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

• 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: Greenland; Antarc*; Antarctica; 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

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