Oceanic Impact on European Climate Changes during the Quaternary
Integrative studies on paleoclimate variations over oceanic and continental regions are scarce. Though it is known that Earth’s climate is strongly affected by sea-air exchanges of heat and moisture, the role of oceans in climate variations over land remains relatively unexplored. With the aim to un...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:35eb4899104140bca6bf5b821618edc6 2023-05-15T16:40:45+02:00 Oceanic Impact on European Climate Changes during the Quaternary Gloria M. Martin-Garcia 2019-03-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences9030119 https://doaj.org/article/35eb4899104140bca6bf5b821618edc6 EN eng MDPI AG http://www.mdpi.com/2076-3263/9/3/119 https://doaj.org/toc/2076-3263 2076-3263 doi:10.3390/geosciences9030119 https://doaj.org/article/35eb4899104140bca6bf5b821618edc6 Geosciences, Vol 9, Iss 3, p 119 (2019) Quaternary climate ocean-land interactions north Atlantic European climate Geology QE1-996.5 article 2019 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences9030119 2022-12-31T01:08:15Z Integrative studies on paleoclimate variations over oceanic and continental regions are scarce. Though it is known that Earth’s climate is strongly affected by sea-air exchanges of heat and moisture, the role of oceans in climate variations over land remains relatively unexplored. With the aim to unveil this influence, the present work studies major climate oscillations in the North Atlantic region and Europe during the Quaternary, focusing on the oceanic mechanisms that were related to them. During this period, the European climate experienced long-term and wide-amplitude glacial-interglacial oscillations. A covariance between the North Atlantic sea surface temperature and climate signals over the continent is especially observed in Southern Europe. The most severe and drastic climate changes occurred in association to deglaciations, as a consequence of major oceanographic reorganizations that affected atmospheric circulation and ocean-atmosphere heat-flow, which led to variation of temperature and precipitation inland. Most deglaciations began when Northern Hemisphere summer insolation was maximal. Increased heating facilitated the rapid ice-sheet collapse and the massive release of fresh water into the Northern Atlantic, which triggered the weakening or even the shutdown of the North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) formation. Though the extension of ice-sheets determined the high-latitude European climate, the climate was more influenced by rapid variations of ice volume, deep-water formation rate, and oceanic and atmospheric circulation in middle and subtropical latitudes. In consequence, the coldest stadials in the mid-latitude North Atlantic and Europe since the early Pleistocene coincided with Terminations (glacial/interglacial transitions) and lesser ice-sheet depletions. They were related with decreases in the NADW formation rate that occurred at these times and the subsequent advection of subpolar waters along the western European margin. In Southern Europe, steppe communities substituted temperate forests. ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Ice Sheet NADW North Atlantic Deep Water North Atlantic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Geosciences 9 3 119 |
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Open Polar |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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ftdoajarticles |
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English |
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Quaternary climate ocean-land interactions north Atlantic European climate Geology QE1-996.5 |
spellingShingle |
Quaternary climate ocean-land interactions north Atlantic European climate Geology QE1-996.5 Gloria M. Martin-Garcia Oceanic Impact on European Climate Changes during the Quaternary |
topic_facet |
Quaternary climate ocean-land interactions north Atlantic European climate Geology QE1-996.5 |
description |
Integrative studies on paleoclimate variations over oceanic and continental regions are scarce. Though it is known that Earth’s climate is strongly affected by sea-air exchanges of heat and moisture, the role of oceans in climate variations over land remains relatively unexplored. With the aim to unveil this influence, the present work studies major climate oscillations in the North Atlantic region and Europe during the Quaternary, focusing on the oceanic mechanisms that were related to them. During this period, the European climate experienced long-term and wide-amplitude glacial-interglacial oscillations. A covariance between the North Atlantic sea surface temperature and climate signals over the continent is especially observed in Southern Europe. The most severe and drastic climate changes occurred in association to deglaciations, as a consequence of major oceanographic reorganizations that affected atmospheric circulation and ocean-atmosphere heat-flow, which led to variation of temperature and precipitation inland. Most deglaciations began when Northern Hemisphere summer insolation was maximal. Increased heating facilitated the rapid ice-sheet collapse and the massive release of fresh water into the Northern Atlantic, which triggered the weakening or even the shutdown of the North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) formation. Though the extension of ice-sheets determined the high-latitude European climate, the climate was more influenced by rapid variations of ice volume, deep-water formation rate, and oceanic and atmospheric circulation in middle and subtropical latitudes. In consequence, the coldest stadials in the mid-latitude North Atlantic and Europe since the early Pleistocene coincided with Terminations (glacial/interglacial transitions) and lesser ice-sheet depletions. They were related with decreases in the NADW formation rate that occurred at these times and the subsequent advection of subpolar waters along the western European margin. In Southern Europe, steppe communities substituted temperate forests. ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Gloria M. Martin-Garcia |
author_facet |
Gloria M. Martin-Garcia |
author_sort |
Gloria M. Martin-Garcia |
title |
Oceanic Impact on European Climate Changes during the Quaternary |
title_short |
Oceanic Impact on European Climate Changes during the Quaternary |
title_full |
Oceanic Impact on European Climate Changes during the Quaternary |
title_fullStr |
Oceanic Impact on European Climate Changes during the Quaternary |
title_full_unstemmed |
Oceanic Impact on European Climate Changes during the Quaternary |
title_sort |
oceanic impact on european climate changes during the quaternary |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences9030119 https://doaj.org/article/35eb4899104140bca6bf5b821618edc6 |
genre |
Ice Sheet NADW North Atlantic Deep Water North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
Ice Sheet NADW North Atlantic Deep Water North Atlantic |
op_source |
Geosciences, Vol 9, Iss 3, p 119 (2019) |
op_relation |
http://www.mdpi.com/2076-3263/9/3/119 https://doaj.org/toc/2076-3263 2076-3263 doi:10.3390/geosciences9030119 https://doaj.org/article/35eb4899104140bca6bf5b821618edc6 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences9030119 |
container_title |
Geosciences |
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9 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
119 |
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1766031169559724032 |