Cenozoic Antarctic glaciation: An integrated atmosphere - Ocean - Ice Sheet Model Approach

• Applicants: Dr. Martin Butzin; Professor Dr. Gerrit Lohmann
• Subject Area: Atmospheric Science
• Term: from 2006 to 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 27462663

The widespread glaciation of Antarctica and the associated shift towards colder temperatures at the Eocene-Oligocene boundary (about 35 million years ago) represents one of the most fundamental reorganisations of global climate in the earth s history. During the same time, the opening of the Southern Ocean gateways, the Drake Passage and the Tasman Gateway, led to the formation of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and hence to the isolation of the Antarctic continent. Apart from the oceanic regime, other global phenomena such as the declining atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration and the orbital configuration, contributed to the onset of a persistent Antarctic glaciation. With this project we address the impact of each of these processes on the formation of the Antarctic Ice Sheet. We put special emphasis on the ocean circulation, latent heat transport as well as on ice sheet dynamics in an integrated modelling approach. Shifts in atmospheric circulation, temperature changes, and snow accumulation over Antarctica and their forcing factors will be analysed in detail. The identification of thresholds for the Antarctic ice sheet development will yield novel views for palaeoclimatic records at the Eocene-Oligocene transition.

• DFG Programme: Infrastructure Priority Programmes
• Subproject of: SPP 1158: Infrastructure area - Antarctic Research with Comparative Investigations in Arctic Sea Ice Areas
• Participating Persons: Klaus Grosfeld, Ph.D.; Professor Dr. Philippe Huybrechts