Reconstructing Deglacial Circulation Changes in the Northern North Atlantic and Nordic Seas: Δ14C, δ13C, Temperature and δ18OSW Evidence

Ice-core records have revealed that atmospheric CO2 has varied during glacial-interglacial by ~90 ppm, with rapid increases in atmospheric CO2 occurring during deglaciations. It is widely accepted that changes in the amount of carbon stored in the deep ocean play a leading role in explaining these cycles, primarily because of the size of the deep ocean carbon reservoir (~60 times that of the atmosphere) and the millennial timescales on which it interacts with the atmosphere (Sigman et al. 2010). To gain an understanding of how changes in deep ocean carbon storage may have controlled past variations in atmospheric CO2, we ideally require robust and detailed proxy records of the properties and ventilation pathways of the deep ocean across glacial-interglacial transitions. The deep ocean is ventilated in the high latitudes, where dense isopycnals outcrop at the sea surface. Therefore to help understand deep ocean-atmosphere exchange we require reconstructions of past hydrographic changes at these high latitude ventilation sites. Furthermore, constraints on the timing and phasing of deglacial changes in these regions enable us to evaluate hypotheses regarding the underlying mechanisms of the glacial termination

Grain Size Constraints on Glacial Circulation in the Southwest Atlantic

Knowledge of past deep-ocean current speeds has the potential to inform our understanding of changes in the climate system on glacial-interglacial timescales, because they may be used to help constrain changes in deep-ocean circulation rates and pathways. Of particular interest is the paleo-flow speed of southern-sourced deep water, which may have acted as a carbon store during the last glacial period. A location of importance in the northward transport of southern-sourced bottom water is the Vema Channel, which divides the Argentine and Brazil basins in the South Atlanti c. We revisit previous studies of paleo-flow in Vema Channel using updated techniques in grain size analysis (i.e., mean sortable silt grain size), in Vema Channel cores and cores from the Brazil margin. Furthermore, we update the interpretation of the previous grain size studies in the light of many years further research into the glacial circulation of the deep Atlantic. Our results are broadly consistent with the existing data and suggest that during the last glacial period there was slightly more vigorous intermediate to middepth (shallower than 2,600 m) circulation in the South Atlantic Ocean than during the Holocene, whereas around 3,500 m the circulation was generally more sluggish. Increased glacial flow speed on the eastern side of the Vema Channel was likely related to an increase in northward velocity of AABW in the channel. An increase in Antarctic Bottom Water flow through the Vema Channel may have helped to sustain the large volume of southern-sourced deep water in the Atlantic during the glacial period

Millennial changes in North Atlantic oxygen concentrations

Glacial-interglacial changes in bottom water oxygen concentrations [O2] in the deep northeast Atlantic have been linked to decreased ventilation relating to changes in ocean circulation and the biological pump (Hoogakker et al., 2015). In this paper we discuss seawater [O2] changes in relation to millennial climate oscillations in the North Atlantic over the last glacial cycle, using bottom water [O2] reconstructions from 2 cores: (1) MD95-2042 from the deep northeast Atlantic (Hoogakker et al., 2015) and (2) ODP (Ocean Drilling Program) Site 1055 from the intermediate northwest Atlantic. The deep northeast Atlantic core MD95-2042 shows decreased bottom water [O2] during millennial-scale cool events, with lowest bottom water [O2] of 170, 144, and 166 ± 17μmolkg1 during Heinrich ice rafting events H6, H4, and H1. Importantly, at intermediate depth core ODP Site 1055, bottom water [O2] was lower during parts of Marine Isotope Stage 4 and millennial cool events, with the lowest values of 179 and 194μmolkg1 recorded during millennial cool event C21 and a cool event following Dansgaard-Oeschger event 19. Our reconstructions agree with previous model simulations suggesting that glacial cold events may be associated with lower seawater [O2] across the North Atlantic below 1/4 1km (Schmittner et al., 2007), although in our reconstructions the changes are less dramatic. The decreases in bottom water [O2] during North Atlantic Heinrich events and earlier cold events at the two sites can be linked to water mass changes in relation to ocean circulation changes and possibly productivity changes. At the intermediate depth site a possible strong North Atlantic Intermediate Water cell would preclude water mass changes as a cause for decreased bottom water [O2]. Instead, we propose that the lower bottom [O2] there can be linked to productivity changes through increased export of organic material from the surface ocean and its subsequent remineralization in the water column and the sediment

