scholarly journals Oceanic forcing of the Eurasian Ice Sheet on millennial time scales during the Last Glacial Period

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge Alvarez-Solas ◽  
Rubén Banderas ◽  
Alexander Robinson ◽  
Marisa Montoya
Keyword(s):  
Time Scales ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
Climate Changes ◽  
Ice Sheets ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Glacial Period ◽  
Last Glacial Period ◽  
Last Glacial ◽  
The Last Glacial ◽  
Millennial Scale

Abstract. The last glacial period (LGP; ca.110–10 ka BP) was marked by the existence of two types of abrupt climatic changes, Dansgaard-Oeschger (DO) and Heinrich (H) events. Although the mechanisms behind these are not fully understood, it is generally accepted that the presence of ice sheets played an important role in their occurrence. While an important effort has been made to investigate the dynamics and evolution of the Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS) during this period, the Eurasian Ice Sheet (EIS) has not received much attention, in particular from a modeling perspective. However, meltwater discharge from this and other ice sheets surrounding the Nordic Seas is often implied as a potential cause of ocean instabilities that lead to glacial abrupt climate changes. Thus, a better understanding of its variations during the LGP is important to understand its role in glacial abrupt climate changes. Here we investigate the response of the EIS to millennial-scale climate variability during the LGP. We use a hybrid, three-dimensional, thermomechanical ice-sheet model that includes ice shelves and ice streams. The model is forced offline through a novel perturbative approach that includes the effect of both atmospheric and oceanic variations and provides a more realistic treatment of millennial-scale climatic variability than conventional methods. Our results show that the EIS responds with enhanced ice discharge in phase with interstadial warming in the North Atlantic when forced with surface ocean temperatures. Conversely, when subsurface ocean temperatures are used, enhanced ice discharge occurs both during stadials and at the beginning of the interstadials. Separating the atmospheric and oceanic effects demonstrates the major role of the ocean in controlling the dynamics of the EIS on millennial time scales. While the atmospheric forcing alone is only able to produce modest iceberg discharges, warming of the ocean leads to higher rates of iceberg discharges as a result of relatively strong basal melting at the margins of the ice sheet. Together with previous work, our results provide a consistent explanation for the response of the LIS and the EIS to glacial abrupt climate changes, and highlight the need for stronger constraints on the local North Atlantic behavior in order to improve our understanding of the ice sheet's glacial dynamics.

scholarly journals Oceanic forcing of the Eurasian Ice Sheet on millennial time scales during the Last Glacial Period

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge Alvarez-Solas ◽  
Rubén Banderas ◽  
Alexander Robinson ◽  
Marisa Montoya
Keyword(s):  
Time Scales ◽  
Climate Changes ◽  
Ice Sheets ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Glacial Period ◽  
Last Glacial Period ◽  
Perturbative Approach ◽  
Last Glacial ◽  
The Last Glacial ◽  
Millennial Scale

Abstract. The last glacial period (LGP; ca. 110–10 ka BP) was marked by the existence of two types of abrupt climatic changes, Dansgaard-Oeschger (D/O) and Heinrich (H) events. Although the mechanisms behind these are not fully understood, it is generally accepted that the presence of ice sheets played an important role in their occurrence. While an important effort has been made to investigate the dynamics and evolution of the Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS) during this period, the Eurasian Ice Sheet (EIS) has not received much attention, in particular from a modeling perspective. However, meltwater discharge from this and other ice sheets surrounding the Nordic Seas is often implied as a potential cause of ocean instabilities that lead to glacial abrupt climate changes. Thus, a better understanding of its variations during the LGP is important to understand its role in glacial abrupt climate changes. Here we investigate the response of the EIS to millennial-scale climate variability during the LGP. We use a hybrid, three-dimensional, thermomechanical ice-sheet model that includes ice shelves and ice streams. The model is forced offline through a novel perturbative approach that includes the effect of both atmospheric and oceanic variations and provides a more realistic treatment of millennial-scale climatic variability than conventional methods. Our results show that the EIS responds with enhanced iceberg discharges in phase with interstadial warming in the North Atlantic. Separating the atmospheric and oceanic effects demonstrates the major role of the ocean in controlling the dynamics of the EIS on millennial time scales. While the atmospheric forcing alone is only able to produce modest iceberg discharges, warming of oceanic surface waters leads to much higher rates of iceberg discharges as a result of relatively strong basal melting within the margins of the ice sheet. Together with previous work, our results provide a consistent explanation for the timing of the responses of the LIS and the EIS to glacial abrupt climate changes.

