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Back home, the Pleistocene ice never reached farther south than New York or London. These ice ages had been coming and going for two and a half million years. On average, there was enough ice to suck down 100 meters of sea level.

In this alternate Earth, the ice ages had been coming and going for five million years. In Europe, we'd see ice reaching as far down south as Paris and as far west as London, and even burying all of Russia, stopping on the slopes of the Urals and the Caucasus, barring Asia from Europe.

In North America, the Laurentide Ice Sheet reached as far down south as Topeka, Kansas and as far west as Rapid City, South Dakota. The Cordilleran Ice Sheet never reached beyond the Canadian Rockies, the Cascades or the Alaska Range. Sea levels dropped by 120-150 meters.

In this alternate ice age, what would the Mercator look like with far lower drops in sea level? How would climate and habitat be affected? And when we get to interglacial, would the landscapes look any different from what we currently have? If so, how?

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    $\begingroup$ There are quite a lot of purely geophysical effects from having the ice that much different. May be worth scoping this question to just that, to prevent it getting too broad, or having split answers - some geophysics and some biology/environment. You could always forward your preferred geophysical development answer into "how would this affect habitat" $\endgroup$
    – Neil Slater
    Sep 9, 2015 at 16:30
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    $\begingroup$ How would climate and habitat be affected? It would get cold. $\endgroup$
    – SJuan76
    Sep 9, 2015 at 18:16
  • $\begingroup$ Ural range is pretty much North-South. I can't imagine how it may stop ice. $\endgroup$
    – user58697
    Sep 9, 2015 at 19:33
  • $\begingroup$ They are the ice's eastern barrier. $\endgroup$
    – JohnWDailey
    Sep 9, 2015 at 20:03

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  • In this alternate ice age, what would the Mercator look like with far lower drops in sea level?

    It would roughly look like this. It's not 150m but you can see that compared to 200m, the differences are small:

    Source: https://what-if.xkcd.com/53/

  • How would climate and habitat be affected?

    It will be colder during the ice age but not so much because the modification in your setting are relatively minor.

  • And when we get to interglacial, would the landscapes look any different from what we currently have? If so, how?

    You get more grinding, more eroded land. And also more lakes: small pockets of water left behind after the de-glaciation.

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