6. Climate surprises

2021 ◽  
pp. 90-105
Author(s):  
Mark Maslin
Keyword(s):  
Ocean Circulation ◽  
Deep Ocean ◽  
Climate System ◽  
Delayed Response ◽  
Tipping Points ◽  
Threshold Response ◽  
Slowing Down ◽  
The North ◽  
Deep Ocean Circulation ◽  
Different Parts

‘Climate surprises’ assesses the possibility that there are thresholds or tipping points in the climate system that may occur as we warm the planet. Scientists have been concerned about these tipping points over the last three decades. One can examine the way different parts of the climate system respond to climate change with four scenarios. These include linear but delayed response; muted or limited response; delayed and non-linear response; and threshold response. It is worth considering here the melting of the Greenland and/or Western Antarctic ice sheet; the slowing down of the North Atlantic deep ocean circulation; the potential massive release of methane from melting gas hydrates; and the possibility of the Amazon rainforest dieback.

scholarly journals Tracing the North Atlantic's Bottom Waters

Eos ◽  
2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terri Cook
Keyword(s):  
Ocean Circulation ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
Deep Ocean ◽  
The North ◽  
Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing ◽  
Bottom Waters ◽  
European Nuclear ◽  
Deep Ocean Circulation ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Fuel Reprocessing

Chemicals released by two European nuclear fuel reprocessing plants, along with certain chlorofluorocarbons, are helping to constrain the speed and behavior of North Atlantic deep-ocean circulation.

scholarly journals The Late Quaternary Sedimentary Record of Reykjanes Ridge, North Atlantic

Radiocarbon ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 43 (2B) ◽  
pp. 939-947 ◽  
Author(s):  
M A Prins ◽  
S R Troelstra ◽  
R W Kruk ◽  
K van der Borg ◽  
A F M de Jong ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Grain Size ◽  
Ocean Circulation ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Ice Cores ◽  
Deep Ocean ◽  
Reykjanes Ridge ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Atlantic ◽  
Deep Ocean Circulation

Variability in surface and deep ocean circulation in the North Atlantic is inferred from grain-size characteristics and the composition of terrigenous sediments from a deep-sea core taken on Reykjanes Ridge, south of Iceland. End-member modeling of grain size data shows that deep-ocean circulation in this area decreased significantly during periods of maximum iceberg discharge. The episodes of reduced circulation correlate with the cold and abrupt warming phases of the Dansgaard-Oeschger cycles as recognized in the Greenland ice cores.

scholarly journals Regional and global signals in seawater δ18O records across the mid-Pleistocene transition

Geology ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather L. Ford ◽  
Maureen E. Raymo
Keyword(s):  
Ocean Circulation ◽  
North Pacific Ocean ◽  
Deep Ocean ◽  
Ocean Drilling Program ◽  
Ocean Drilling ◽  
Ice Volume ◽  
The North ◽  
Global Ice Volume ◽  
Deep Ocean Water ◽  
Deep Ocean Circulation

Abstract High-resolution seawater δ18O records, derived from coupled Mg/Ca and benthic δ18O analyses, can be used to evaluate how global ice volume changed during the mid-Pleistocene transition (MPT, ca. 1250–600 ka). However, such seawater δ18O records are also influenced by regional hydrographic signals (i.e., salinity) and changes in deep-ocean circulation across the MPT, making it difficult to isolate the timing and magnitude of the global ice volume change. To explore regional and global patterns in seawater δ18O records, we reconstruct seawater δ18O from coupled Mg/Ca and δ18O analyses of Uvigerina spp. at Ocean Drilling Program Site 1208 in the North Pacific Ocean. Comparison of individual seawater δ18O records suggests that deep-ocean circulation reorganized and the formation properties (i.e., salinity) of deep-ocean water masses changed at ca. 900 ka, likely related to the transition to marine-based ice sheets in Antarctica. We also find that an increase in ice volume likely accompanied the shift in glacial-interglacial periodicity observed in benthic carbonate δ18O across the MPT, with increases in ice volume observed during Marine Isotope Stages 22 and 16.

