle is included, and accumulation is related to the meridional flux of moisture by large scale baroclinic eddies. The ice sheets in the Northern Hemisphere respond to both precession and obliquity frequencies when the model is forced with seasonal insolation. Obliquity variations are introduced by the impact of earth's tilt on the meridional temperature gradient and the poleward flux of moisture, whereas precession governs surface melting by regulating summer temperatures. The response of the ice sheet to obliquity and precession is comparable, and significantly smaller than what is observed in the oxygen isotope record of the late Pliocene and early Pleistocene (2.7 - 0.8 Ma BP). This suggests that in order to successfully reproduce the strong 41 Ka periodicity observed in the record, other mechanisms must be involved such as nonlinear self-sustained, or stochastic processes, or alternatively the obliquity dominated signal originates from Antarctica. In Antarctica the seasonal cycle is damped due to the large thermal mass of the southern ocean, and surface melt is insignificant. Both of these factors reduce the influence of precession in regulating ice volume. Instead, the mass balance is dominated by accumulation and calving, thereby enhancing the role of obliquity in controlling ice volume. en_US
dc.description.provenance Made available in DSpace on 2005-05-17T14:59:29Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 57561208.pdf: 3334069 bytes, checksum: f519f1757253d3eb2169c1da6c896698 (MD5) 57561208-MIT.pdf: 3376332 bytes, checksum: e68dfcd3cb5d7e39592a572d7aa6596c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2004 en
dc.description.statementofresponsibility by Kerim Hestnes Nisancioglu. en_US
dc.format.extent 154 leaves en_US
dc.format.extent 3334069 bytes
dc.format.extent 3376332 bytes
dc.format.mimetype application/pdf
dc.format.mimetype application/pdf
dc.language.iso eng en_US
dc.publisher Massachusetts Institute of Technology en_US
dc.rights M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission. en_US
dc.rights.uri http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582
dc.subject Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences. en_US
dc.title Modeling the impact of atmospheric moisture transport on global ice volume en_US
dc.type Thesis en_US
dc.description.degree Ph.D. en_US
dc.contributor.department Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences. en_US
dc.identifier.oclc 57561208 en_US

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