334 research outputs found
The last interglacial in the northern North Atlantic and adjacent areas: evidence for a more zonal climate than during the Holocene
We document climate conditions from the last interglacial optimum (LIO) or marine isotope stage 5e (MIS 5e) from terrestrial and oceanic sedimentary archives. Terrestrial climate conditions are reconstructed from pollen assemblages, whereas sea-surface temperature and salinity conditions are estimated from dinocyst assemblages and foraminiferal data (both assemblages and stable isotope composition of carbonate shells). LIO data from the eastern Canadian Arctic and northern Labrador Sea led to reconstruct much higher summer air temperature and seasurface temperature than at present by about 5°C. Data from southeastern Canada and southern Labrador Sea also suggest more thermophilic vegetation and warmer conditions although the contrast between LIO and the Holocene is of lesser amplitude. On the whole, the terrestrial and marine data sets from the northwest North Atlantic and adjacent lands suggest limited influence of southward flow from Arctic waters through the east Greenland and Labrador Currents as compared to the modern situation. The compilation of sea-surface reconstructions from the northwest and northeast North Atlantic indicate much reduced longitudinal contrasts of temperatures than at present, thus a more zonal pattern of circulation. The reconstructions also indicate a lower sea-surface salinity than at present, thus stronger stratification of upper water masses, which would be compatible with a reduced North
Atlantic deep-water formation
Model–data comparison and data assimilation of mid-Holocene Arctic sea ice concentration
The consistency between new quantitative reconstructions of Arctic sea ice
concentration based on dinocyst assemblages and the results of climate models
has been investigated for the mid-Holocene. The response of the models
mainly follows the increase in summer insolation, modulated to a limited
extent by changes in atmospheric circulation. This leads to differences
between regions in the models that are smaller than in the reconstruction. It
is, however, impossible to precisely assess the models' skills because the
sea ice concentration changes at the mid-Holocene are small in both the
reconstructions and the models and of the same order of magnitude as the
reconstruction uncertainty. Performing simulations with data assimilation
using the model LOVECLIM amplifies the regional differences and improves the
model–data agreement as expected. This is mainly achieved through a
reduction of the southward winds in the Barents Sea and an increase in the
westerly winds in the Canadian Basin, inducing an increase in the ice
concentration in the Barents and Chukchi seas. This underlines the potential
role of atmospheric circulation in explaining the reconstructed changes
during the Holocene
Sea ice working group (SIP)
The sea ice is a crucial component of
the polar climate system, and has
an impact on albedo, heat and gas ex-
change, primary productivity and car-
bon export, atmospheric and ocean
circulation, freshwater budget, ocean
stratification, and deep water mass for-
mation. It is therefore critical that it is
correctly specified as a forcing or pre-
dicted as a feedback in modeling stud-
ies
Variability of Sea Ice Cover in the Chukchi Sea (Western Arctic Ocean) During the Holocene
Dinocysts from cores collected in the Chukchi Sea from the shelf edge to the lower slope were used to reconstruct changes in sea surface conditions and sea ice cover using modern analogue techniques. Holocene sequences have been recovered in a down-slope core (B15: 2135 m, 75°44\u27N, sedimentation rate of ~1cm kyr-1) and in a shelf core (P1: 201 m, 73°41\u27N, sedimentation rate of ~22 cm kyr-1). The shelf record spanning about 8000 years suggests high-frequency centennial oscillations of sea surface conditions and a significant reduction of the sea ice at circa 6000 and 2500 calendar (cal) years B.P. The condensed offshore record (B15) reveals an early postglacial optimum with minimum sea ice cover prior to 12,000 cal years B.P., which corresponds to a terrestrial climate optimum in Bering Sea area. Dinocyst data indicate extensive sea ice cover (\u3e10 months yr-1) from 12,000 to 6000 cal years B.P. followed by a general trend of decreasing sea ice and increasing sea surface salinity conditions, superimposed on large-amplitude millennial-scale oscillations. In contrast, δ18O data in mesopelagic foraminifers (Neogloboquadrina pachyderma) and benthic foraminifers (Cibicides wuellerstorfi) reveal maximum subsurface temperature and thus maximum inflow of the North Atlantic water around 8000 cal years B.P., followed by a trend toward cooling of the subsurface to bottom water masses. Sea-surface to subsurface conditions estimated from dinocysts and δ18O data in foraminifers thus suggest a decoupling between the surface water layer and the intermediate North Atlantic water mass with the existence of a sharp halocline and a reverse thermocline, especially before 6000 years B.P. The overall data and sea ice reconstructions from core B15 are consistent with strong sea ice convergence in the western Arctic during the early Holocene as suggested on the basis of climate model experiments including sea ice dynamics, matching a higher inflow rate of North Atlantic Water
Lithostratigraphy, biostratigraphy, and stable-isotope stratigraphy of cores from ODP Leg 105 site surveys, Labrador Sea and Baffin Bay
Trigger weight (TWC) and piston (PC) cores obtained from surveys of the three sites drilled during Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Leg 105 were studied in detail for benthic foraminiferal assemblages, total carbonate (all sites), planktonic foraminiferal abundances (Sites 645 and 647), and stable isotopes (Sites 646 and 647). These high-resolution data provide the link between modern environmental conditions represented by the sediment in the TWC and the uppermost cores of the ODP holes. This link provides essential control data for interpretating late Pleistocene paleoceanographic records from these core holes. At Site 645 in Baffin Bay, local correlation is difficult because the area is dominated by ice-rafted deposits and by debris flows and/or turbidite sedimentation. At the two Labrador Sea sites (646 and 647), the survey cores and uppermost ODP cores can be correlated. High-resolution data from the site survey cores also provide biostratigraphic data that refine the interpretations compiled from core-catcher samples at each ODP site
Northward advection of Atlantic water in the eastern Nordic Seas over the last 3000 yr
Three marine sediment cores distributed along the
Norwegian (MD95-2011), Barents Sea (JM09-KA11-GC),
and Svalbard (HH11-134-BC) continental margins have been
investigated in order to reconstruct changes in the poleward
flow of Atlantic waters (AW) and in the nature of upper
surface water masses within the eastern Nordic Seas over
the last 3000 yr. These reconstructions are based on a limited
set of coccolith proxies: the abundance ratio between
Emiliania huxleyi and Coccolithus pelagicus, an index of Atlantic
vs. Polar/Arctic surface water masses; and Gephyrocapsa
muellerae, a drifted coccolith species from the temperate
North Atlantic, whose abundance changes are related
to variations in the strength of the North Atlantic Current.
The entire investigated area, from 66 to 77 N, was affected
by an overall increase in AWflow from 3000 cal yr BP
(before present) to the present. The long-term modulation
of westerlies’ strength and location, which are essentially
driven by the dominant mode of the North Atlantic Oscillation
(NAO), is thought to explain the observed dynamics of
poleward AW flow. The same mechanism also reconciles the
recorded opposite zonal shifts in the location of the Arctic
front between the area off western Norway and the western
Barents Sea–eastern Fram Strait region.
The Little Ice Age (LIA) was governed by deteriorating
conditions, with Arctic/Polar waters dominating in the surface
off western Svalbard and western Barents Sea, possibly
associated with both severe sea ice conditions and a strongly
reduced AW strength. A sudden short pulse of resumed high
WSC (West Spitsbergen Current) flow interrupted this cold
spell in eastern Fram Strait from 330 to 410 cal yr BP. Our
dataset not only confirms the high amplitude warming of
surface waters at the turn of the 19th century off western
Svalbard, it also shows that such a warming was primarily
induced by an excess flow of AW which stands as unprecedented
over the last 3000 yr
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