Overview of the various models for ice ages in the recent past (3 MYBP to present) - Ice Ages and Interglacials: Measurements, Interpretation, and Models - page 239

cool. Meanwhile, circulation away from Antarctica is impeded so it begins to slowly
warm again. 6
Stott et al. (2007) found that the onset of deglacial warming throughout the
Southern Hemisphere occurred long before deglacial warming began in the
tropical surface ocean. In a second paper (Timmermann et al., 2009) this group
modeled the likely cause of initiation of deglaciation after 20 kybp as being the
increase in insolation coupled with the sea ice-albedo feedback as sea ice went
into retreat. As the CO 2 concentration rose, this added another warming feedback.
They also showed 7 that each of the last four major ice age terminations were
associated with increases in solar input to the far SH. Solar input to the far SH
during the austral spring period when the ice pack is at a maximum appears to be
a major factor in initiating deglaciation.
6 However, note that Wunsch (2002) insisted (correctly) ''The upper layers of the ocean are
clearly wind-driven, involving such major features as the Gulf Stream and the Circumpolar
Current. A large body of observational, theoretical, and modeling literature supports the
inference that the mass fluxes in the top several hundred meters of the ocean are directly
controlled by the wind stress.''
7 Lowell Stott, pers. commun., November 2008.