Response of precipitation over Greenland and the adjacent ocean to North Pacific warm spells during Dansgaard-Oeschger stadials
Paleoceanographic reconstructions from the North Atlantic indicate massive ice breakouts from East Greenland near the onset of cold Dansgaard-Oeschger (D-O) stadials. In contrast to these coolings in the North Atlantic area, a new sea-surface temperature record reveals concomitant warm spells in the...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | unknown |
| Published: |
2002
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/11053/ https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/11053/1/Kie2002b.pdf https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.21513 https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.21513.d001 |
| Summary: | Paleoceanographic reconstructions from the North Atlantic indicate massive ice breakouts from East Greenland near the onset of cold Dansgaard-Oeschger (D-O) stadials. In contrast to these coolings in the North Atlantic area, a new sea-surface temperature record reveals concomitant warm spells in the northern North Pacific. A sensitivity experiment with an atmospheric general circulation model is used to test the potential impact of sea-surface warmings by 3.5C in the North Pacific, on top of otherwise cold stadial climate conditions, on the precipitation regime over the Northern Hemisphere ice sheets. The model predicts a maximum response over East Greenland and the Greenland Sea, where a 40% increase in net annual snow accumulation occurs. This remote effect of North Pacific warm spells on the East Greenland snow-accumulation rate may play an important role in generating D-O cycles by rebuilding the ice lost during ice breakouts. In addition, the increased precipitation over the Greenland Sea may help to sustain the D-O stadial climate state. |
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