A model of the internal feedback system involved in Late Quaternary climatic variations.

Because of the small net rates of energy flow involved in very long-term changes in ice mass (10-1W m-2) it will be impossible to proceed in a purely deductive manner to develop a theory for these changes. An inductive approach will be necessary - perhaps best formulated in terms of multi-component stochastic-dynamical systems of equations governing the variables and feedbacks thought to be relevant from qualitative physical reasoning. A prototype of such an inductive model is described. This model is formulated as a nonlinear dynamical system governing three components: continental ice mass, marine ice mass, and bulk ocean temperature. -from Authors