Abrupt climate change: An alternative view
Abstract Hypotheses and inferences concerning the nature of abrupt climate change, exemplified by the Dansgaard–Oeschger (D–O) events, are reviewed. There is little concrete evidence that these events are more than a regional Greenland phenomenon. The partial coherence of ice core δ 18 O and CH 4 is...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.yqres.2005.10.006 http://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0033589405001717?httpAccept=text/xml http://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0033589405001717?httpAccept=text/plain https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0033589400013740 |
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crcambridgeupr:10.1016/j.yqres.2005.10.006 2024-06-23T07:52:45+00:00 Abrupt climate change: An alternative view Wunsch, Carl 2006 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.yqres.2005.10.006 http://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0033589405001717?httpAccept=text/xml http://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0033589405001717?httpAccept=text/plain https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0033589400013740 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms Quaternary Research volume 65, issue 02, page 191-203 ISSN 0033-5894 1096-0287 journal-article 2006 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yqres.2005.10.006 2024-06-12T04:03:00Z Abstract Hypotheses and inferences concerning the nature of abrupt climate change, exemplified by the Dansgaard–Oeschger (D–O) events, are reviewed. There is little concrete evidence that these events are more than a regional Greenland phenomenon. The partial coherence of ice core δ 18 O and CH 4 is a possible exception. Claims, however, of D–O presence in most remote locations cannot be distinguished from the hypothesis that many regions are just exhibiting temporal variability in climate proxies with approximately similar frequency content. Further suggestions that D–O events in Greenland are generated by shifts in the North Atlantic ocean circulation seem highly implausible, given the weak contribution of the high latitude ocean to the meridional flux of heat. A more likely scenario is that changes in the ocean circulation are a consequence of wind shifts. The disappearance of D–O events in the Holocene coincides with the disappearance also of the Laurentide and Fennoscandian ice sheets. It is thus suggested that D–O events are a consequence of interactions of the windfield with the continental ice sheets and that better understanding of the wind field in the glacial periods is the highest priority. Wind fields are capable of great volatility and very rapid global-scale teleconnections, and they are efficient generators of oceanic circulation changes and (more speculatively) of multiple states relative to great ice sheets. Connection of D–O events to the possibility of modern abrupt climate change rests on a very weak chain of assumptions. Article in Journal/Newspaper Fennoscandian Greenland ice core North Atlantic Cambridge University Press Greenland Quaternary Research 65 02 191 203 |
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Cambridge University Press |
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crcambridgeupr |
language |
English |
description |
Abstract Hypotheses and inferences concerning the nature of abrupt climate change, exemplified by the Dansgaard–Oeschger (D–O) events, are reviewed. There is little concrete evidence that these events are more than a regional Greenland phenomenon. The partial coherence of ice core δ 18 O and CH 4 is a possible exception. Claims, however, of D–O presence in most remote locations cannot be distinguished from the hypothesis that many regions are just exhibiting temporal variability in climate proxies with approximately similar frequency content. Further suggestions that D–O events in Greenland are generated by shifts in the North Atlantic ocean circulation seem highly implausible, given the weak contribution of the high latitude ocean to the meridional flux of heat. A more likely scenario is that changes in the ocean circulation are a consequence of wind shifts. The disappearance of D–O events in the Holocene coincides with the disappearance also of the Laurentide and Fennoscandian ice sheets. It is thus suggested that D–O events are a consequence of interactions of the windfield with the continental ice sheets and that better understanding of the wind field in the glacial periods is the highest priority. Wind fields are capable of great volatility and very rapid global-scale teleconnections, and they are efficient generators of oceanic circulation changes and (more speculatively) of multiple states relative to great ice sheets. Connection of D–O events to the possibility of modern abrupt climate change rests on a very weak chain of assumptions. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Wunsch, Carl |
spellingShingle |
Wunsch, Carl Abrupt climate change: An alternative view |
author_facet |
Wunsch, Carl |
author_sort |
Wunsch, Carl |
title |
Abrupt climate change: An alternative view |
title_short |
Abrupt climate change: An alternative view |
title_full |
Abrupt climate change: An alternative view |
title_fullStr |
Abrupt climate change: An alternative view |
title_full_unstemmed |
Abrupt climate change: An alternative view |
title_sort |
abrupt climate change: an alternative view |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
2006 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.yqres.2005.10.006 http://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0033589405001717?httpAccept=text/xml http://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0033589405001717?httpAccept=text/plain https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0033589400013740 |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
Fennoscandian Greenland ice core North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
Fennoscandian Greenland ice core North Atlantic |
op_source |
Quaternary Research volume 65, issue 02, page 191-203 ISSN 0033-5894 1096-0287 |
op_rights |
https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yqres.2005.10.006 |
container_title |
Quaternary Research |
container_volume |
65 |
container_issue |
02 |
container_start_page |
191 |
op_container_end_page |
203 |
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1802644121791234048 |