Solar forcing of North Atlantic surface temperature and salinity over the past millennium
There were several centennial-scale fluctuations in the climate and oceanography of the North Atlantic region over the past 1,000 years, including a period of relative cooling from about AD 1450 to 1850 known as the Little Ice Age1. These variations may be linked to changes in solar irradiance, ampl...
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Online Access: | https://boris.unibe.ch/51295/1/ngeo2094.pdf https://boris.unibe.ch/51295/ |
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ftunivbern:oai:boris.unibe.ch:51295 2023-08-20T04:07:29+02:00 Solar forcing of North Atlantic surface temperature and salinity over the past millennium Moffa-Sánchez, Paola Born, Andreas Hall, Ian R. Thornalley, David J. R. Barker, Stephen 2014 application/pdf https://boris.unibe.ch/51295/1/ngeo2094.pdf https://boris.unibe.ch/51295/ eng eng Nature Publishing Group https://boris.unibe.ch/51295/ info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess Moffa-Sánchez, Paola; Born, Andreas; Hall, Ian R.; Thornalley, David J. R.; Barker, Stephen (2014). Solar forcing of North Atlantic surface temperature and salinity over the past millennium. Nature geoscience, 7(4), pp. 275-278. Nature Publishing Group 10.1038/ngeo2094 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2094> 530 Physics info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion PeerReviewed 2014 ftunivbern https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2094 2023-07-31T21:08:11Z There were several centennial-scale fluctuations in the climate and oceanography of the North Atlantic region over the past 1,000 years, including a period of relative cooling from about AD 1450 to 1850 known as the Little Ice Age1. These variations may be linked to changes in solar irradiance, amplified through feedbacks including the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation2. Changes in the return limb of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation are reflected in water properties at the base of the mixed layer south of Iceland. Here we reconstruct thermocline temperature and salinity in this region from AD 818 to 1780 using paired δ18O and Mg/Ca ratio measurements of foraminifer shells from a subdecadally resolved marine sediment core. The reconstructed centennial-scale variations in hydrography correlate with variability in total solar irradiance. We find a similar correlation in a simulation of climate over the past 1,000 years. We infer that the hydrographic changes probably reflect variability in the strength of the subpolar gyre associated with changes in atmospheric circulation. Specifically, in the simulation, low solar irradiance promotes the development of frequent and persistent atmospheric blocking events, in which a quasi-stationary high-pressure system in the eastern North Atlantic modifies the flow of the westerly winds. We conclude that this process could have contributed to the consecutive cold winters documented in Europe during the Little Ice Age. Article in Journal/Newspaper Iceland North Atlantic BORIS (Bern Open Repository and Information System, University of Bern) Nature Geoscience 7 4 275 278 |
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BORIS (Bern Open Repository and Information System, University of Bern) |
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English |
topic |
530 Physics |
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530 Physics Moffa-Sánchez, Paola Born, Andreas Hall, Ian R. Thornalley, David J. R. Barker, Stephen Solar forcing of North Atlantic surface temperature and salinity over the past millennium |
topic_facet |
530 Physics |
description |
There were several centennial-scale fluctuations in the climate and oceanography of the North Atlantic region over the past 1,000 years, including a period of relative cooling from about AD 1450 to 1850 known as the Little Ice Age1. These variations may be linked to changes in solar irradiance, amplified through feedbacks including the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation2. Changes in the return limb of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation are reflected in water properties at the base of the mixed layer south of Iceland. Here we reconstruct thermocline temperature and salinity in this region from AD 818 to 1780 using paired δ18O and Mg/Ca ratio measurements of foraminifer shells from a subdecadally resolved marine sediment core. The reconstructed centennial-scale variations in hydrography correlate with variability in total solar irradiance. We find a similar correlation in a simulation of climate over the past 1,000 years. We infer that the hydrographic changes probably reflect variability in the strength of the subpolar gyre associated with changes in atmospheric circulation. Specifically, in the simulation, low solar irradiance promotes the development of frequent and persistent atmospheric blocking events, in which a quasi-stationary high-pressure system in the eastern North Atlantic modifies the flow of the westerly winds. We conclude that this process could have contributed to the consecutive cold winters documented in Europe during the Little Ice Age. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Moffa-Sánchez, Paola Born, Andreas Hall, Ian R. Thornalley, David J. R. Barker, Stephen |
author_facet |
Moffa-Sánchez, Paola Born, Andreas Hall, Ian R. Thornalley, David J. R. Barker, Stephen |
author_sort |
Moffa-Sánchez, Paola |
title |
Solar forcing of North Atlantic surface temperature and salinity over the past millennium |
title_short |
Solar forcing of North Atlantic surface temperature and salinity over the past millennium |
title_full |
Solar forcing of North Atlantic surface temperature and salinity over the past millennium |
title_fullStr |
Solar forcing of North Atlantic surface temperature and salinity over the past millennium |
title_full_unstemmed |
Solar forcing of North Atlantic surface temperature and salinity over the past millennium |
title_sort |
solar forcing of north atlantic surface temperature and salinity over the past millennium |
publisher |
Nature Publishing Group |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
https://boris.unibe.ch/51295/1/ngeo2094.pdf https://boris.unibe.ch/51295/ |
genre |
Iceland North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
Iceland North Atlantic |
op_source |
Moffa-Sánchez, Paola; Born, Andreas; Hall, Ian R.; Thornalley, David J. R.; Barker, Stephen (2014). Solar forcing of North Atlantic surface temperature and salinity over the past millennium. Nature geoscience, 7(4), pp. 275-278. Nature Publishing Group 10.1038/ngeo2094 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2094> |
op_relation |
https://boris.unibe.ch/51295/ |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2094 |
container_title |
Nature Geoscience |
container_volume |
7 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
275 |
op_container_end_page |
278 |
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1774719141066833920 |