Ice sheets actively interact with the rest of the climate system by amplifying, pacing, and potentially driving global climate change over a wide range of timescales. Direct and indirect influences of ice sheets on climate cause changes in atmospheric and ocean temperatures and circulation, global biogeochemical cycles, the global hydrological cycle, vegetation, sea level, and land-surface albedo, which in turn cause additional feedbacks in the climate system. This session will present data and modelling results that examine ice sheet interactions with other components of the climate system over several timescales. Among other topics, issues to be addressed in this session include the role of ice sheets in Cenozoic global cooling, ice sheet-climate interactions on the 100-kyr cycle, reconstructions of past ice sheets, current and future evolution of ice sheets, and the role of ice sheets in abrupt climate change.

Solicited talk: Dorthe Dahl-Jensen (Copenhagen): The role of the Greenland ice sheet in future sea level - based on palaeorecords from ice cores and present observations.