摘要：The ice–substrate interface is an important boundary condition for ice sheetmodelling. The substrate affects the ice sheet by allowing sliding throughsediment deformation and accommodating the storage and drainage of subglacialwater. We present three datasets on a 1:5000000 scale with differentgeological parameters for the region that was covered by the ice sheets inNorth America, including Greenland and Iceland. The first dataset includesthe distribution of surficial sediments, which is separated into continuous,discontinuous and predominantly rock categories. The second dataset includessediment grain size properties, which is divided into three classes: clay,silt and sand, based on the dominant grain size of the fine fraction of theglacial sediments. The third dataset is the generalized bedrock geology. Wedemonstrate the utility of these datasets for governing ice sheet dynamics byusing an ice sheet model with a simulation that extends through the lastglacial cycle. In order to demonstrate the importance of the basal boundaryconditions for ice sheet modelling, we changed the shear friction angle toaccount for a weaker substrate and found changes up to 40% in icethickness compared to a reference run. Although incorporation of the ice–bedboundary remains model dependent, our dataset provides an observationalbaseline for improving a critical weakness in current ice sheet modelling(https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.895889, Gowan et al., 2018b).
