The study of the earth's climate system
The wax and wane of massive glaciers roughly
once every 100,000 years has been a hallmark of the earth's climate system
for at least the last 700,000 years. Changes in earth's
orbit leading to changes in the amount of solar radiation reaching
the northern hemisphere are known to be forcing these glacial cycles. However,
because equally strong orbital forcing exists at other frequencies at which
little climate response is seen (eg. 40,000 years), it is clear that nonlinear
feedback mechanisms internal to the earth are resonating with the 100,000
year forcing. The research in this group is concentrated on understanding
these internal dynamical processes in the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere,
and the earth's interior.
The last glacial maximum occured roughly 21,000 years ago. Because of
the large amount of data from this period, relative to the more distant
past, our modeling efforts are concentrated on the last deglaciation. Some
of the specific problems being investigated are:
The dynamics of continental ice sheets, and their retreat since the last
glacial maximum. (Peltier, Tarasoff)
Postglacial rebound of the earth's crust since unloading of the glacial
mass. (Peltier)
Changes in the ocean circulation during deglaciation. (Peltier,
Solheim)
Changes in the atmospheric circulation during the deglaciation using the
Canadian Climate Center General Circulation Model. (Peltier,
Vettoretti)
Changes in the atmospheric circulation at Last Glacial Maximum using a
dynamical shallow water model (Peltier,
Gosh)
Funding for the project has been provided by both the Atmospheric Environment
Service of Canada and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council
of Canada.
Return to the paleo group page.
Last updated September 10, 1999
This page maintained by:
Guido Vettoretti (e-mail
Guido)