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Latent heat of melting and its importance for glaciation cycles

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Abstract

A dynamical energy balance model is developed including both latent heat and sensible heat exchanges. It is applied to reconstructing the history of the changes of the icesheet mass and the ocean surface temperature over an ice age. The zero-dimensional model is extended to include three-dimensional information of the icesheets by assuming a specific geometric shape of the icesheets. The ice-albedo feedback can then be calculated and, at the same time, the cryosphere interaction is introduced into the climate model. The advancing of the glaciers and the cooling of the oceans in a glacial period can be accounted for by the differential equations of the dynamic system if an external perturbation in the form of any energy deficit of 0.13% of the insolation is imposed. The earth orbital changes generate a heat deficit of this magnitude due to the change of the eccentricity and have the same periodicity of 100 000 years as the major glacial cycles. Therefore they could well be the origin of the Pleistocene ice ages.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Physics Department, Emory University, 30322, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

    Peter Fong

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  1. Peter Fong
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Editor's Note: This note generated strong, but mixed, reactions from three referees. Its conclusions should thus be weighed carefully. It is published despite the cautionary reviews in order to spur debate on the large remaining uncertainties over the causes of Pleistocene glacial cycles.

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Fong, P. Latent heat of melting and its importance for glaciation cycles. Climatic Change 4, 199–206 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02423390

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02423390

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