Reduced solar activity as a trigger for the start of the Younger Dryas?
It is generally assumed that changes in ocean circulation forced the abrupt climate changes during the Late Pleistocene, including the Younger Dryas event. Recently, however, it was proposed that variations in solar irradiance could have played a much more prominent role in forcing Pleistocene clima...
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ftunivlouvain:oai:dial.uclouvain.be:boreal:43286 2024-05-19T07:45:17+00:00 Reduced solar activity as a trigger for the start of the Younger Dryas? Renssen, H. van Geel, B van der Plicht, J Magny, M UCL 2000 http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/43286 https://doi.org/10.1016/S1040-6182(00)00060-4 eng eng Pergamon-elsevier Science Ltd boreal:43286 http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/43286 doi:10.1016/S1040-6182(00)00060-4 urn:ISSN:1040-6182 urn:EISSN:1873-4553 info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess Quaternary International, Vol. 68, p. 373-383 (2000) info:eu-repo/semantics/article 2000 ftunivlouvain https://doi.org/10.1016/S1040-6182(00)00060-4 2024-04-24T01:48:53Z It is generally assumed that changes in ocean circulation forced the abrupt climate changes during the Late Pleistocene, including the Younger Dryas event. Recently, however, it was proposed that variations in solar irradiance could have played a much more prominent role in forcing Pleistocene climate changes. Furthermore, two physical mechanisms were recently published that explain how relatively small changes in solar irradiance could have had a strong impact on the climate system. We discuss the possibility that an abrupt reduction in solar irradiance triggered the start of the Younger Dryas and we argue that this is indeed supported by three observations: (1) the abrupt and strong increase in residual C-14 at the start of the Younger Dryas that seems to be too sharp to be caused by ocean circulation changes alone, (2) the Younger Dryas being part of an similar to 2500 year quasi-cycle-also found in the C-14 record-that is supposedly of solar origin, (3) the registration of the Younger Dryas in geological records in the tropics and the mid-latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere. Moreover, the proposed two physical mechanisms could possibly explain how the North Atlantic thermohaline circulation was perturbed through an increase in precipitation together with iceberg influxes. In addition, the full magnitude of the Younger Dryas cooling as evidenced by terrestrial records in Europe could be explained. We conclude that a solar triggering of the Younger Dryas is a valid option that should be studied in detail with climate models. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic North atlantic Thermohaline circulation DIAL@UCLouvain (Université catholique de Louvain) Quaternary International 68-71 373 383 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
DIAL@UCLouvain (Université catholique de Louvain) |
op_collection_id |
ftunivlouvain |
language |
English |
description |
It is generally assumed that changes in ocean circulation forced the abrupt climate changes during the Late Pleistocene, including the Younger Dryas event. Recently, however, it was proposed that variations in solar irradiance could have played a much more prominent role in forcing Pleistocene climate changes. Furthermore, two physical mechanisms were recently published that explain how relatively small changes in solar irradiance could have had a strong impact on the climate system. We discuss the possibility that an abrupt reduction in solar irradiance triggered the start of the Younger Dryas and we argue that this is indeed supported by three observations: (1) the abrupt and strong increase in residual C-14 at the start of the Younger Dryas that seems to be too sharp to be caused by ocean circulation changes alone, (2) the Younger Dryas being part of an similar to 2500 year quasi-cycle-also found in the C-14 record-that is supposedly of solar origin, (3) the registration of the Younger Dryas in geological records in the tropics and the mid-latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere. Moreover, the proposed two physical mechanisms could possibly explain how the North Atlantic thermohaline circulation was perturbed through an increase in precipitation together with iceberg influxes. In addition, the full magnitude of the Younger Dryas cooling as evidenced by terrestrial records in Europe could be explained. We conclude that a solar triggering of the Younger Dryas is a valid option that should be studied in detail with climate models. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved. |
author2 |
UCL |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Renssen, H. van Geel, B van der Plicht, J Magny, M |
spellingShingle |
Renssen, H. van Geel, B van der Plicht, J Magny, M Reduced solar activity as a trigger for the start of the Younger Dryas? |
author_facet |
Renssen, H. van Geel, B van der Plicht, J Magny, M |
author_sort |
Renssen, H. |
title |
Reduced solar activity as a trigger for the start of the Younger Dryas? |
title_short |
Reduced solar activity as a trigger for the start of the Younger Dryas? |
title_full |
Reduced solar activity as a trigger for the start of the Younger Dryas? |
title_fullStr |
Reduced solar activity as a trigger for the start of the Younger Dryas? |
title_full_unstemmed |
Reduced solar activity as a trigger for the start of the Younger Dryas? |
title_sort |
reduced solar activity as a trigger for the start of the younger dryas? |
publisher |
Pergamon-elsevier Science Ltd |
publishDate |
2000 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/43286 https://doi.org/10.1016/S1040-6182(00)00060-4 |
genre |
North Atlantic North atlantic Thermohaline circulation |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic North atlantic Thermohaline circulation |
op_source |
Quaternary International, Vol. 68, p. 373-383 (2000) |
op_relation |
boreal:43286 http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/43286 doi:10.1016/S1040-6182(00)00060-4 urn:ISSN:1040-6182 urn:EISSN:1873-4553 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/S1040-6182(00)00060-4 |
container_title |
Quaternary International |
container_volume |
68-71 |
container_start_page |
373 |
op_container_end_page |
383 |
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1799485287961722880 |