Modelling global-scale climate impacts of the late Miocene Messinian Salinity Crisis
Late Miocene tectonic changes in Mediterranean–Atlantic connectivity and climatic changes caused Mediterranean salinity to fluctuate dramatically, including a ten-fold increase and near-freshening. Recent proxy- and model-based evidence suggests that at times during this Messinian Salinity Crisis (M...
Published in: | Climate of the Past |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Copernicus Publications
2018
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-607-2014 https://cp.copernicus.org/articles/10/607/2014/ |
id |
fttriple:oai:gotriple.eu:Hz7eTrrElzHpQVDwFxumh |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
fttriple:oai:gotriple.eu:Hz7eTrrElzHpQVDwFxumh 2023-05-15T16:29:58+02:00 Modelling global-scale climate impacts of the late Miocene Messinian Salinity Crisis Ivanovic, R. F. Valdes, P. J. Flecker, R. Gutjahr, M. 2018-09-27 https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-607-2014 https://cp.copernicus.org/articles/10/607/2014/ en eng Copernicus Publications doi:10.5194/cp-10-607-2014 10670/1.y3dm1n 1814-9324 1814-9332 https://cp.copernicus.org/articles/10/607/2014/ undefined Geographica Helvetica - geography eISSN: 1814-9332 geo envir Text https://vocabularies.coar-repositories.org/resource_types/c_18cf/ Journal Article https://vocabularies.coar-repositories.org/resource_types/c_6501/ 2018 fttriple https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-607-2014 2023-01-22T19:13:02Z Late Miocene tectonic changes in Mediterranean–Atlantic connectivity and climatic changes caused Mediterranean salinity to fluctuate dramatically, including a ten-fold increase and near-freshening. Recent proxy- and model-based evidence suggests that at times during this Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC, 5.96–5.33 Ma), highly saline and highly fresh Mediterranean water flowed into the North Atlantic Ocean, whilst at others, no Mediterranean Outflow Water (MOW) reached the Atlantic. By running extreme, sensitivity-type experiments with a fully coupled ocean–atmosphere general circulation model, we investigate the potential of these various MSC MOW scenarios to impact global-scale climate. The simulations suggest that although the effect remains relatively small, MOW had a greater influence on North Atlantic Ocean circulation and climate than it does today. We also find that depending on the presence, strength and salinity of MOW, the MSC could have been capable of cooling mid–high northern latitudes by a few degrees, with the greatest cooling taking place in the Labrador, Greenland–Iceland–Norwegian and Barents seas. With hypersaline MOW, a component of North Atlantic Deep Water formation shifts to the Mediterranean, strengthening the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) south of 35° N by 1.5–6 Sv. With hyposaline MOW, AMOC completely shuts down, inducing a bipolar climate anomaly with strong cooling in the north (mainly −1 to −3 °C, but up to −8 °C) and weaker warming in the south (up to +0.5 to +2.7 °C). These simulations identify key target regions and climate variables for future proxy reconstructions to provide the best and most robust test cases for (a) assessing Messinian model performance, (b) evaluating Mediterranean–Atlantic connectivity during the MSC and (c) establishing whether or not the MSC could ever have affected global-scale climate. Article in Journal/Newspaper Greenland Iceland North Atlantic Deep Water North Atlantic Unknown Greenland Climate of the Past 10 2 607 622 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Unknown |
op_collection_id |
fttriple |
language |
English |
topic |
geo envir |
spellingShingle |
geo envir Ivanovic, R. F. Valdes, P. J. Flecker, R. Gutjahr, M. Modelling global-scale climate impacts of the late Miocene Messinian Salinity Crisis |
topic_facet |
geo envir |
description |
Late Miocene tectonic changes in Mediterranean–Atlantic connectivity and climatic changes caused Mediterranean salinity to fluctuate dramatically, including a ten-fold increase and near-freshening. Recent proxy- and model-based evidence suggests that at times during this Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC, 5.96–5.33 Ma), highly saline and highly fresh Mediterranean water flowed into the North Atlantic Ocean, whilst at others, no Mediterranean Outflow Water (MOW) reached the Atlantic. By running extreme, sensitivity-type experiments with a fully coupled ocean–atmosphere general circulation model, we investigate the potential of these various MSC MOW scenarios to impact global-scale climate. The simulations suggest that although the effect remains relatively small, MOW had a greater influence on North Atlantic Ocean circulation and climate than it does today. We also find that depending on the presence, strength and salinity of MOW, the MSC could have been capable of cooling mid–high northern latitudes by a few degrees, with the greatest cooling taking place in the Labrador, Greenland–Iceland–Norwegian and Barents seas. With hypersaline MOW, a component of North Atlantic Deep Water formation shifts to the Mediterranean, strengthening the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) south of 35° N by 1.5–6 Sv. With hyposaline MOW, AMOC completely shuts down, inducing a bipolar climate anomaly with strong cooling in the north (mainly −1 to −3 °C, but up to −8 °C) and weaker warming in the south (up to +0.5 to +2.7 °C). These simulations identify key target regions and climate variables for future proxy reconstructions to provide the best and most robust test cases for (a) assessing Messinian model performance, (b) evaluating Mediterranean–Atlantic connectivity during the MSC and (c) establishing whether or not the MSC could ever have affected global-scale climate. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Ivanovic, R. F. Valdes, P. J. Flecker, R. Gutjahr, M. |
author_facet |
Ivanovic, R. F. Valdes, P. J. Flecker, R. Gutjahr, M. |
author_sort |
Ivanovic, R. F. |
title |
Modelling global-scale climate impacts of the late Miocene Messinian Salinity Crisis |
title_short |
Modelling global-scale climate impacts of the late Miocene Messinian Salinity Crisis |
title_full |
Modelling global-scale climate impacts of the late Miocene Messinian Salinity Crisis |
title_fullStr |
Modelling global-scale climate impacts of the late Miocene Messinian Salinity Crisis |
title_full_unstemmed |
Modelling global-scale climate impacts of the late Miocene Messinian Salinity Crisis |
title_sort |
modelling global-scale climate impacts of the late miocene messinian salinity crisis |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-607-2014 https://cp.copernicus.org/articles/10/607/2014/ |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
Greenland Iceland North Atlantic Deep Water North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
Greenland Iceland North Atlantic Deep Water North Atlantic |
op_source |
Geographica Helvetica - geography eISSN: 1814-9332 |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/cp-10-607-2014 10670/1.y3dm1n 1814-9324 1814-9332 https://cp.copernicus.org/articles/10/607/2014/ |
op_rights |
undefined |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-607-2014 |
container_title |
Climate of the Past |
container_volume |
10 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
607 |
op_container_end_page |
622 |
_version_ |
1766019669995552768 |