The Deep Ocean During the Last Interglacial Period

Oxygen isotope analysis of benthic foraminifera in deep sea cores from the Atlantic and Southern Oceans shows that during the last interglacial period, North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) was 0.4° ± 0.2°C warmer than today, whereas Antarctic Bottom Water temperatures were unchanged. Model simulations s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science
Main Authors: Duplessy, J. C., Roche, D. M., Kageyama, M.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 2007
Subjects:
Antarctic
West Antarctic Ice Sheet
Antarc*
Antarctica
Ice Sheet
NADW
North Atlantic Deep Water
North Atlantic
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1138582
https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.1138582
Description
Summary:Oxygen isotope analysis of benthic foraminifera in deep sea cores from the Atlantic and Southern Oceans shows that during the last interglacial period, North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) was 0.4° ± 0.2°C warmer than today, whereas Antarctic Bottom Water temperatures were unchanged. Model simulations show that this distribution of deep water temperatures can be explained as a response of the ocean to forcing by high-latitude insolation. The warming of NADW was transferred to the Circumpolar Deep Water, providing additional heat around Antarctica, which may have been responsible for partial melting of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.

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