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The Barents Ice Sheet as a Relay Regulator of Glacial-Interglacial Alternation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

D. D. Kvasov*
Affiliation:
Institute of Oceanology, Vasilyevsky ostrov 1 liniya 30, Leningrad 199053, USSR

Abstract

A slight cooling can induce the formation of ice sheets in the Scandinavian mountains and in the American Arctic. The increasing albedo and the appearance of cold air masses above the glaciers cause glaciation to spread over a vast area. As a result, the sea level lowers and a large part of the Barents and Kara seabeds dries up. Ice sheets are formed there, which spread over the northeastern part of the Kola Peninsula, the Pechora River basin, and over northwestern Siberia. The glacier barrier extending nearly from the North Pole to central Europe hinders latitudinal atmospheric circulation. Precipitation decreases sharply in the areas east and southeast of the glaciers. As a consequence, glaciers in the mid-latitudes retreat and sea level rises. Increased iceberg formation is induced in the periphery of the Barents Ice Sheet, causing it to disappear. An interglacial sets in.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
University of Washington

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