Sea Ice & CO2 Levels North Pole Control Run, Monthly

This simulation shows how increasing CO2 levels may affect sea ice thickness at the poles. Visualizations are shown for both a control run, where CO2 levels remain constant, and an experimental run, with CO2 levels increasing at 1 percent per year. The 50-year control run reveals no perceptible change in ice thickness. However, after 140 years of integration the increasing CO2 run obtains a quadrupling of atmospheric CO2 and shows a dramatic reduction in sea ice thickness at the North Pole. The ice thickness is depicted with a blue to white color mapping, where white represents the thickest ice.

Simulated Arctic sea ice thickness from the CCSM2 control run assumes present day atmospheric greenhouse gas levels and shows monthly variations due to natural variability of the climate. A large annual cycle is clearly apparent, and year-to-year variations in the ice cover are also seen. This is consistent with observations.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• CCSM
• Community
• climate
• system
• model
• sea
• ice
• melt
• change
• global
• warming
• north
• pole
• NCAR
• VETS
• UCAR