scholarly journals Variations in intermediate and deep ocean circulation in the subtropical northwestern Pacific from 26 ka to present based on a new calibration for Mg/Ca in benthic foraminifera

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 1265-1303 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Kubota ◽  
K. Kimoto ◽  
T. Itaki ◽  
Y. Yokoyama ◽  
Y. Miyairi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ocean Circulation ◽  
Benthic Foraminifera ◽  
North Pacific ◽  
Bottom Water ◽  
Deep Ocean ◽  
Northwestern Pacific ◽  
Okinawa Island ◽  
The North ◽  
Deep Ocean Circulation ◽  
The North Pacific

Abstract. To understand variations in intermediate and deep ocean circulation in the North Pacific, bottom water temperatures (BWT), carbon isotopes (δ13C) of benthic foraminifera, and oxygen isotopes (δ18O) of seawater at a water depth of 1166 m were reconstructed from 26 ka to present. A new regional Mg/Ca calibration for the benthic foraminifera Cibicidoides wuellerstorfi was established to convert the benthic Mg/Ca value to BWT, based on twenty-six surface sediment samples and a core top sample retrieved around Okinawa Island. In addition, core GH08-2004, retrieved from 1166 m water depth east of Okinawa Island, was used to reconstruct water properties from 26 ka to present. During the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), from 24 to 18 ka, BWT appeared to be relatively constant at approximately 2 °C, which is ~1.5–2 °C lower than today. One of the prominent features of our BWT records was a millennial-scale variation in BWT during the last deglaciation, with BWT higher during Heinrich event 1 (H1; ~17 ka) and the Younger Dryas (YD; ~12 ka) and lower during the Bølling/Allerød (B/A; ~14 ka). The record of seawater δ18O in core GH08-2004 exhibited a rapid increase in association with the rapid warming of BWT at 17 ka, likely due to the reduced precipitation in the North Pacific in response to less moisture transport from the equatorial Atlantic as a result of the collapse of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. During the interval from 17 to 15 ka, the bottom water temperature tended to decrease in association with a decrease in the carbon isotope values of C. wuellerstorfi, likely as a result of increased upwelling of the older water mass that was stored in the abyssal Pacific during the glacial time. The timing of the increased upwelling coincided with the deglacial atmospheric CO2 rise initiated at ~17 ka, and suggested that the increased upwelling in the subtropical northwestern Pacific from 17 to 15 ka contributed to the carbon release from the Pacific into the atmosphere.

Deep-sea panoramas: Progress and remaining challenges in late Miocene stratigraphy and climate

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Joy Drury ◽  
Thomas Westerhold ◽  
David A. Hodell ◽  
Mitchell Lyle ◽  
Cédric M. John ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Ocean Circulation ◽  
Late Miocene ◽  
Deep Sea ◽  
Deep Ocean ◽  
High Resolution Data ◽  
Ongoing Work ◽  
Climate Evolution ◽  
Deep Ocean Circulation ◽  
Geological Timescale

<p>During the late Miocene, meridional sea surface temperature gradients, deep ocean circulation patterns, and continental configurations evolved to a state similar to modern day. Deep-sea benthic foraminiferal stable oxygen (δ<sup>18</sup>O) and carbon (δ<sup>13</sup>C) isotope stratigraphy remains a fundamental tool for providing accurate chronologies and global correlations, both of which can be used to assess late Miocene climate dynamics. Until recently, late Miocene benthic δ<sup>18</sup>O and δ<sup>13</sup>C stratigraphies remained poorly constrained, due to relatively poor global high-resolution data coverage.</p><p>Here, I present ongoing work that uses high-resolution deep-sea foraminiferal stable isotope records to improve late Miocene (chrono)stratigraphy. Although challenges remain, the coverage of late Miocene benthic δ<sup>18</sup>O and δ<sup>13</sup>C stratigraphies has drastically improved in recent years, with high-resolution records now available across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The recovery of these deep-sea records, including the first astronomically tuned, deep-sea integrated magneto-chemostratigraphy, has also helped to improve the late Miocene geological timescale. Finally, I will briefly touch upon how our understanding of late Miocene climate evolution has improved, based on the high-resolution deep-sea archives that are now available.</p>

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document