Scandinavian, Siberian, and Arctic Ocean Glaciation: Effect of Holocene Atmospheric CO2 Variations.

A computer model of coupled ice sheet-ice shelf behavior was used to evaluate whether observed changes in atmospheric CO(2) concentration could have caused the advance and retreat of Pleistocene ice sheets in the Eurasian Arctic. For CO(2) concentrations below a threshold of approximately 250 parts per million, an extensive marine-based ice sheet covering Scandinavia, the Barents, Kara, and East Siberian seas, and parts of the Arctic Ocean developed in the model simulations. In the simulations, climatic warming associated with the Holocene rise of atmospheric CO(2) was sufficient to collapse this widespread glaciation and restore present-day ice conditions.