not seem to be any data fields recording ice cover for these two regions. Since this simulation removes ice sheets over Greenland and Antarctica without changing the ground type, the model may be ignoring any ice accumulation in these regions. This also may explain why snow thickness is not increasing. It is converted to ice, but not recorded by the model. This is an anomaly that must be investigated in the future. IV. DISCUSSION A. Cooling oceans and precipitation At the beginning of the simulation, warm oceans drive the climate. Although intense precipitation occurs over the open waters of the Arctic, within a decade it drops off as the surface of the ocean cools. This is disappointing since a major component of Oard’s (1979) rapid ice age model depends on evaporation from the surface of the Arctic Ocean. Previous climate work supported Oard’s conjecture; however, failed to capture the impact of the cooling ocean. In addition, warm oceans prevent any accumulation of snow. The strength of this simulation is the use of a dynamic ocean. Once the sea surface cools sufficiently, snow begins to fall and sea ice forms. The fact that Greenland and Antarctica begin to accumulate snow and ice while the oceans are warmer than present day gives hope that future modeling may discover parameters that will generate the desired snowfall rate. Although ocean cooling occurs slower than predicted by Marshall and Plumb (2008), ideal conditions for significant snowfall in North America are not long lived. Oceans initialized at 24 °C are cooled through convective circulation. This ignores any heat exchange between the ocean and ocean floor. If they were initially warmed by crustal motion, it is reasonable to assume they would continue to Figure 12. Precipitation for the four seasons during year 40. Figure 13. Precipitation for the four seasons during year 160. GOLLMER Rapid ice age 2023 ICC 275
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