BCE Manhattan (Pleistocene The Ice Age)
We'd also like to create a "20,000BC" level to show how Manhattan looked during the last ice age, when it was covered by the 300-600m thick Laurentide Ice Sheet. This could be a lower-resolution version of the landscape (since users won't be able to "walk around" under the ice) and optimized for animating the glacier's advance and retreat.
Estimates vary, but let's assume the thickness of the ice sheet over Manhattan as of 20K BCE was **300m **(1000 ft). The ice sheet was up to 2 miles (3200m) thick in places, but likely much thinner at the "edges". Manhattan was near the edge of the ice sheet.
- Video animation of the retreat of the Laurentide Ice Sheet
- BBC documentary on formation of Manhattan
- "How the Ice Age Shaped New York" (New York Times) - claims thickness over Manhattan was 1000-2000 ft (300-600m)
- "The Ice That Made Manhattan" (Columbia University)
- "New York City in the Ice Age"
- Wikipedia on Laurentide Ice Sheet
- Great video on the formation of Long Island by glaciers
Actual glaciers in Greenland:
- 12,000 years ago, the ocean level was about 70m lower than it is today
- This would have exposed the continental shelf off New York (aka the "New York Bight")
- Note that the Hudson river actually carved a canyon in that shelf that is still visible today underwater!
- This canyon is visible in our 12K BC Level as well. Need to make it 3D and play with the water level
Front end calving: https://youtu.be/hC3VTgIPoGU?si=mDqMVrNDL7y7CEgE&t=84
Google Maps views of Antarctican glaciers/ice sheets:
Ice sheets flow around higher mountain ranges. The Laurentide ice sheet was 600-900m high, so it was below most of the red areas in this image (i.e. flowed around them):