Van der Veen (geography, Ohio State U. and researcher at Glacier Dynamics Group, Byrd Polar Research Center) provides an introduction to the modelling of the flow and dynamics of glaciers. Includes an overview of ice in the climate system, theory needed to develop glacier models, derivations of simp

Ice Sheets and Late Quaternary Environmental Change provides a detailed account of the temporal and spatial distribution of ice sheets during the last ice age, and how these ice masses interacted with the environment. This is the first book in 20 years to detail the sizes of ice sheets during the last glaciation and the first to discuss their role in past climate change.Arranged in two parts, the first part provides the tools required for evaluating past ice sheets while the second part uses these tools to establish the size, extent and dynamics of late Quaternary ice sheets. Assuming no prior knowledge of Quaternary Science, the discussion progresses from the basic principles of how and why ices ages occur, to the interpretation of proxy records of past climate and ocean change.Instructive accounts of how the geological record can be used as evidence of former ice sheet behaviour and a discussion on the role of numerical models in understanding interaction between ice sheets, oceans and the atmosphere are included in this book. Details of former ice sheets are presented by geographical region along with a number of critical new theories on their size and behaviour.This book would appeal to 2nd/3rd year students of Quaternary Science, most University Geography, Earth Science or Geology departments, as well as researchers and academics in Quaternary Science.

Product Description: The purpose of this book, in the author's words, is to make "a glaciological contribution toward understanding climate -- to show how ice sheets interact with the atmosphere, oceans, and solid earth as they advance and retreat during a glaciation cycle...read more