Active nordic seas deep-water formation during the last glacial maximum

The Nordic Seas are the primary location where the warm waters of the North Atlantic Current densify to form North Atlantic Deep Water, which plays a key part in the modern Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. The formation of dense water in the Nordic Seas and Arctic Ocean and resulting oce...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Larkin, Christina S., Ezat, Mohamed M., Roberts, Natalie L., Bauch, Henning A., Spielhagen, Robert F., Noormets, Riko, Polyak, Leonid, Moreton, Steven G., Rasmussen, Tine L., Sarnthein, Michael, Tipper, Edward T., Piotrowski, Alexander M.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2022
Subjects:
Arctic
Arctic Ocean
Yermak Plateau
Nordic Seas
north atlantic current
North Atlantic Deep Water
North Atlantic
Yermak plateau
Online Access:https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/471742/
https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/471742/1/Larkin_Nordic_Seas_AcceptedManuscript.pdf
https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/471742/2/s41561_022_01050_w.pdf
https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/471742/3/Larkin_Nordic_Seas_AcceptedManuscript.pdf
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Summary:The Nordic Seas are the primary location where the warm waters of the North Atlantic Current densify to form North Atlantic Deep Water, which plays a key part in the modern Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. The formation of dense water in the Nordic Seas and Arctic Ocean and resulting ocean circulation changes were probably driven by and contributed to the regional and global climate of the last glacial maximum (LGM). Here we map the source and degree of mixing of deep water in the Nordic Seas and through the Arctic Gateway (Yermak Plateau) over the past 35 thousand years using neodymium isotopes (εNd) measured on authigenic phases in deep-sea sediments with a high spatial and temporal resolution. We find that a large-scale reorganization of deep-water formation in the Nordic Seas took place between the LGM (23–18 thousand years ago) and the rapid climate shift that accompanied the subsequent deglaciation (18–10 thousand years ago). We show that homogeneous εNd signatures across a wide range of sites support LGM deep-water formation in the Nordic Seas. In contrast, during the deglaciation, disparate and spatially variable εNd values are observed leading to the conclusion that deep-water formation may have been reduced during this time.

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