Multiple causes of the Younger Dryas cold period
The Younger Dryas cooling event disrupted the overall warming trend in the North Atlantic region during the last deglaciation(1-6). Climate change during the Younger Dryas was abrupt(7-9), and thus provides insights into the sensitivity of the climate system to perturbations. The sudden Younger Drya...
Published in: | Nature Geoscience |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | unknown |
Published: |
Nature Publishing Group
2015
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://edoc.unibas.ch/69347/ https://doi.org/10.1038/NGEO2557 |
id |
ftunivbasel:oai:edoc.unibas.ch:69347 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftunivbasel:oai:edoc.unibas.ch:69347 2023-05-15T17:33:34+02:00 Multiple causes of the Younger Dryas cold period Renssen, Hans Mairesse, Aurelien Goosse, Hugues Mathiot, Pierre Heiri, Oliver Roche, Didier M. Nisancioglu, Kerim H. Valdes, Paul J. 2015 https://edoc.unibas.ch/69347/ https://doi.org/10.1038/NGEO2557 unknown Nature Publishing Group Renssen, Hans and Mairesse, Aurelien and Goosse, Hugues and Mathiot, Pierre and Heiri, Oliver and Roche, Didier M. and Nisancioglu, Kerim H. and Valdes, Paul J. (2015) Multiple causes of the Younger Dryas cold period. Nature Geoscience, 8 (12). pp. 946-949. doi:10.1038/NGEO2557 info:isi/000367200200018 urn:ISSN:1752-0894 info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess Article PeerReviewed 2015 ftunivbasel https://doi.org/10.1038/NGEO2557 2023-03-05T07:21:41Z The Younger Dryas cooling event disrupted the overall warming trend in the North Atlantic region during the last deglaciation(1-6). Climate change during the Younger Dryas was abrupt(7-9), and thus provides insights into the sensitivity of the climate system to perturbations. The sudden Younger Dryas cooling has traditionally been attributed to a shutdown of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation by meltwater discharges(10-13). However, alternative explanations such as strong negative radiative forcing(14) and a shift in atmospheric circulation(15) have also been offered. Here we investigate the importance of these different forcings in coupled climate model experiments constrained by data assimilation. We find that the Younger Dryas climate signal as registered in proxy evidence is best simulated using a combination of processes: a weakened Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, moderate negative radiative forcing and an altered atmospheric circulation. We conclude that none of the individual mechanisms alone provide a plausible explanation for the Younger Dryas cold period. We suggest that the triggers for abrupt climate changes such as the Younger Dryas are more complex than suggested so far, and that studies on the response of the climate system to perturbations should account for this complexity. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic University of Basel: edoc Nature Geoscience 8 12 946 949 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Basel: edoc |
op_collection_id |
ftunivbasel |
language |
unknown |
description |
The Younger Dryas cooling event disrupted the overall warming trend in the North Atlantic region during the last deglaciation(1-6). Climate change during the Younger Dryas was abrupt(7-9), and thus provides insights into the sensitivity of the climate system to perturbations. The sudden Younger Dryas cooling has traditionally been attributed to a shutdown of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation by meltwater discharges(10-13). However, alternative explanations such as strong negative radiative forcing(14) and a shift in atmospheric circulation(15) have also been offered. Here we investigate the importance of these different forcings in coupled climate model experiments constrained by data assimilation. We find that the Younger Dryas climate signal as registered in proxy evidence is best simulated using a combination of processes: a weakened Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, moderate negative radiative forcing and an altered atmospheric circulation. We conclude that none of the individual mechanisms alone provide a plausible explanation for the Younger Dryas cold period. We suggest that the triggers for abrupt climate changes such as the Younger Dryas are more complex than suggested so far, and that studies on the response of the climate system to perturbations should account for this complexity. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Renssen, Hans Mairesse, Aurelien Goosse, Hugues Mathiot, Pierre Heiri, Oliver Roche, Didier M. Nisancioglu, Kerim H. Valdes, Paul J. |
spellingShingle |
Renssen, Hans Mairesse, Aurelien Goosse, Hugues Mathiot, Pierre Heiri, Oliver Roche, Didier M. Nisancioglu, Kerim H. Valdes, Paul J. Multiple causes of the Younger Dryas cold period |
author_facet |
Renssen, Hans Mairesse, Aurelien Goosse, Hugues Mathiot, Pierre Heiri, Oliver Roche, Didier M. Nisancioglu, Kerim H. Valdes, Paul J. |
author_sort |
Renssen, Hans |
title |
Multiple causes of the Younger Dryas cold period |
title_short |
Multiple causes of the Younger Dryas cold period |
title_full |
Multiple causes of the Younger Dryas cold period |
title_fullStr |
Multiple causes of the Younger Dryas cold period |
title_full_unstemmed |
Multiple causes of the Younger Dryas cold period |
title_sort |
multiple causes of the younger dryas cold period |
publisher |
Nature Publishing Group |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
https://edoc.unibas.ch/69347/ https://doi.org/10.1038/NGEO2557 |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_relation |
Renssen, Hans and Mairesse, Aurelien and Goosse, Hugues and Mathiot, Pierre and Heiri, Oliver and Roche, Didier M. and Nisancioglu, Kerim H. and Valdes, Paul J. (2015) Multiple causes of the Younger Dryas cold period. Nature Geoscience, 8 (12). pp. 946-949. doi:10.1038/NGEO2557 info:isi/000367200200018 urn:ISSN:1752-0894 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/NGEO2557 |
container_title |
Nature Geoscience |
container_volume |
8 |
container_issue |
12 |
container_start_page |
946 |
op_container_end_page |
949 |
_version_ |
1766132109239386112 |