Holocene palaeoceanographic evolution off West Greenland.
Benthic foraminiferal assemblages from a core southwest of Disko Bugt provide a Holocene perspective (last ~7 ka BP) on ice-sheet/ocean interactions between the West Greenland Current (WGC) and the West Greenland ice sheet. Changes in the fauna reveal significant variations in the water mass propert...
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Online Access: | http://dro.dur.ac.uk/11110/ http://dro.dur.ac.uk/11110/1/11110.pdf https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683612460785 |
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ftunivdurham:oai:dro.dur.ac.uk.OAI2:11110 2023-05-15T16:01:05+02:00 Holocene palaeoceanographic evolution off West Greenland. Perner, K. Moros, M. Jennings, A. Lloyd, J.M. Knudsen, K.L. 2013-03-01 application/pdf http://dro.dur.ac.uk/11110/ http://dro.dur.ac.uk/11110/1/11110.pdf https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683612460785 unknown Sage dro:11110 issn:0959-6836 issn: 1477-0911 doi:10.1177/0959683612460785 http://dro.dur.ac.uk/11110/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0959683612460785 http://dro.dur.ac.uk/11110/1/11110.pdf The final definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal 'The Holocene' 23/3, 2013 © The Author(s) 2012 by SAGE Publications Ltd at The Holocene page: http://hol.sagepub.com/ on SAGE Journals Online: http://online.sagepub.com/ The Holocene, 2013, Vol.23(3), pp.374-387 [Peer Reviewed Journal] Benthic foraminifera EGC Holocene IC Ocean forcing WGC Article PeerReviewed 2013 ftunivdurham https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683612460785 2020-05-28T22:29:55Z Benthic foraminiferal assemblages from a core southwest of Disko Bugt provide a Holocene perspective (last ~7 ka BP) on ice-sheet/ocean interactions between the West Greenland Current (WGC) and the West Greenland ice sheet. Changes in the fauna reveal significant variations in the water mass properties (temperature and salinity) of the WGC through time. From 7.3 to 6.2 ka BP, a relatively warm/strong WGC influences ice-sheet melt in Disko Bugt and causes enhanced meltwater production, resulting in low surface-water productivity. The most favourable oceanographic conditions occur from 5.5 to 3.5 ka BP, associated with ‘thermal optimum-like’ conditions, encompassing minimum ice sheet extent in the Disko Bugt area. These conditions are attributed to: (1) reduced meltwater influence as the ice sheet is land based and (2) enhanced contribution of warm/saline water masses from the Irminger Current to the WGC. The transition into the late Holocene (last ~3.5 ka BP) is characterized by a cooling of oceanographic conditions, caused by increased advection of cold/low-salinity water masses from the East Greenland Current. A longer-term late-Holocene cooling trend within the WGC is attributed to the onset of Neoglacial cooling within the North Atlantic region. Superimposed on this cooling trend, multicentennial-scale variability within the WGC matches reconstructions from a nearby coring site in Disko Bugt as follows: (1) cooling at ~2.5 ka BP, linked to the 2.7 ka BP ‘cooling event’; (2) a warm phase centred at 1.8 ka BP, associated with the ‘Roman Warm Period’; (3) slight warming between 1.4 and 0.9 ka BP, linked to the ‘Medieval Climate Anomaly’; (4) severe cooling of the WGC after 0.9 ka BP, culminating at 0.3 ka BP during the ‘Little Ice Age’. We show that multicentennial-scale palaeoceanography variability along the West Greenland margin is driven by ocean forcing, i.e. variations in the relative contribution of Atlantic (Irminger Current) and Polar (East Greenland Current) water masses to the WGC during the last ~7 ka BP, influencing ice sheet dynamics. Article in Journal/Newspaper Disko bugt East Greenland east greenland current Greenland Ice Sheet North Atlantic Durham University: Durham Research Online Greenland The Holocene 23 3 374 387 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Durham University: Durham Research Online |
op_collection_id |
ftunivdurham |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Benthic foraminifera EGC Holocene IC Ocean forcing WGC |
spellingShingle |
