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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].
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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

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