Modelling the oxygen isotope balance of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheet during the mid-Pliocene

Periods in the geological past can provide some real world test cases about
how our future world will look like. The Mid-Piacenzian Warm Period
(MPWP; ~3.3-3 Ma) - also known as the Mid-Pliocene Warm Period - is
possibly the most recent and best analogue for long-term future climate
change. Global mean temperatures were between 2.5˚C and 4.8˚C higher
than during the pre-industrial period and sea-level is thought to have been
higher by up to +25 m. Since thermal expansion is limited to maximum 2
m, the remainder should have been cause by partial melting of the
Greenland and/or the Antarctic ice sheet. In our research group
specialised in modelling ice sheet and climate interactions, we look at
feedbacks in the climate system to more accurately reconstruct past
climatic changes and project our future climate. The aim of this proposal
is to model the minimum extent of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets
with a focus on their contribution to sea level change. The ice sheet
models will also include a component to calculate their isotopic ratio. The
minimum ice sheet extent of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheet will
be constrained by partitioning the benthic oxygen isotope records in a
terrestrial ice sheet component that is calculated in the ice sheet models
and a deep-sea temperature change component.