The Antarctic Ice Sheet during Cenozoic climates: Experiments with a simple climate model.

In order to get more insight into the role of the Antarctic Ice Sheet in global climate during different time slices during the Cenozoic era, a zonal mean climate model is used which incorporates meridional heat transport. The advantage of using a simple climate model is the fast computing time which makes it possible to do many schematic investigations in a relatively short period. This climate model is used to investigate how the Antarctic Ice Sheet's initiation and evolution throughout the Cenozoic is related to several climate forcing parameters (topography, orbital parameters, CO2 concentration). Furthermore, limits to the ice volume and deep-sea temperature contributions to the benthic oxygen isotope record are put.