Science Daily August 10, 2020
Climate model simulations have previously failed to capture elevated temperatures, possibly because they were unable to correctly capture Last Interglacial (LIG) sea-ice changes. An international team of researchers (UK, Canada, USA- University of Washington) shows that the latest version of the fully coupled UK Hadley Center climate model (HadGEM3) simulates a more accurate Arctic LIG climate, including elevated temperatures. Improved model physics, including a sophisticated sea-ice melt-pond scheme, results in a complete simulated loss of Arctic sea ice in summer during the LIG, which has yet to be simulated in past generations of models. This ice-free Arctic yields a compelling solution to the long-standing puzzle of what drove LIG Arctic warmth and supports a fast retreat of future Arctic summer sea ice…read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Iceberg in Greenland (stock image). Credit: © mikhail79spb / stock.adobe.com