A Post-Cromerian Rise in Sea Level

• Main Author: Olausson, Eric
• Other Authors: ALASKA UNIV FAIRBANKS GEOPHYSICAL INST
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1992
• Subjects: Geography; Hydrology; Limnology and Potamology; Snow; Ice and Permafrost; *BLACK SEA; *HYDROGRAPHY; *SEA LEVEL; ALBEDO; ARCTIC OCEAN; BERING STRAIT; COOLING; DEPTH; HEMISPHERES; ICE; NORTHERN HEMISPHERE; OCEANS; REDUCTION; SALT WATER; SEA ICE; SHEETS; STRAITS; SUPPLIES; TRANSPORT; WATER; ANTARCTIC REGIONS; SYMPOSIA; GLACIERS; Component Reports; *Post-Cromerian rise; Ice ages; Pleistocene; Halocline; Antarctic; Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Bering Strait; Fairbanks; Pacific; The Antarctic; albedo; Antarc*; glaciers; Ice; Ice Sheet; permafrost; Sea ice; Alaska
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADP007331; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADP007331

The intensified cooling in the northern hemisphere during the Elsterian-Saalian ice ages (isotopic stages 22-6) resulted in a reduction of the Antarctic ice sheet by 10-15 x 106 km3, equal to a rise in sea level by about 40 m. This rise in sea level changed the hydrography of the Black Sea during the late Pleistocene warmer times, caused anoxic conditions in the eastern Mediterranean during the corresponding warming-up phases, and enhanced water transport of less saline water from the Pacific into the Arctic Ocean (the present sill depth of the Bering Strait is about 50 m). The increased supply of less saline water strengthened the halocline in the Arctic Ocean, increasing the sea ice there and, by higher albedo, its cooling effect on the adjacent continents. This article is from 'Proceedings of the International Conference on the Role of the Polar Regions in Global Change Held in Fairbanks, Alaska on 11-15 June 990. Volume 2', AD-A253 028, p496-498. See also Volume 1, AD-A253 027.