Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-v2bm5 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-22T13:41:08.130Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Thermohaline Circulation and Prolonged Interglacial Warmth in the North Atlantic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Jerry F. McManus ,
Delia W. Oppo ,
Lloyd D. Keigwin ,
James L. Cullen  and
Gerard C. Bond
Jerry F. McManus*
Affiliation:
Department of Geology & Geophysics, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, 02543
Delia W. Oppo
Affiliation:
Department of Geology & Geophysics, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, 02543
Lloyd D. Keigwin
Affiliation:
Department of Geology & Geophysics, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, 02543
James L. Cullen
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, Salem State College, Salem, Massachusetts, 01970
Gerard C. Bond
Affiliation:
Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory, Palisades, New York, 10964
*
1To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: [email protected].
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Deep-sea sediment cores provide spatially coherent evidence for the climatic and hydrographic conditions in the subpolar North Atlantic during the last interglaciation. Taken together with similarly high-resolution terrestrial sequences, these records indicate a regional climatic progression, beginning with the extreme and variable climate late in the penultimate glaciation, continuing through a relatively stable climatic optimum during the interglaciation, and concluding with the reestablishment of the markedly variable regime that characterized the last 100,000-yr glaciation. Relatively mild conditions in much of the subpolar region significantly outlasted the minimum in global ice volume, despite declining summer insolation and the cooling influence of incipient proximal glaciers. These effects were partially offset by enhanced thermohaline circulation that paradoxically increased heat transport into the region while simultaneously providing the likely moisture source for the growth of large northern ice sheets. The inception of the last glacial cycle thus provides an example of the influence of ocean circulation on regional climate. In contrast to the apparent orbital pace of the ongoing ice-sheet growth, the subsequent deterioration of surface conditions was abrupt and dramatic.

Keywords

Eemianthermohaline circulationinterglaciationMIS 5
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 58 , Issue 1 , July 2002 , pp. 17 - 21
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adkins, J.F., Boyle, E.A., Keigwin, L., and Cortijo, E. Variability of the North Atlantic thermohaline circulation during the last interglacial period. Nature 390, (1997). 154 156.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barnola, J.M., Raynaud, D., Korotkevich, Y.S., and Lorius, C. Vostok ice core provides 160,000-year record of atmospheric CO2 . Nature 329, (1987). 408 414.Google Scholar
Berger, A., Gallee, H., Li, X.S., Dutrieux, A., and Loutre, M.F. Ice-sheet growth and high-latitudes sea surface temperature. Climate Dynamics 12, (1996). 441 448.Google Scholar
Bond, G., Broecker, W., Johnson, S., Jouzel, J., Labeyrie, L., McManus, J., and Bonani, G. Correlations between climate records from North Atlantic sediments and Greenland ice. Nature 365, (1993). 143 147.Google Scholar
Broecker, W.S. The end of the present interglacial: How and when?. Quaternary Science Reviews 17, (1998). 689 694.Google Scholar
Broecker, W.S. Paleocean circulation during the last deglaciation: A bipolar seesaw?. Paleoceanography 13, (1998). 119 121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chapman, M.R., and Shackleton, N.J. Millennial-scale fluctuations in North Atlantic heat flux during the last 150,000 years. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 159, (1998). 57 70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chapman, M.R., and Shackleton, N.J. Global ice-volume fluctuations, North Atlantic ice-rafting events, and deep-ocean circulation changes between 130 and 70 ka:. Geology 27, (1999). 795 798.Google Scholar
Quaternary Research 21, (1984). 123 224.Google Scholar
Cortijo, E., Duplessy, J.-C., Labeyrie, L., Leclaire, H., Duprat, J., and van Weering, T.C.E. Eemian cooling in the Norwegian Sea and North Atlantic Ocean preceding continental ice-sheet growth. Nature 372, (1994). 446 449.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cortijo, E., Lehman, S., Keigwin, L., Chapman, M., Paillard, D., and Labeyrie, L. Changes in meridional temperature and salinity gradients in the North Atlantic Ocean (30°–72°N) during the last interglacial period. Paleoceanography 14, (1999). 23 33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dansgaard, W., Johnsen, S.J., Clausen, H.B., Dahl-Jensen, D., Gundestrup, N., Hammer, C.U., Hvldberg, C.S., Steffensen, J.P., Sveinbjornsdottir, A.E., Jouzel, J., and Bond, G. Evidence for general instability of past climate from a 250-kyr ice-core record. Nature 364, (1993). 218 220.Google Scholar
Duplessy, J.-C., and Shackleton, N.J. Response of global deep-water circulation to Earth's climatic change 135,000–107,000 years ago. Nature 316, (1985). 500 507.Google Scholar
Emiliani, C. Pleistocene temperatures. Journal of Geology 63, (1955). 539 578.Google Scholar
