Impact of High Latitude Freshwater Flux on the AMOC during MIS 11: Insight for Future Climate?
Abstract
Recent studies have reported a reduction in the strength of Atlantic overturning circulation. Because this phenomenon plays an important role in regulating global climate, identifying the drivers behind its decline is of fundamental importance for understanding future changes to the ocean-climate system. While Greenland meltwater is frequently invoked to explain decreased overturning strength in the subpolar region, numerical experiments suggest that Greenland-sourced freshwater input will have a minimal impact before 2100, highlighting the ongoing uncertainties regarding the main forces behind the reduction. It is therefore increasingly pertinent to better diagnose the relationship between northern freshwater input and ocean convection. Here, we present paleoceanographic evidence indicating the onset of deep convection in the Nordic Seas concomitant with high-volume freshwater forcing during a particularly warm interglacial cycle. Because this event is also associated with active overturning circulation, our results suggest that surface freshening does not always produce conditions unfavorable for deep-water formation.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2019
- Bibcode:
- 2019AGUFMPP53D1470T
- Keywords:
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- 4532 General circulation;
- OCEANOGRAPHY: PHYSICAL;
- 4901 Abrupt/rapid climate change;
- PALEOCEANOGRAPHY;
- 4928 Global climate models;
- PALEOCEANOGRAPHY;
- 4962 Thermohaline;
- PALEOCEANOGRAPHY