scholarly journals Ocean-driven millennial-scale variability of the Eurasian ice sheet during the last glacial period simulated with a hybrid ice-sheet–shelf model

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 957-979 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge Alvarez-Solas ◽  
Rubén Banderas ◽  
Alexander Robinson ◽  
Marisa Montoya
Keyword(s):  
Climate Variability ◽  
Climate Changes ◽  
Ice Sheets ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Glacial Period ◽  
Last Glacial Period ◽  
Perturbative Approach ◽  
Last Glacial ◽  
The Last Glacial ◽  
Millennial Scale

Abstract. The last glacial period (LGP; ca. 110–10 kyr BP) was marked by the existence of two types of abrupt climatic changes, Dansgaard–Oeschger (DO) and Heinrich (H) events. Although the mechanisms behind these are not fully understood, it is generally accepted that the presence of ice sheets played an important role in their occurrence. While an important effort has been made to investigate the dynamics and evolution of the Laurentide ice sheet (LIS) during this period, the Eurasian ice sheet (EIS) has not received much attention, in particular from a modeling perspective. However, meltwater discharge from this and other ice sheets surrounding the Nordic seas is often implied as a potential cause of ocean instabilities that lead to glacial abrupt climate changes. Thus, a better comprehension of the evolution of the EIS during the LGP is important to understand its role in glacial abrupt climate changes. Here we investigate the response of the EIS to millennial-scale climate variability during the LGP. We use a hybrid, three-dimensional, thermomechanical ice-sheet model that includes ice shelves and ice streams. The model is forced off-line via a novel perturbative approach that, as opposed to conventional methods, clearly differentiates between the spatial patterns of millennial-scale and orbital-scale climate variability. Thus, it provides a more realistic treatment of the forcing at millennial timescales. The effect of both atmospheric and oceanic variations are included. Our results show that the EIS responds with enhanced ice discharge in phase with interstadial warming in the North Atlantic when forced with surface ocean temperatures. Conversely, when subsurface ocean temperatures are used, enhanced ice discharge occurs both during stadials and at the beginning of the interstadials. Separating the atmospheric and oceanic effects demonstrates the major role of the ocean in controlling the dynamics of the EIS on millennial timescales. While the atmospheric forcing alone is only able to produce modest iceberg discharges, warming of the ocean leads to higher rates of iceberg discharges as a result of relatively strong basal melting at the margins of the ice sheet. Our results clearly show the capability of the EIS to react to glacial abrupt climate changes, and highlight the need for stronger constraints on the ice sheet's glacial dynamics and climate–ocean interactions.

scholarly journals Millennial and sub-millennial scale climatic variations recorded in polar ice cores over the last glacial period

2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-183 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Capron ◽  
A. Landais ◽  
J. Chappellaz ◽  
A. Schilt ◽  
D. Buiron ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climatic Variability ◽  
Ice Sheets ◽  
Ice Cores ◽  
Glacial Period ◽  
Last Glacial Period ◽  
Last Glacial ◽  
Dronning Maud Land ◽  
Mis 5 ◽  
The Last Glacial ◽  
Millennial Scale

Abstract. Since its discovery in Greenland ice cores, the millennial scale climatic variability of the last glacial period has been increasingly documented at all latitudes with studies focusing mainly on Marine Isotopic Stage 3 (MIS 3; 28–60 thousand of years before present, hereafter ka) and characterized by short Dansgaard-Oeschger (DO) events. Recent and new results obtained on the EPICA and NorthGRIP ice cores now precisely describe the rapid variations of Antarctic and Greenland temperature during MIS 5 (73.5–123 ka), a time period corresponding to relatively high sea level. The results display a succession of long DO events enabling us to highlight a sub-millennial scale climatic variability depicted by i) short-lived and abrupt warming events preceding some Greenland InterStadial (GIS) (precursor-type events) and ii) abrupt warming events at the end of some GIS (rebound-type events). The occurrence of these secondary events is suggested to be driven by the Northern Hemisphere summertime insolation at 65° N together with the internal forcing of ice sheets. Thanks to a recent NorthGRIP-EPICA Dronning Maud Land (EDML) common timescale over MIS 5, the bipolar sequence of climatic events can be established at millennial to sub-millennial timescale. This provides evidence that a linear relationship is not satisfactory in explaining the link between Antarctic warming amplitudes and the duration of their concurrent Greenland Stadial (GS) for the entire glacial period. The conceptual model for a thermal bipolar seesaw permits a reconstruction of the Antarctic response to the northern millennial and sub-millennial scale variability over MIS 5. However, we show that when ice sheets are extensive, Antarctica does not necessarily warm during the whole GS as the thermal bipolar seesaw model would predict.