Freshwater input and abrupt deglacial climate change in the North Atlantic

Greenland ice core records indicate that the last deglaciation (∼7–21 ka) was punctuated by numerous abrupt climate reversals involving temperature changes of up to 5°C–10°C within decades. However, the cause behind many of these events is uncertain. A likely candidate may have been the input of deglacial meltwater, from the Laurentide ice sheet (LIS), to the high-latitude North Atlantic, which disrupted ocean circulation and triggered cooling. Yet the direct evidence of meltwater input for many of these events has so far remained undetected. In this study, we use the geochemistry (paired Mg/Ca-δ18O) of planktonic foraminifera from a sediment core south of Iceland to reconstruct the input of freshwater to the northern North Atlantic during abrupt deglacial climate change. Our record can be placed on the same timescale as ice cores and therefore provides a direct comparison between the timing of freshwater input and climate variability. Meltwater events coincide with the onset of numerous cold intervals, including the Older Dryas (14.0 ka), two events during the Allerød (at ∼13.1 and 13.6 ka), the Younger Dryas (12.9 ka), and the 8.2 ka event, supporting a causal link between these abrupt climate changes and meltwater input. During the Bølling-Allerød warm interval, we find that periods of warming are associated with an increased meltwater flux to the northern North Atlantic, which in turn induces abrupt cooling, a cessation in meltwater input, and eventual climate recovery. This implies that feedback between climate and meltwater input produced a highly variable climate. A comparison to published data sets suggests that this feedback likely included fluctuations in the southern margin of the LIS causing rerouting of LIS meltwater between southern and eastern drainage outlets, as proposed by Clark et al. (2001)

Surface changes in the eastern Labrador Sea around the onset of the Little Ice Age

Despite the relative climate stability of the present interglacial, it has been punctuated by several centennial-scale climatic oscillations; the latest of which are often colloquially referred to as the Medieval Climatic Anomaly (MCA) and the Little Ice Age (LIA). The most favored explanation for the cause of these anomalies is that they were triggered by variability in solar irradiance and/or volcanic activity and amplified by ocean-atmosphere-sea ice feedbacks. As such, changes in the strength of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) are widely believed to have been involved in the amplification of such climatic oscillations. The Labrador Sea is a key area of deep water formation. The waters produced here contribute approximately one third of the volume transport of the deep limb of the AMOC and drive changes in the North Atlantic surface hydrography and subpolar gyre circulation. In this study, we present multiproxy reconstructions from a high-resolution marine sediment core located south of Greenland that suggest an increase in the influence of polar waters reaching the Labrador Sea close to MCA-LIA transition. Changes in freshwater forcing may have reduced the formation of Labrador Sea Water and contributed toward the onset of the LIA cooling. © 2014. The Authors

Relation of sortable silt grain-size to deep-sea current speeds: Calibration of the ‘Mud Current Meter’

© 2017 Elsevier Ltd Fine grain-size parameters have been used for inference of palaeoflow speeds of near-bottom currents in the deep-sea. The basic idea stems from observations of varying sediment size parameters on a continental margin with a gradient from slower flow speeds at shallower depths to faster at deeper. In the deep-sea, size-sorting occurs during deposition after benthic storm resuspension events. At flow speeds below 10–15 cm s −1 mean grain-size in the terrigenous non-cohesive ‘sortable silt’ range (denoted by SS¯, mean of 10–63 µm) is controlled by selective deposition, whereas above that range removal of finer material by winnowing is also argued to play a role. A calibration of the SS¯ grain-size flow speed proxy based on sediment samples taken adjacent to sites of long-term current meters set within ~100 m of the sea bed for more than a year is presented here. Grain-size has been measured by either Sedigraph or Coulter Counter, in some cases both, between which there is an excellent correlation for SS¯ (r = 0.96). Size-speed data indicate calibration relationships with an overall sensitivity of 1.36 ± 0.19 cm s −1 /μm. A calibration line comprising 12 points including 9 from the Iceland overflow region is well defined, but at least two other smaller groups (Weddell/Scotia Sea and NW Atlantic continental rise/Rockall Trough) are fitted by sub-parallel lines with a smaller constant. This suggests a possible influence of the calibre of material supplied to the site of deposition (not the initial source supply) which, if depleted in very coarse silt (31–63 µm), would limit SS¯ to smaller values for a given speed than with a broader size-spectrum supply. Local calibrations, or a core-top grain-size and local flow speed, are thus necessary to infer absolute speeds from grain-size. The trend of the calibrations diverges markedly from the slope of experimental critical erosion and deposition flow speeds versus grain-size, making it unlikely that the SS¯ (or any deposit size for that matter) is simply predicted by the deposition threshold. A more probable control is the rate of deposition of the different size fractions under changing flows over several tens of years (the typical averaging period of a centimetre of deposited sediment). This suggestion is supported by a simple depositional model for which the deposited SS¯ is calculated from measured currents with a size-varying depositional threshold. More surficial sediment samples taken near long-term current meter sites are needed to make calibrations more robust and explore regional differences

