Influence of Bering Strait flow and North Atlantic circulation on glacial sea-level changes
Sea-level fluctuations of about 20-30m occurred throughout the last glacial period. These fluctuations seem to have been derived primarily from changes in the volume of Northern Hemisphere ice sheets(1-3), and cannot be attributed solely to ice melt caused by varying solar radiation(4). Here we use...
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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/34178 https://doi.org/10.1038/NGEO729 |
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ftunistlouisbrus:oai:dial.uclouvain.be:boreal:34178 2024-05-12T08:01:56+00:00 Influence of Bering Strait flow and North Atlantic circulation on glacial sea-level changes Hu, Aixue Meehl, Gerald A. Otto-Bliesner, Bette L. Waelbroeck, Claire Han, Weiqing Loutre, Marie-France Lambeck, Kurt Mitrovica, Jerry X. Rosenbloom, Nan UCL 2010 http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/34178 https://doi.org/10.1038/NGEO729 eng eng Nature Publishing Group boreal:34178 http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/34178 doi:10.1038/NGEO729 urn:ISSN:1752-0894 urn:EISSN:1752-0908 Nature Geoscience, Vol. 3, no. 2, p. 118-121 (2010) info:eu-repo/semantics/article 2010 ftunistlouisbrus https://doi.org/10.1038/NGEO729 2024-04-18T18:16:31Z Sea-level fluctuations of about 20-30m occurred throughout the last glacial period. These fluctuations seem to have been derived primarily from changes in the volume of Northern Hemisphere ice sheets(1-3), and cannot be attributed solely to ice melt caused by varying solar radiation(4). Here we use a fully coupled climate model to show that the transport of relatively fresh Pacific water into the North Atlantic Ocean was limited when lower sea level restricted or closed the Bering Strait, resulting in saltier North Atlantic surface waters. This invigorated deep convection in the North Atlantic Ocean, strengthening meridional overturning circulation and northward heat transport in our model, which consequently promoted melting of ice sheets in North America and Europe. Our simulations show that the associated sea-level rise led to a reopening of the Bering Strait; the flux of relatively fresh water into the North Atlantic Ocean muted meridional overturning circulation and led to cooling and ice-sheet advance in the Northern Hemisphere. We conclude that the repetition of this cycle could produce the sea-level changes that have been observed throughout the last glacial cycle. Article in Journal/Newspaper Bering Strait Ice Sheet North Atlantic DIAL@USL-B (Université Saint-Louis, Bruxelles) Bering Strait Pacific Nature Geoscience 3 2 118 121 |
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Open Polar |
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DIAL@USL-B (Université Saint-Louis, Bruxelles) |
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ftunistlouisbrus |
language |
English |
description |
Sea-level fluctuations of about 20-30m occurred throughout the last glacial period. These fluctuations seem to have been derived primarily from changes in the volume of Northern Hemisphere ice sheets(1-3), and cannot be attributed solely to ice melt caused by varying solar radiation(4). Here we use a fully coupled climate model to show that the transport of relatively fresh Pacific water into the North Atlantic Ocean was limited when lower sea level restricted or closed the Bering Strait, resulting in saltier North Atlantic surface waters. This invigorated deep convection in the North Atlantic Ocean, strengthening meridional overturning circulation and northward heat transport in our model, which consequently promoted melting of ice sheets in North America and Europe. Our simulations show that the associated sea-level rise led to a reopening of the Bering Strait; the flux of relatively fresh water into the North Atlantic Ocean muted meridional overturning circulation and led to cooling and ice-sheet advance in the Northern Hemisphere. We conclude that the repetition of this cycle could produce the sea-level changes that have been observed throughout the last glacial cycle. |
author2 |
UCL |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Hu, Aixue Meehl, Gerald A. Otto-Bliesner, Bette L. Waelbroeck, Claire Han, Weiqing Loutre, Marie-France Lambeck, Kurt Mitrovica, Jerry X. Rosenbloom, Nan |
spellingShingle |
Hu, Aixue Meehl, Gerald A. Otto-Bliesner, Bette L. Waelbroeck, Claire Han, Weiqing Loutre, Marie-France Lambeck, Kurt Mitrovica, Jerry X. Rosenbloom, Nan Influence of Bering Strait flow and North Atlantic circulation on glacial sea-level changes |
author_facet |
Hu, Aixue Meehl, Gerald A. Otto-Bliesner, Bette L. Waelbroeck, Claire Han, Weiqing Loutre, Marie-France Lambeck, Kurt Mitrovica, Jerry X. Rosenbloom, Nan |
author_sort |
Hu, Aixue |
title |
Influence of Bering Strait flow and North Atlantic circulation on glacial sea-level changes |
title_short |
Influence of Bering Strait flow and North Atlantic circulation on glacial sea-level changes |
title_full |
Influence of Bering Strait flow and North Atlantic circulation on glacial sea-level changes |
title_fullStr |
Influence of Bering Strait flow and North Atlantic circulation on glacial sea-level changes |
title_full_unstemmed |
Influence of Bering Strait flow and North Atlantic circulation on glacial sea-level changes |
title_sort |
influence of bering strait flow and north atlantic circulation on glacial sea-level changes |
publisher |
Nature Publishing Group |
publishDate |
2010 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/34178 https://doi.org/10.1038/NGEO729 |
geographic |
Bering Strait Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Bering Strait Pacific |
genre |
Bering Strait Ice Sheet North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
Bering Strait Ice Sheet North Atlantic |
op_source |
Nature Geoscience, Vol. 3, no. 2, p. 118-121 (2010) |
op_relation |
boreal:34178 http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/34178 doi:10.1038/NGEO729 urn:ISSN:1752-0894 urn:EISSN:1752-0908 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/NGEO729 |
container_title |
Nature Geoscience |
container_volume |
3 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
118 |
op_container_end_page |
121 |
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1798844042888347648 |