Gordon, A.L. Interocean exchange of thermocline water. Journal of Geophysical Research 91, (1986). 5037 5046.Google Scholar
Grootes, P.M., Stuiver, M., White, J.W.C., Johnsen, S., and Jouzel, J. Comparison of oxygen isotope records from the GISP2 and GRIP Greenland ice cores. Nature 366, (1993). 552 554.Google Scholar
Heinrich, H. Origin and consequences of cyclic ice rafting in the Northeast Atlantic Ocean during the past 130,000 years. Quaternary Research 29, (1988). 143 152.Google Scholar
Karabanov, E., Prokopenko, A., Williams, D., and Colman, S.M. Evidence from Lake Baikal for Siberian glaciation during oxygen-isotope substage 5d. Quaternary Research 50, (1998). 46 55.Google Scholar
Keigwin, L.D., Curry, W., Lehman, S.J., and Johnsen, S. The role of North Atlantic climate change on the deep circulation between 70 and 130 kyr ago. Nature 371, (1994). 323 325.Google Scholar
Kohfeld, K.E., Fairbanks, R.G., Smith, S.L., and Walsh, I.D. Neogloboquadrina pachyderma (sinistral coiling) as paleoceanographic tracers in polar oceans; evidence from Northeast Water Polynya plankton tows, sediment traps, and surface sediments. Paleoceanography 11, (1996). 679 699.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kukla, G., McManus, J.F., Rousseau, D., and Chuine, I. How long and how stable was the last interglacial?. Quaternary Science Reviews 16, (1997). 605 612.Google Scholar
Martinson, D.G., Pisias, N.G., Hays, J.D., Imbrie, J., Moore, T.C. Jr., and Shackleton, N.J. Age dating and the orbital theory of the ice ages; development of a high-resolution 0 to 300,000-year chronostratigraphy. Quaternary Research 27, (1987). 1 29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McIntyre, A., Kipp, N.G., Be, A.W.H., Crowley, T., Kellogg, T., Gardner, J.V., Prell, W., and Ruddiman, W.F. Glacial North Atlantic 18,000 years ago: A CLIMAP reconstruction. Cline, R.M., and Hays, J.D. Investigation of Late Quaternary Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology. (1976). Geol. Soc. Am, Boulder. 3 42.Google Scholar
McManus, J.F., Bond, G.C., Broecker, W.S., Johnsen, S., Labeyrie, L., and Higgins, S. High-resolution climate records from the N. Atlantic during the last interglacial. Nature 371, (1994). 326 329.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McManus, J.F., Anderson, R., Broecker, W.S., Higgins, S., and Fleisher, M. Radiometrically determined sediment fluxes in the subpolar North Atlantic Ocean during the last 140,000 years. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 155, (1998). 1 2.Google Scholar
McManus, J.F., Oppo, D.W., Keigwin, L.D., and Cullen, J.L. Influence of thermohaline circulation on the duration and demise of peak interglacial climate in the circum-North Atlantic region. EOS 79, (1998). S177 Google Scholar
McManus, J.F., Oppo, D.W., and Cullen, J.L. A 0.5 million year record of millennial-scale climate variability in the North Atlantic. Science 283, (1999). 971 975.Google Scholar
Mix, A.C., Pisias, N.G., Rugh, W., Wilson, J., Morey, A., and Hagelberg, T.K. Benthic foraminifer stable isotope record from Site 849 (0-5 MA): Local and global climate changes. Mayer, N.G., Janacek, T.R., Palmer-Julson, A., and van Andel, T.H. Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program, Scientific Results. (1995). Ocean Drilling Program, College Station. 371 391.Google Scholar
Oppo, D.W., Horowitz, M., and Lehman, S.J. Marine core evidence for reduced deep water production during Termination 2 followed by a relatively stable substage 5e. Paleoceanography 12, (1997). 51 63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oppo, D.W., Keigwin, L.D., McManus, J.F., and Cullen, J.L. Persistent suborbital climate variability in marine isotope stage 5 and Termination II. Paleoceanography 16, (2001). 280 292.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ruddiman, W.F., and McIntyre, A. Warmth of the subpolar North Atlantic Ocean during Northern Hemisphere ice-sheet growth. Science 204, (1979). 173 175.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ruddiman, W.F., McIntyre, A., Niebler-Hunt, V., and Durazzi, J.T. Ocean evidence for the mechanism of rapid northern hemisphere glaciation. Quaternary Research 13, (1980). 33 64.Google Scholar
Schmitt, R. W. (1998). The ocean's response to the freshwater cycle.. In Global Energy and Water CyclesK. Browning and R. Gurney, Eds., pp. 144–154. Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, UK.Google Scholar
Shackleton, N.J. The last interglacial in the marine and terrestrial records. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B174, (1969). 135 154.Google Scholar
Shackleton, N.J., Hall, M.A., Line, J., and Shuxi, C. Carbon isotope data in core V19-30 confirm reduced carbon dioxide concentration in the ice age atmosphere. Nature 306, (1983). 319 322.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, Z., and Mysak, L.A. A simple coupled atmosphere-ocean-sea ice-land surface model for climate and paleoclimate studies. Journal of Climate 13, (2000). 1150 1172.Google Scholar
Woillard, G.M. Grande Pile peat bog: A continuous pollen record for the last 140,000 years. Quaternary Research 9, (1978). 1 21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woillard, G. Abrupt end to the last interglacial in northeast France. Nature 281, (1979). 558 562.Google Scholar