Sea ice dynamics across the Mid-Pleistocene transition in the Bering Sea

This is the final version of the article. Available from Springer Nature via the DOI in this record Sea ice and associated feedback mechanisms play an important role for both long- and short-term climate change. Our ability to predict future sea ice extent, however, hinges on a greater understanding...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature Communications
Main Authors: Detlef, H, Belt, ST, Sosdian, SM, Smik, L, Lear, CH, Hall, IR, Cabedo-Sanz, P, Husum, K, Kender, S
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Springer Nature 2018
Subjects:
Biogeochemistry
Marine chemistry
Palaeoceanography
Bering Sea
Climate change
Land Glacier
Phytoplankton
Sea ice
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10871/32181
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-02845-5
Description
Summary:This is the final version of the article. Available from Springer Nature via the DOI in this record Sea ice and associated feedback mechanisms play an important role for both long- and short-term climate change. Our ability to predict future sea ice extent, however, hinges on a greater understanding of past sea ice dynamics. Here we investigate sea ice changes in the eastern Bering Sea prior to, across, and after the Mid-Pleistocene transition (MPT). The sea ice record, based on the Arctic sea ice biomarker IP25and related open water proxies from the International Ocean Discovery Program Site U1343, shows a substantial increase in sea ice extent across the MPT. The occurrence of late-glacial/deglacial sea ice maxima are consistent with sea ice/land ice hysteresis and land-glacier retreat via the temperature-precipitation feedback. We also identify interactions of sea ice with phytoplankton growth and ocean circulation patterns, which have important implications for glacial North Pacific Intermediate Water formation and potentially North Pacific abyssal carbon storage. H.D. would like to acknowledge funding through a Natural Environmental Research Council (NERC) Ph.D. research grant (NE/L002434/1), via the GW4+ Doctoral Training Partnership and additional funding provided by a BGS University Funding Initiative Ph.D. studentship (S268). Marine sediment samples were provided as part of the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP). S.T.B., L.S., and P.C.-S. thank the University of Plymouth for funding to support biomarker analysis.

Similar Items