Early Holocene Laurentide Ice Sheet deglaciation causes cooling in the high-latitude Southern Hemisphere through oceanic teleconnection

• Published in: Paleoceanography
• Main Authors: Renssen, H., Goosse, H., Crosta, X., Roche, Didier M.
• Other Authors: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Amsterdam (VU), Centre Georges Lemaître for Earth and Climate Research Louvain (TECLIM), Earth and Life Institute Louvain-La-Neuve (ELI), Université Catholique de Louvain = Catholic University of Louvain (UCL)-Université Catholique de Louvain = Catholic University of Louvain (UCL), Environnements et Paléoenvironnements OCéaniques (EPOC), Observatoire aquitain des sciences de l'univers (OASU), Université Sciences et Technologies - Bordeaux 1 (UB)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Sciences et Technologies - Bordeaux 1 (UB)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-École pratique des hautes études (EPHE), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement Gif-sur-Yvette (LSCE), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Modélisation du climat (CLIM), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2010
• Subjects: [SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean; Atmosphere; [SDU.STU.OC]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Oceanography; [SDU.STU.CL]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Climatology; Antarctic; Southern Ocean; Antarc*; Ice Sheet; Labrador Sea; NADW; North Atlantic Deep Water; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-02105658; https://hal.science/hal-02105658/document; https://hal.science/hal-02105658/file/Renssen_Paleocean2010.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1029/2009PA001854

International audience The impact of the early Holocene Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS) deglaciation on the climate at Southern Hemisphere high latitudes is studied in three transient simulations performed with a global climate model of the coupled atmosphere-ocean-vegetation system. Considering the LIS deglaciation, we quantify separately the impacts of the background meltwater fluxes and the changes in topography and surface albedo. In our model, the meltwater input into the North Atlantic results in a substantial weakening of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation, associated with absence of deep convection in the Labrador Sea. Northward ocean heat transport by the Atlantic Ocean is reduced by 28%. This weakened ocean circulation leads to cooler North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW). Upwelling of this cool NADW in the Southern Ocean results in reduced surface temperatures (by 1°C to 2°C) here between 9 and 7 ka compared to an experiment without LIS deglaciation. Poleward of the polar front zone, this advective teleconnection between the Southern and Northern hemispheres overwhelms the effect of the "classical" bipolar seesaw mechanism. These results provide an explanation for the relatively cold climatic conditions between 9 and 7 ka reconstructed in several proxy records from Southern Hemisphere high latitudes, such as Antarctic ice cores.