Deglacial variability in the surface return flow of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation

• Published in: Paleoceanography
• Main Authors: Came, Rosemarie E., Oppo, Delia W., Curry, William B., Lynch-Stieglitz, Jean
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: American Geophysical Union 2008
• Subjects: Meridional overturning; Cd/Ca; Younger Dryas; North Atlantic Deep Water; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/1912/3452

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2008. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Paleoceanography 23 (2008): PA1217, doi:10.1029/2007PA001450. Benthic foraminiferal Cd/Ca from a Florida Current sediment core documents the history of the northward penetration of southern source waters within the surface return flow of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC). Cd seawater estimates (CdW) indicate that intermediate-depth southern source waters crossed the equator and contributed to the Florida Current during the Bølling-Allerød warm period of the last deglaciation, consistent with evidence of only a modest AMOC reduction compared to today. The CdW estimates also provide the first paleoceanographic evidence of a reduction in the influence of intermediate-depth southern source waters within the Florida Current during the Younger Dryas, a deglacial cold event characterized by a weak North Atlantic AMOC. Our results reveal a close correspondence between the northward penetration of intermediate-depth southern source waters and the influence of North Atlantic Deep Water, suggesting a possible link between intermediate-depth southern source waters and the strength of the Atlantic AMOC. This work was funded by the NSF and the WHOI Ocean and Climate Change Institute.