Enhanced tropical methane production in response to iceberg discharge in the North Atlantic

The tropical impact of iceberg armadas The massive discharges of icebergs from the Greenland ice sheet during the Last Glacial Period are called Heinrich events. But did Heinrich events cause abrupt climate change, or were they a product of it? Methane levels represent a proxy for climate, because m...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science
Main Authors: Rhodes, Rachael H., Brook, Edward J., Chiang, John C. H., Blunier, Thomas, Maselli, Olivia J., McConnell, Joseph R., Romanini, Daniele, Severinghaus, Jeffrey P.
Other Authors: NSF
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 2015
Subjects:
Antarc*
Antarctica
Greenland
ice core
Ice Sheet
North Atlantic
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1262005
https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.1262005
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Summary:The tropical impact of iceberg armadas The massive discharges of icebergs from the Greenland ice sheet during the Last Glacial Period are called Heinrich events. But did Heinrich events cause abrupt climate change, or were they a product of it? Methane levels represent a proxy for climate, because methane production increases mostly due to wetter conditions in the tropics. Rhodes et al. report a highly resolved record of atmospheric methane concentrations, derived from an ice core from Antarctica. Methane levels varied—i.e., the tropical climate changed—in response to cooling in the Northern Hemisphere caused by Heinrich events. Science , this issue p. 1016

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