Modelling the concentration of atmospheric CO_2 during the Younger Dryas climate event

The Younger Dryas (YD, dated between 12.7}11.6 ky BP in the GRIP ice core, Central Greenland) is a distinct cold period in the North Atlantic region during the last deglaciation. A popular, but controversial hypothesis to explain the cooling is a reduction of the Atlantic thermohaline circulation (T...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: O. Marchal, T.F. Stocker, F. Joos, A. Indermühle, T. Blunier, J. Tschumi
Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: 1999
Subjects:
Byrd
Greenland
West Antarctica
Antarc*
Antarctica
GRIP
ice core
North Atlantic
Online Access:http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.37.1433
http://www.climate.unibe.ch/pdf/marchal99cd.pdf
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Summary:The Younger Dryas (YD, dated between 12.7}11.6 ky BP in the GRIP ice core, Central Greenland) is a distinct cold period in the North Atlantic region during the last deglaciation. A popular, but controversial hypothesis to explain the cooling is a reduction of the Atlantic thermohaline circulation (THC) and associated northward heat flux as triggered by glacial meltwater. Recently, a CH # -based synchronization of GRIP ###O and Byrd CO # records (West Antarctica) indicated that the concentration of atmospheric CO # (CO### # ) rose steadily during the YD, suggesting a minor influence of the THC on CO### # at that time. Here we show that the CO### # change in a zonally averaged, circulation-biogeochemistry ocean model when THC is collapsed by freshwater flux anomaly is consistent with the Byrd record. Cooling in the North Atlantic has a small effect on CO### # in this model, because it is spatially limited and compensated by far-field changes such as a warming in the Southern Oce.

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