Benthic foraminifera EGC Holocene IC Ocean forcing WGC Perner, K. Moros, M. Jennings, A. Lloyd, J.M. Knudsen, K.L. Holocene palaeoceanographic evolution off West Greenland. |
topic_facet |
Benthic foraminifera EGC Holocene IC Ocean forcing WGC |
description |
Benthic foraminiferal assemblages from a core southwest of Disko Bugt provide a Holocene perspective (last ~7 ka BP) on ice-sheet/ocean interactions between the West Greenland Current (WGC) and the West Greenland ice sheet. Changes in the fauna reveal significant variations in the water mass properties (temperature and salinity) of the WGC through time. From 7.3 to 6.2 ka BP, a relatively warm/strong WGC influences ice-sheet melt in Disko Bugt and causes enhanced meltwater production, resulting in low surface-water productivity. The most favourable oceanographic conditions occur from 5.5 to 3.5 ka BP, associated with ‘thermal optimum-like’ conditions, encompassing minimum ice sheet extent in the Disko Bugt area. These conditions are attributed to: (1) reduced meltwater influence as the ice sheet is land based and (2) enhanced contribution of warm/saline water masses from the Irminger Current to the WGC. The transition into the late Holocene (last ~3.5 ka BP) is characterized by a cooling of oceanographic conditions, caused by increased advection of cold/low-salinity water masses from the East Greenland Current. A longer-term late-Holocene cooling trend within the WGC is attributed to the onset of Neoglacial cooling within the North Atlantic region. Superimposed on this cooling trend, multicentennial-scale variability within the WGC matches reconstructions from a nearby coring site in Disko Bugt as follows: (1) cooling at ~2.5 ka BP, linked to the 2.7 ka BP ‘cooling event’; (2) a warm phase centred at 1.8 ka BP, associated with the ‘Roman Warm Period’; (3) slight warming between 1.4 and 0.9 ka BP, linked to the ‘Medieval Climate Anomaly’; (4) severe cooling of the WGC after 0.9 ka BP, culminating at 0.3 ka BP during the ‘Little Ice Age’. We show that multicentennial-scale palaeoceanography variability along the West Greenland margin is driven by ocean forcing, i.e. variations in the relative contribution of Atlantic (Irminger Current) and Polar (East Greenland Current) water masses to the WGC during the last ~7 ka BP, influencing ice sheet dynamics. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Perner, K. Moros, M. Jennings, A. Lloyd, J.M. Knudsen, K.L. |
author_facet |
Perner, K. Moros, M. Jennings, A. Lloyd, J.M. Knudsen, K.L. |
author_sort |
Perner, K. |
title |
Holocene palaeoceanographic evolution off West Greenland. |
title_short |
Holocene palaeoceanographic evolution off West Greenland. |
title_full |
Holocene palaeoceanographic evolution off West Greenland. |
title_fullStr |
Holocene palaeoceanographic evolution off West Greenland. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Holocene palaeoceanographic evolution off West Greenland. |
title_sort |
holocene palaeoceanographic evolution off west greenland. |
publisher |
Sage |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
http://dro.dur.ac.uk/11110/ http://dro.dur.ac.uk/11110/1/11110.pdf https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683612460785 |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
Disko bugt East Greenland east greenland current Greenland Ice Sheet North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
Disko bugt East Greenland east greenland current Greenland Ice Sheet North Atlantic |
op_source |
The Holocene, 2013, Vol.23(3), pp.374-387 [Peer Reviewed Journal] |
op_relation |
dro:11110 issn:0959-6836 issn: 1477-0911 doi:10.1177/0959683612460785 http://dro.dur.ac.uk/11110/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0959683612460785 http://dro.dur.ac.uk/11110/1/11110.pdf |
op_rights |
The final definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal 'The Holocene' 23/3, 2013 © The Author(s) 2012 by SAGE Publications Ltd at The Holocene page: http://hol.sagepub.com/ on SAGE Journals Online: http://online.sagepub.com/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683612460785 |
container_title |
The Holocene |
container_volume |
23 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
374 |
op_container_end_page |
387 |
_version_ |
1766397091474571264 |