Could meltwater pulses have been sneaked unnoticed into the deep ocean during the last glacial?

• Published in: Geophysical Research Letters
• Main Authors: Roche, Didier M., Renssen, Hans, Weber, Susanne L., Goosse, Hugues
• Other Authors: UCL - SST/ELI/ELIC - Earth & Climate
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2007
• Subjects: CISM: CECI; 1443; Arctic; Arctic Ocean; North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/129625; https://doi.org/10.1029/2007GL032064

The lack of climatic imprint l eft by t he Meltwa t er Pulse-1A ( ’ 14.5 ka BP), equivalent to a sea-level rise of 14 to 20 meters, is puzzling . Recent studies sugge st the event might have occurre d as a hyperpycnal flow i n t he Gulf of Me xico, preve nting its detection in oc eanic records throughout the North Atlantic. We present a suite of simula tions with the LOVECLIM climate model, which mimic th e e ffect of h yperp ycnal f low u nder LGM conditions, in a first attempt to constrain its climatic effects. Analysing the ocean dynamics associated with the anomalous freshwater input, we show that the proposed mechanism is capable of sneaking a signif i cant propo rtion of the MWP into the ocean ( ’ 6 meters equivalent sea-level rise using our model under LGM boundary cond itions). We also de monstrate t hat, in our model, the meridional circulati on i s more sensitive t o such inputs i n t he Arctic Ocean than in the Gulf of Mexico.