Search

Changes in the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) have commonly been invoked to explain the low-frequency climate changes evident over millennial-multidecadal timescales during the Holocene period. While there is growing evidence that deep ocean circulation varied on millennial timescales, little is known about ocean variability on shorter timescales. Here we use a marine sediment core (GS06-144-09MC-D) recovered from a high accumulation rate site on the Gardar Drift in the Iceland Basin (60°19′N, 23°58′W, 2081 m) to reconstruct decadal-centennial variability in the vigor of Iceland-Scotland Overflow Water (ISOW) with the paleocurrent proxy “sortable silt” mean grain size math formula. Our math formula record reveals that changes in ISOW vigor have occurred on multidecadal-centennial timescales over the past ~600 years; similar timescales as documented in Atlantic Multidecadal Variability observations and reconstructions. Our findings support a link between changes in basin-wide climate and deep ocean circulation. publishedVersion

A recent palaeo-reconstruction of the strength of the Iceland–Scotland overflow during the last 600 years suggests that its low-frequency variability exhibits strong similarity with palaeo-reconstructions of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO). The underlying mechanism of the similar variation remains unclear, however, based on palaeo-reconstructions alone. In this study we use simulations of the last millennium driven by external forcing reconstructions with three coupled climate models in order to investigate possible mechanisms underlying the similar variation of Iceland–Scotland overflow strength and AMO index. Similar variation of the two time series is also largely found in the model simulations. Our analysis indicates that the basin-wide AMO index in the externally forced simulations is dominated by the low-latitude sea surface temperature (SST) variability and is not predominantly driven by variations in the strength of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (MOC). This result suggests that a large-scale link through the strength of the MOC is not sufficient to explain the (simulated) similar variation of Iceland–Scotland overflow strength and AMO index. Rather, a more local link through the influence of the Nordic seas surface state and density structure, which are positively correlated with the AMO index, on the pressure gradient across the Iceland–Scotland ridge is responsible for the (simulated) similar variation. In the model simulation showing a weaker correlation between the Iceland–Scotland overflow strength and the AMO index, the wind stress in the Nordic seas also influences the overflow strength. Our study demonstrates that palaeo-climate simulations provide a useful tool to understand mechanisms and large-scale connections associated with the relatively sparse palaeo-observations. publishedVersion

This study evaluates the anthropogenic changes of CO2 (∆Cant) and δ13C (∆δ13Cant) in the Nordic seas, the northern limb of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, that took place between 1981 and 2002/03. The changes have been determined by comparing data obtained during the Transient Tracers in the Ocean, North Atlantic Study (TTO-NAS) with data obtained during the Nordic seas surveys of R/V Knorr in 2002 and R/V G.O. Sars in 2003 using an extended multi-linear regression approach. The estimated ∆δ13Cant and ∆Cant and their relationship to each other and to water mass distribution suggest that the Polar Water entering the Nordic seas from the north is undersaturated with respect to the present atmospheric anthropogenic CO2 levels and promotes a local uptake of Cant within the Nordic seas. In contrast, the Atlantic Water entering from the south appears equilibrated. It carries with it anthropogenic carbon which will be sequestered at depth as the water overturns. This pre-equilibration leaves no room for further uptake of Cant in the parts of the Nordic seas dominated by Atlantic Water. The upper ocean pCO2 in these regions appears to have increased at a greater rate than the atmospheric pCO2 over the last two decades; this is reconcilable with a large lateral advective supply of Cant. acceptedVersion

We demonstrate that the carbon isotopic signal of mid-depth waters evolved differently from deep waters in the South Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean during the Pleistocene. Deep sites (>3700 m) exhibit large glacial-to-interglacial variations in benthic d13C, whereas the amplitude of the d13C signal at Site 1088 (2100 m water depth) is small. Unlike the deep sites, at no time during the Pleistocene were benthic d13C values at Site 1088 lower than those of the deep Pacific. Reconstruction of intermediate-todeep d13C gradients (D13CI-D) supports the existence of a sharp chemocline between 2100 and 2700 m during most glacial stages of the last 1.1 myr. This chemical divide in the glacial Southern Ocean separated well-ventilated water above 2500 m from poorly ventilated water below. The D13CI-D signal parallels the Vostok atmospheric pCO2 record for the last 400 kyr, lending support to physical models that invoke changes in Southern Ocean deep water ventilation as a mechanism for changing atmospheric pCO2. The emergence of a strong 100-kyr cycle in D13CI-D during the mid-Pleistocene supports a change in vertical fractionation and deep-water ventilation rates in the Southern Ocean, and is consistent with possible CO2- forcing of this climate transition. Components: 7562 words, 14 figures, 2 tables. publishedVersion