Deep water flow speed and surface ocean changes in the subtropical North Atlantic during the last deglaciation

Climate fluctuations during the last deglaciation have been linked to changes in the North Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (MOC) through its modulation of northward marine heat transport. Consequently, much research into the causes of rapid climate change has focused on the northern North Atlantic as a key component of global ocean circulation. The production of cold, deep waters in the Southern Ocean is an important factor in the Earth's heat budget, but the involvement of deep Southern Sourced Water (SSW) in deglacial climate change has yet to be fully established. Here we use terrigenous silt grain size data from two ocean sediment cores retrieved from the western subtropical North Atlantic to reconstruct past changes in the speed of deepwater flow. The first core site is located under the influence of Lower North Atlantic Deep Water (LNADW), and is representative of changes in the MOC. The second core site is close to the modern boundary between LNADW/SSW and is therefore ideally positioned to detect changes in SSW delivery to the North Atlantic. We find evidence for a broad-scale difference in flow speed changes at the two sites, with the presence of a vigorous, but poorly ventilated SSW mass at ~ 4200 m water depth during the cold episodes of the last deglaciation when shallower (2975 m water depth) grain size and geochemical data suggest that Northern Sourced Water (NSW) was suppressed

Reconstructing North Atlantic deglacial surface hydrography and its link to the Atlantic overturning circulation

Paired Mg/Ca–δ18O measurements on multiple species of planktic foraminifera are combined with published benthic isotope records from south of Iceland in order to assess the role North Atlantic freshwater input played in determining the evolution of hydrography and climate during the last deglaciation. We demonstrate that Globigerina bulloides and Globorotalia inflata are restricted to intervals when warm Atlantic waters reached the area south of Iceland, and therefore Mg/Ca–δ18O data from these species monitor changes in the temperature and seawater δ18O signature of the northward inflow of Atlantic water to the area. In contrast, Neogloboquadrina pachyderma (sinistral) calcifies within local subpolar/polar waters and new Mg/Ca–δ18O analyses on this species document changes in this water mass. We observe two major surface ocean events during Heinrich Stadial 1 (∼ 17–14.7 ka): an early freshening of the Atlantic Inflow (∼ 17–16 ka), and a later interval (16–14.7 ka) of local surface freshening, sea-ice formation and brine rejection that was associated with a further reduction in deep ocean ventilation. Centennial-scale cold intervals during the Bølling–Allerød (BA, 14.7–12.9 ka) were likely triggered by the rerouting of North American continental run-off during ice-sheet retreat. However, the relative effects of these freshwater events on deep ventilation and climate south of Iceland appear to have been modulated by the background climate deterioration. Two freshwater events occurred during the Younger Dryas cold interval (YD, 12.9–11.7 ka), both accompanied by a reduction in deep ventilation south of Iceland: an early YD freshening of the Atlantic Inflow and local subpolar/polar waters, and a late YD ice-rafted detritus event that was possibly related to brine formation south of Iceland. Based on our reconstructions, the strengthening of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation at the onset of BA and Holocene may have been promoted by the subsurface warming of subpolar/polar water, brine formation that drew warm saline Atlantic water northwards, and the high background salinity of the Atlantic Inflow