The Antarctic ice sheet through the Last Glacial Cycle - numerical modelling constrained by field evidence

世界上最大的冰块对气候变化的反应很重要，因为融化会导致海平面上升。通过更好地了解过去冰盖对大气二氧化碳变化的反应，我们预测气候变暖下冰量和海平面变化的能力将得到加强。现在有了改进的数值模型，可以对南极冰层进行逼真的模拟。这些模型将被进一步发展，并根据上一次冰川周期(过去125,000年)的现有和新的现场证据加以限制，这一时期是我们能够最好地定义过去冰盖行为的时期。

The response of the world's largest ice mass to climate change is important because melting leads to a rise in sea level. Our ability to predict changes in ice volume and sea level under a warming climate, will be enhanced by better understanding of past ice sheet responses to changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide. Improved numerical models now exist that allow realistic simulations of Antarctic ice. These models will be developed further and constrained against existing and new field evidence for the Last Glacial Cycle (last 125,000 years), the period for which we can best define past ice sheet behaviour.