Inception of the Northern European Ice Sheet due to contrasting ocean and insolation forcing

• Published in: Quaternary Research
• Main Authors: Risebrobakken, Bjørg, Dokken, Trond Martin, Otterå, Odd Helge, Jansen, Eystein, Gao, Yongqi, Drange, Helge
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2007
• Subjects: Glacial inception; Nordic seas; Northern European ice sheets; Paleo-reconstruction: OGCM; AMOC; VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400; Ice Sheet; Nordic Seas
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/1956/2088; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yqres.2006.07.007

About 115,000 years ago the last interglacial reached its terminus and nucleation of new ice sheet growth was initiated. Evidence from the northernmost Nordic Seas indicate that the inception of the last glacial was related to an intensification of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) in its northern limb. The enhanced AMOC, combined with minimum Northern hemisphere insolation, introduced a strong sea-land thermal gradient that together with a strong wintertime latitudinal insolation gradient increased the storminess and moisture transport to the high northern European latitudes, at a time when the Northern hemisphere summer insolation approached its minimum. Accepted version