Inland ice sheets — recent and Pleistocene

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Abstract
Results of glaciological research on the recent ice sheets in Antarctica and in Greenland were presented in an introductory talk during the Kristineberg symposium. The Pleistocene ice sheets of North America and Europe were similar to the recent ones in some respects, although different in others. The circumpolar position of Antarctica gives it an extremely cold and dry climate, whereas the northern ice sheets reached far south and were partially fed by warm and moist air masses. Whereas today's ice sheets are very old and stable, the Pleistocene sheets grew to a maximum and later disappeared over a period of roughly 20 000 years. Accumulation conditions are fairly well known for the present ice sheets, and it is suggested that the Weichsel ice sheets should in this respect be compared with Greenland. Ice temperatures are of critical importance for glacier drainage as well as for glacier movement. Water cannot flow through a cold ice mass and thus no glacifluvial deposits can be formed. A cold ice sheet frozen to the bottom does not slide over its bed, and therefore cannot erode, whereas a cold glacier melting at its bottom has a very high proportion of sliding and high erosion activity. It is suggested that the interior of the Scandinavian ice sheet during the Weichsel maximum may have been cold and frozen to its bed over most of its area. Warmer conditions may have existed in the southernmost parts and along the west coast of Norway.

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