Enhanced modern heat transfer to the Arctic by warm Atlantic water

The Arctic is responding more rapidly to global warming than most other areas on our planet. Northward-flowing Atlantic Water is the major means of heat advection toward the Arctic and strongly affects the sea ice distribution. Records of its natural variability are critical for the understanding of...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science
Main Authors: Spielhagen, Robert F., Werner, Kirstin, AAgaard Sørensen, Steffen, Zamelczyk, Katarzyna, Kandiano, Evgeniya, Budeus, Gereon, Husum, Katrine, Marchitto, Thomas M., Hald, Morten
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 2011
Subjects:
Arctic
Arctic Ocean
Svalbard
Global warming
Sea ice
Online Access:https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/11616/
https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/11616/1/2011_Science_Spielhagen_etal_450-3.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1197397
Description
Summary:The Arctic is responding more rapidly to global warming than most other areas on our planet. Northward-flowing Atlantic Water is the major means of heat advection toward the Arctic and strongly affects the sea ice distribution. Records of its natural variability are critical for the understanding of feedback mechanisms and the future of the Arctic climate system, but continuous historical records reach back only ~150 years. Here, we present a multidecadal-scale record of ocean temperature variations during the past 2000 years, derived from marine sediments off Western Svalbard (79°N). We find that early–21st-century temperatures of Atlantic Water entering the Arctic Ocean are unprecedented over the past 2000 years and are presumably linked to the Arctic amplification of global warming.

Similar Items