Influence of Bering Strait flow and North Atlantic circulation on glacial sea-level changes
Sea-level fluctuations of about 20–30m occurred throughout the last glacial period. These fluctuations seem to have been derived primarily from changes in the volume of Northern Hemisphere ice sheets1–3, and cannot be attributed solely to ice melt caused by varying solar radiation4. Here we use...
Published in: | Nature Geoscience |
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Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
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Macmillan Publishers
2010
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Online Access: | http://nldr.library.ucar.edu/repository/collections/OSGC-000-000-000-158 https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo729 |
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ftncar:oai:drupal-site.org:articles_17064 2023-09-05T13:18:32+02:00 Influence of Bering Strait flow and North Atlantic circulation on glacial sea-level changes Hu, Aixue (author) Meehl, Gerald (author) Otto-Bliesner, Bette (author) Waelbroeck, Claire (author) Han, Weiqing (author) Loutre, Marie-France (author) Lambeck, Kurt (author) Mitrovica, Jerry (author) Rosenbloom, Nan (author) 2010-01-10 http://nldr.library.ucar.edu/repository/collections/OSGC-000-000-000-158 https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo729 en eng Macmillan Publishers Nature Geoscience http://nldr.library.ucar.edu/repository/collections/OSGC-000-000-000-158 doi:10.1038/ngeo729 ark:/85065/d7nv9kht Copyright 2010 Author(s). Text article 2010 ftncar https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo729 2023-08-14T18:42:28Z Sea-level fluctuations of about 20–30m occurred throughout the last glacial period. These fluctuations seem to have been derived primarily from changes in the volume of Northern Hemisphere ice sheets1–3, and cannot be attributed solely to ice melt caused by varying solar radiation4. Here we use a fully coupled climate model to show that the transport of relatively fresh Pacific water into the North Atlantic Ocean was limited when lower sea level restricted or closed the Bering Strait, resulting in saltier North Atlantic surface waters. This invigorated deep convection in the North Atlantic Ocean, strengthening meridional overturning circulation and northward heat transport in our model, which consequently promoted melting of ice sheets in North America and Europe. Our simulations show that the associated sea-level rise led to a reopening of the Bering Strait; the flux of relatively fresh water into the North Atlantic Ocean muted meridional overturning circulation and led to cooling and ice-sheet advance in the Northern Hemisphere. We conclude that the repetition of this cycle could produce the sea-level changes that have been observed throughout the last glacial cycle. U.S. Department of Energy (DOE): DE-FC02-97ER62402 Article in Journal/Newspaper Bering Strait Ice Sheet North Atlantic OpenSky (NCAR/UCAR - National Center for Atmospheric Research/University Corporation for Atmospheric Research) Bering Strait Pacific Nature Geoscience 3 2 118 121 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
OpenSky (NCAR/UCAR - National Center for Atmospheric Research/University Corporation for Atmospheric Research) |
op_collection_id |
ftncar |
language |
English |
description |
Sea-level fluctuations of about 20–30m occurred throughout the last glacial period. These fluctuations seem to have been derived primarily from changes in the volume of Northern Hemisphere ice sheets1–3, and cannot be attributed solely to ice melt caused by varying solar radiation4. Here we use a fully coupled climate model to show that the transport of relatively fresh Pacific water into the North Atlantic Ocean was limited when lower sea level restricted or closed the Bering Strait, resulting in saltier North Atlantic surface waters. This invigorated deep convection in the North Atlantic Ocean, strengthening meridional overturning circulation and northward heat transport in our model, which consequently promoted melting of ice sheets in North America and Europe. Our simulations show that the associated sea-level rise led to a reopening of the Bering Strait; the flux of relatively fresh water into the North Atlantic Ocean muted meridional overturning circulation and led to cooling and ice-sheet advance in the Northern Hemisphere. We conclude that the repetition of this cycle could produce the sea-level changes that have been observed throughout the last glacial cycle. U.S. Department of Energy (DOE): DE-FC02-97ER62402 |
author2 |
Hu, Aixue (author) Meehl, Gerald (author) Otto-Bliesner, Bette (author) Waelbroeck, Claire (author) Han, Weiqing (author) Loutre, Marie-France (author) Lambeck, Kurt (author) Mitrovica, Jerry (author) Rosenbloom, Nan (author) |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
title |
Influence of Bering Strait flow and North Atlantic circulation on glacial sea-level changes |
spellingShingle |
Influence of Bering Strait flow and North Atlantic circulation on glacial sea-level changes |
title_short |
Influence of Bering Strait flow and North Atlantic circulation on glacial sea-level changes |
title_full |
Influence of Bering Strait flow and North Atlantic circulation on glacial sea-level changes |
title_fullStr |
Influence of Bering Strait flow and North Atlantic circulation on glacial sea-level changes |
title_full_unstemmed |
Influence of Bering Strait flow and North Atlantic circulation on glacial sea-level changes |
title_sort |
influence of bering strait flow and north atlantic circulation on glacial sea-level changes |
publisher |
Macmillan Publishers |
publishDate |
2010 |
url |
http://nldr.library.ucar.edu/repository/collections/OSGC-000-000-000-158 https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo729 |
geographic |
Bering Strait Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Bering Strait Pacific |
genre |
Bering Strait Ice Sheet North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
Bering Strait Ice Sheet North Atlantic |
op_relation |
Nature Geoscience http://nldr.library.ucar.edu/repository/collections/OSGC-000-000-000-158 doi:10.1038/ngeo729 ark:/85065/d7nv9kht |
op_rights |
Copyright 2010 Author(s). |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo729 |
container_title |
Nature Geoscience |
container_volume |
3 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
118 |
op_container_end_page |
121 |
_version_ |
1776199474529435648 |