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Above: The drift of icebergs from the Greenland Ice Sheet simulated by MITberg.
MITberg is a state-of-the-art iceberg model developed by Alan Condron at UMass Amherst. The model was developed as part of a BER U.S. Department of Energy project to understand the impact of past and future changes in the cryosphere on the stability of the climate system. MITberg is designed to be coupled to (MITgcm).
The above figure shows an iceberg sighted off the east coast of North Greenland (photo taken by Ruth Mugford, SPRI). Icebergs, such as this one, are thousands of years old and calved from large glaciers draining the Greenland Ice Sheet that terminate in the ocean. These icebergs can drift thousands of kilometers before finally melting just south of Newfoundland, Canada. As they melt they release freshwater to the ocean. It has been hypothesized that in the past the release of enormous numbers of icebergs freshened the ocean enough to slow-down global ocean circulation and abruptly cool climate.
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This material is based upon work supported by the Biological and Environmental Research (BER) division of U.S. Department of Energy. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the funding body. Please contact Dr. Alan Condron with any questions about this website. |
