Modelling global-scale climate impacts of the late Miocene Messinian Salinity Crisis
Late Miocene tectonic changes in Mediterranean–Atlantic connectivity and climatic changes caused Mediterranean salinity to fluctuate dramatically, including a ten-fold increase and near-freshening. Recent proxy- and model-based evidence suggests that at times during this Messinian Salinity Crisis (M...
Published in: | Climate of the Past |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , |
Format: | Text |
Language: | English |
Published: |
2018
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-607-2014 https://cp.copernicus.org/articles/10/607/2014/ |
id |
ftcopernicus:oai:publications.copernicus.org:cp21410 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftcopernicus:oai:publications.copernicus.org:cp21410 2023-05-15T16:30:04+02:00 Modelling global-scale climate impacts of the late Miocene Messinian Salinity Crisis Ivanovic, R. F. Valdes, P. J. Flecker, R. Gutjahr, M. 2018-09-27 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-607-2014 https://cp.copernicus.org/articles/10/607/2014/ eng eng doi:10.5194/cp-10-607-2014 https://cp.copernicus.org/articles/10/607/2014/ eISSN: 1814-9332 Text 2018 ftcopernicus https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-607-2014 2020-07-20T16:25:08Z Late Miocene tectonic changes in Mediterranean–Atlantic connectivity and climatic changes caused Mediterranean salinity to fluctuate dramatically, including a ten-fold increase and near-freshening. Recent proxy- and model-based evidence suggests that at times during this Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC, 5.96–5.33 Ma), highly saline and highly fresh Mediterranean water flowed into the North Atlantic Ocean, whilst at others, no Mediterranean Outflow Water (MOW) reached the Atlantic. By running extreme, sensitivity-type experiments with a fully coupled ocean–atmosphere general circulation model, we investigate the potential of these various MSC MOW scenarios to impact global-scale climate. The simulations suggest that although the effect remains relatively small, MOW had a greater influence on North Atlantic Ocean circulation and climate than it does today. We also find that depending on the presence, strength and salinity of MOW, the MSC could have been capable of cooling mid–high northern latitudes by a few degrees, with the greatest cooling taking place in the Labrador, Greenland–Iceland–Norwegian and Barents seas. With hyper saline MOW, a component of North Atlantic Deep Water formation shifts to the Mediterranean, strengthening the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) south of 35° N by 1.5–6 Sv. With hypo saline MOW, AMOC completely shuts down, inducing a bipolar climate anomaly with strong cooling in the north (mainly −1 to −3 °C, but up to −8 °C) and weaker warming in the south (up to +0.5 to +2.7 °C). These simulations identify key target regions and climate variables for future proxy reconstructions to provide the best and most robust test cases for (a) assessing Messinian model performance, (b) evaluating Mediterranean–Atlantic connectivity during the MSC and (c) establishing whether or not the MSC could ever have affected global-scale climate. Text Greenland Iceland North Atlantic Deep Water North Atlantic Copernicus Publications: E-Journals Greenland Climate of the Past 10 2 607 622 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Copernicus Publications: E-Journals |
op_collection_id |
ftcopernicus |
language |
English |
description |
Late Miocene tectonic changes in Mediterranean–Atlantic connectivity and climatic changes caused Mediterranean salinity to fluctuate dramatically, including a ten-fold increase and near-freshening. Recent proxy- and model-based evidence suggests that at times during this Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC, 5.96–5.33 Ma), highly saline and highly fresh Mediterranean water flowed into the North Atlantic Ocean, whilst at others, no Mediterranean Outflow Water (MOW) reached the Atlantic. By running extreme, sensitivity-type experiments with a fully coupled ocean–atmosphere general circulation model, we investigate the potential of these various MSC MOW scenarios to impact global-scale climate. The simulations suggest that although the effect remains relatively small, MOW had a greater influence on North Atlantic Ocean circulation and climate than it does today. We also find that depending on the presence, strength and salinity of MOW, the MSC could have been capable of cooling mid–high northern latitudes by a few degrees, with the greatest cooling taking place in the Labrador, Greenland–Iceland–Norwegian and Barents seas. With hyper saline MOW, a component of North Atlantic Deep Water formation shifts to the Mediterranean, strengthening the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) south of 35° N by 1.5–6 Sv. With hypo saline MOW, AMOC completely shuts down, inducing a bipolar climate anomaly with strong cooling in the north (mainly −1 to −3 °C, but up to −8 °C) and weaker warming in the south (up to +0.5 to +2.7 °C). These simulations identify key target regions and climate variables for future proxy reconstructions to provide the best and most robust test cases for (a) assessing Messinian model performance, (b) evaluating Mediterranean–Atlantic connectivity during the MSC and (c) establishing whether or not the MSC could ever have affected global-scale climate. |
format |
Text |
author |
Ivanovic, R. F. Valdes, P. J. Flecker, R. Gutjahr, M. |
spellingShingle |
Ivanovic, R. F. Valdes, P. J. Flecker, R. Gutjahr, M. Modelling global-scale climate impacts of the late Miocene Messinian Salinity Crisis |
author_facet |
Ivanovic, R. F. Valdes, P. J. Flecker, R. Gutjahr, M. |
author_sort |
Ivanovic, R. F. |
title |
Modelling global-scale climate impacts of the late Miocene Messinian Salinity Crisis |
title_short |
Modelling global-scale climate impacts of the late Miocene Messinian Salinity Crisis |
title_full |
Modelling global-scale climate impacts of the late Miocene Messinian Salinity Crisis |
title_fullStr |
Modelling global-scale climate impacts of the late Miocene Messinian Salinity Crisis |
title_full_unstemmed |
Modelling global-scale climate impacts of the late Miocene Messinian Salinity Crisis |
title_sort |
modelling global-scale climate impacts of the late miocene messinian salinity crisis |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-607-2014 https://cp.copernicus.org/articles/10/607/2014/ |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
Greenland Iceland North Atlantic Deep Water North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
Greenland Iceland North Atlantic Deep Water North Atlantic |
op_source |
eISSN: 1814-9332 |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/cp-10-607-2014 https://cp.copernicus.org/articles/10/607/2014/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-607-2014 |
container_title |
Climate of the Past |
container_volume |
10 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
607 |
op_container_end_page |
622 |
_version_ |
1766019776173309952 |