Patagonian Ice Sheet shaped regional climate during the Last Glacial Maximum
During the Last Glacial Maximum, changes in the thickness of the Patagonian Ice Sheet modified southern Andean topography. However, the resulting atmospheric feedbacks remain poorly constrained. Using an atmosphere–land coupled model, we isolated the climate response to prescribed ice-sheet thicknesses. Our results indicate that a thicker ice sheet generates a decrease in low level zonal winds, a westward shift in precipitation, a temperature increase along the western margin of Eastern Patagonia, and an increase in storm activity over Patagonia. A decrease in thickness generates the opposite pattern. Our findings suggest that the Patagonian Ice Sheet not only responded to climate change, but also actively modulated it—highlighting the role of topographic forcing in shaping atmospheric circulation over the Southern Hemisphere mid-latitudes. The Patagonian ice sheet not only responded to climate change but also actively influenced it regionally, highlighting the role of topographic forcing in shaping atmospheric circulation during glacial-interglacial cycles, according to a modeling study.
Authors
- Nicolás J. Cosentino (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9023-2726)
- Álvaro Gómez-Contreras (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3245-300X)
- Fabrice Lambert (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2192-024X)
- Summer Rupper (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8655-5282)
- Jiang Zhu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0908-5130)
- Esteban A. Sagredo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4494-5423)
- Fabian M. Riquelme-Barraza (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3314-4380)
- María José Puentes-Nazal
Institutions
- NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research (US)
- Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (AR)
- Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (CL)
- University of Utah (US)
- Universidad de Buenos Aires (AR)
- Center for Climate and Resilience Research (CL)
- Instituto Franco-Argentino sobre Estudios de Clima y sus Impactos (AR)
- Fundación Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (AR)
- University of Chile (CL)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Communications Earth & Environment
- Published
- 2025-10-08
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02762-8
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Geology and Paleoclimatology Research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.30
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo
- Fondo de Financiamiento de Centros de Investigación en Áreas Prioritarias