ClimaTea Journal Club: "How Climate Model Complexity Influences Sea Ice Stability"

"The small ice cap instability, or potential for rapid and irreversible loss of sea ice once it retreats to high enough latitudes, has been found in numerous simple models of the climate system, and presents a significant concern for abrupt climate change in the future. But it has been difficult to find a robust small ice cap instability in full-complexity 3D atmosphere-ocean climate models. Wagner and Eisenman explore how adding layers of complexity to simple models affects the small ice cap instability. Specifically, they find that including both a seasonal cycle and meridional heat transport can make small ice caps much more stable to climate change. They suggest that their results imply a much smaller likelihood of bifurcation in the real climate system than is widely assumed."