The role of dynamic topography on glacial inception in North America

Glacial inception in the northern hemisphere marks an abrupt transition in climate dynamics around 2.7 Ma when the Laurentide Ice Sheet began to grow from snow cover persisting year-round in high elevation regions of Baffin Island. Although a focus of many studies, the exact driver of this event remains elusive. We examine the role of solid earth processes in generating conditions for ice growth. Daradich et al.(2017) argued that true polar wander (TPW) and continental drift moved the North American continent to increasingly high latitudes over the last 40 Myr, thus cooling local climate and decreasing glacial ablation in Baffin Island. We propose that a third process, mantle flow-induced dynamic topography (DT), contributed to glacial inception by increasing regional crustal elevation.