CR 20:1-7 (2002)  -  doi:10.3354/cr020001

A relief-specific model of the ice age on the basis of uplift-controlled glacier areas in Tibet and the corresponding albedo increase as well as their positive climatological feedback by means of the global radiation geometry

Matthias Kuhle*

Geographisches Institut der Universität Göttingen, Goldschmidtstraße 5, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
*E-mail:

ABSTRACT: The onset of the ice age era at ~2.75 Ma BP and its increasing intensity from ~1 Ma BP onwards cannot be explained by variations of the Earthıs orbit. Evidence supporting a 2.4 million km2 ice sheet on the Tibetan plateau during the Last Glacial Maximum has led to the hypothesis that the resulting albedo-induced heat loss in the Earthıs atmosphere may have triggered global ice ages. Recent data obtained from marine and terrestrial sediment records now confirm the climatic-ecological impact of a Tibetan glaciation; they also show that the development of Tibetıs ice sheet was synchronous with the onset and intensification of global ice ages.


KEY WORDS: Ice ages · Tibetan ice sheet · Quaternary climate


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Published in CR Vol. 20, No. 1. Online publication date: February 12, 2002
Print ISSN: 0936-577X; Online ISSN: 1616-1572
Copyright © 2002 Inter-Research.