Hysteresis of the Antarctic Ice Sheet
Date:
Poster presentation (session CL4.16.2 Climate tipping points, critical thresholds and ecosystem resilience) at the EGU General Assembly 2019 in Vienna, Austria.
Abstract
Holding more than half of Earth’s freshwater at present, the Antarctic Ice Sheet is by far the largest source of future sea-level rise with a potential of raising the mean elevation of the oceans by nearly 60 meters globally. Despite comparably low rates of Antarctic sea-level contribution at present, this poses a serious threat to coastal populations and ecosystems on centennial and millennial time scales under global warming. Yet, large uncertainties flaw our knowledge of Antarctica’s long-term stability and future behavior—among them a lack of quantification of Antarctic tipping points.
Using the thermomechanically-coupled shallow ice model PISM, we investigate critical thresholds in global mean temperature for the Antarctic ice basins, and present the continental ice-sheet hysteresis.