The role of ice sheets for the climate 

Today, ice sheets cover an area that is almost as large as South America. Even though this equals only about three percent of the Earth’s surface, they play, similar to Arctic sea ice, a major role for the climate. In order to investigate ice sheets and their interaction with the climate, we are developing a climate model in which the extent of the ice sheets changes over time. Such changes and interactions have so far been insufficiently represented in conventional climate models.