Ocean warming caused by Late Ordovician glacial onset in a coupled climate-ice sheet simulation
- 1Chinese Academy of Sciences (Beijing, China)
- 2Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research (Beijing, China)
- 3Peking University (Beijing, China)
Abstract
The Late Ordovician marks the first major continental ice sheet event in the Phanerozoic Eon, despite high CO ₂ levels, coinciding with a dramatic global temperature drop and one of the largest mass extinctions. However, the critical role of ice sheet-climate feedbacks in driving the Late Ordovician glaciation remains poorly understood. Using an asynchronous coupling approach, we capture the critical feedback of the ice sheet on large-scale processes such as atmospheric circulation and accurately reproduce regional cooling processes driven by the strong ice albedo positive feedback. We then reveal a key positive feedback loop: ice sheet growth triggers katabatic winds, which in turn promote further ice sheet expansion. Results show a 1.4 °C decrease in global mean surface temperature caused by ice sheet onset, with significant cooling over mid- to high-latitude continents while warming over the ocean. In contrast, the impact on tropical ocean temperatures remained limited. The high-latitude ocean warming is driven by the atmospheric stationary wave triggered by the massive ice sheet on the Gondwana continent. Our findings highlight the complex interactions between ice sheet dynamics, atmospheric and ocean circulation, emphasizing the importance of incorporating coupled ice sheet-climate feedbacks in palaeoclimate simulations.
Versions
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BibTeX
@article{sun2026ocean,
title = {{Ocean warming caused by Late Ordovician glacial onset in a coupled climate-ice sheet simulation}},
author = {Yudong Sun and Yonggang Liu and Jiacheng Wu and Kai Man and Haonan Yu and Shuai Yuan and Yizhang Liu and Yue Liu and Qi Cui and Qiang Wei and Yongyun Hu},
journal = {Climate of the Past},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.5194/cp-22-1781-2026},
url = {https://cp.copernicus.org/articles/22/1781/2026/},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Ocean warming caused by Late Ordovician glacial onset in a coupled climate-ice sheet simulation
AU - Yudong Sun
AU - Yonggang Liu
AU - Jiacheng Wu
AU - Kai Man
AU - Haonan Yu
AU - Shuai Yuan
AU - Yizhang Liu
AU - Yue Liu
AU - Qi Cui
AU - Qiang Wei
AU - Yongyun Hu
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/01
JO - Climate of the Past
DO - 10.5194/cp-22-1781-2026
UR - https://cp.copernicus.org/articles/22/1781/2026/
AB - The Late Ordovician marks the first major continental ice sheet event in the Phanerozoic Eon, despite high CO ₂ levels, coinciding with a dramatic global temperature drop and one of the largest mass extinctions. However, the critical role of ice sheet-climate feedbacks in driving the Late Ordovician glaciation remains poorly understood. Using an asynchronous coupling approach, we capture the critical feedback of the ice sheet on large-scale processes such as atmospheric circulation and accurately reproduce regional cooling processes driven by the strong ice albedo positive feedback. We then reveal a key positive feedback loop: ice sheet growth triggers katabatic winds, which in turn promote further ice sheet expansion. Results show a 1.4 °C decrease in global mean surface temperature caused by ice sheet onset, with significant cooling over mid- to high-latitude continents while warming over the ocean. In contrast, the impact on tropical ocean temperatures remained limited. The high-latitude ocean warming is driven by the atmospheric stationary wave triggered by the massive ice sheet on the Gondwana continent. Our findings highlight the complex interactions between ice sheet dynamics, atmospheric and ocean circulation, emphasizing the importance of incorporating coupled ice sheet-climate feedbacks in palaeoclimate simulations.
SN - 1814-9332
ER -