Estimated basal ice temperatures at Crête, Greenland, throughout a glacial cycle

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Modeling of basal ice temperatures in central Greenland throughout a glacial cycle shows that they may be higher during a glaciation than during an interglacial and that there is a “hot spot” under the ice divide. The climatic record from the proposed borehole at Crête, on the divide, will cover several glacial cycles only if the basal temperature never reaches melting point; this will be the case if the geothermal heat flux is less than about 48 mW/m 2.