Climate modelling is a field in rapid development, and the fltudy of
cryospheric processes has become an important part of it. On smaller
time scales, the effect of snow cover and sea ice on the atmospheric
circulation is of concern for long-range weather forecasting. Thinking
in decades or centuries, the effect of a C02 climatic warming on the
present-day ice sheets, and the resulting changes in global sea level,
has drawn a lot of attention. In particular, the dynamics of marine ice
sheets (ice sheets on a bed that would be below sea level after removal
of ice and full isostatic rebound) is a subject of continuous research.
This interest stems from the fact that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is a
marine ice sheet which, according to some workers, may be close to a
complete collapse. The Pleistocene ice ages, or glacial cycles, are best
characterized by total ice volume on earth, indicating that on 4 5 large
time scales (10 to 10 yr) ice sheets are a dominant component of the
climate system. The enormous amount of paleoclimatic information
obtained from deep-sea sediments in the last few decades has led to a
complete revival of iriterest in the physical aspects of the Pleistocene
climatic evolution.