Last interglacial (MIS 5e) surface circulation in the North Atlantic and Nordic seas, based on dinoflagellate cysts

• Main Authors: Van Nieuwenhove, Nicolas, Bauch, Henning A., De Vernal, Anne, Eynaud, Frédérique, Kandiano, Evgeniya, Fréchette, Bianca
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: Greenland; East Greenland; Nordic Seas; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/12159/; http://www.inqua2011.ch/?a=programme&subnavi=abstract&id=2471

Sediments from the last interglacial (MIS 5e) were studied for their dinoflagellate cyst (dinocyst) content from cores across the North Atlantic and Nordic seas, in order to trace changes in the interaction between the warm water masses of the northward flowing Gulf Stream/North Atlantic Drift current system and the cold water masses of the East Greenland/Labrador Current. Supported by stable isotope, IRD and planktic foraminiferal data, the qualitative and quantitative analysis of the dinocyst assemblages illustrates the stepwise development of interglacial conditions from late MIS 6 and Termination II towards a MIS 5e optimum and back to the colder MIS 5d stadial. It is shown that the development of the MIS 5e optimum occurred only late during MIS 5e in the eastern Nordic seas, as a consequence of a delayed intensification of the northernmost limb of the Gulf Stream/North Atlantic Drift. While prolonged deglacial processes presumably had hindered this northward protrusion of warm surface waters during early MIS 5e, its intensification during late MIS 5e in turn caused a reorganisation of the cold surface current system.