Sea ice and millennial-scale climate variability in the Nordic seas 90 kyr ago to present

In the light of rapidly diminishing sea ice cover in the Arctic during the present atmospheric warming, it is imperative to study the distribution of sea ice in the past in relation to rapid climate change. Here we focus on glacial millennial-scale climatic events (Dansgaard/Oeschger events) using t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature Communications
Main Authors: Hoff, Ulrike, Rasmussen, Tine L., Stein, Ruediger, Ezat, Mohamed M., Fahl, Kirsten
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: Nature Publishing Group 2016
Subjects:
Article
Arctic
Greenland
Norwegian Sea
Climate change
Dansgaard-Oeschger events
Greenland-Scotland Ridge
Nordic Seas
Phytoplankton
Sea ice
Online Access:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4963477/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27456826
https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms12247
Description
Summary:In the light of rapidly diminishing sea ice cover in the Arctic during the present atmospheric warming, it is imperative to study the distribution of sea ice in the past in relation to rapid climate change. Here we focus on glacial millennial-scale climatic events (Dansgaard/Oeschger events) using the sea ice proxy IP25 in combination with phytoplankton proxy data and quantification of diatom species in a record from the southeast Norwegian Sea. We demonstrate that expansion and retreat of sea ice varies consistently in pace with the rapid climate changes 90 kyr ago to present. Sea ice retreats abruptly at the start of warm interstadials, but spreads rapidly during cooling phases of the interstadials and becomes near perennial and perennial during cold stadials and Heinrich events, respectively. Low-salinity surface water and the sea ice edge spreads to the Greenland–Scotland Ridge, and during the largest Heinrich events, probably far into the Atlantic Ocean.

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