scholarly journals Millennial and sub-millennial scale climatic variations recorded in polar ice cores over the last glacial period

2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 345-365 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Capron ◽  
A. Landais ◽  
J. Chappellaz ◽  
A. Schilt ◽  
D. Buiron ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climatic Variability ◽  
Ice Core ◽  
Ice Sheets ◽  
Ice Cores ◽  
Glacial Period ◽  
Last Glacial Period ◽  
Last Glacial ◽  
Mis 5 ◽  
The Last Glacial ◽  
Millennial Scale

Abstract. Since its discovery in Greenland ice cores, the millennial scale climatic variability of the last glacial period has been increasingly documented at all latitudes with studies focusing mainly on Marine Isotopic Stage 3 (MIS 3; 28–60 thousand of years before present, hereafter ka) and characterized by short Dansgaard-Oeschger (DO) events. Recent and new results obtained on the EPICA and NorthGRIP ice cores now precisely describe the rapid variations of Antarctic and Greenland temperature during MIS 5 (73.5–123 ka), a time period corresponding to relatively high sea level. The results display a succession of abrupt events associated with long Greenland InterStadial phases (GIS) enabling us to highlight a sub-millennial scale climatic variability depicted by (i) short-lived and abrupt warming events preceding some GIS (precursor-type events) and (ii) abrupt warming events at the end of some GIS (rebound-type events). The occurrence of these sub-millennial scale events is suggested to be driven by the insolation at high northern latitudes together with the internal forcing of ice sheets. Thanks to a recent NorthGRIP-EPICA Dronning Maud Land (EDML) common timescale over MIS 5, the bipolar sequence of climatic events can be established at millennial to sub-millennial timescale. This shows that for extraordinary long stadial durations the accompanying Antarctic warming amplitude cannot be described by a simple linear relationship between the two as expected from the bipolar seesaw concept. We also show that when ice sheets are extensive, Antarctica does not necessarily warm during the whole GS as the thermal bipolar seesaw model would predict, questioning the Greenland ice core temperature records as a proxy for AMOC changes throughout the glacial period.

North Atlantic forcing of millennial-scale Indo-Australian monsoon dynamics during the Last Glacial period

2013 ◽  
Vol 72 ◽  
pp. 159-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rhawn F. Denniston ◽  
Karl-Heinz Wyrwoll ◽  
Yemane Asmerom ◽  
Victor J. Polyak ◽  
William F. Humphreys ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
North Atlantic ◽  
Glacial Period ◽  
Last Glacial Period ◽  
Australian Monsoon ◽  
Last Glacial ◽  
Monsoon Dynamics ◽  
The Last Glacial ◽  
Millennial Scale

scholarly journals Impact of millennial-scale oceanic variability on the Greenland ice-sheet evolution throughout the last glacial period

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 593-609 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilaria Tabone ◽  
Alexander Robinson ◽  
Jorge Alvarez-Solas ◽  
Marisa Montoya
Keyword(s):  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet ◽  
Temperature Fluctuations ◽  
Direct Result ◽  
Glacial Period ◽  
Last Glacial Period ◽  
Last Glacial ◽  
The Last Glacial ◽  
Oceanic Variability ◽  
Millennial Scale

Abstract. Temperature reconstructions from Greenland ice-sheet (GrIS) ice cores indicate the occurrence of more than 20 abrupt warmings during the last glacial period (LGP) known as Dansgaard-Oeschger (D-O) events. Although their ultimate cause is still debated, evidence from both proxy data and modelling studies robustly links these to reorganisations of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). During the LGP, the GrIS expanded as far as the continental shelf break and was thus more directly exposed to oceanic changes than in the present. Therefore oceanic temperature fluctuations on millennial timescales could have had a non-negligible impact on the GrIS. Here we assess the effect of millennial-scale oceanic variability on the GrIS evolution from the last interglacial to the present day. To do so, we use a three-dimensional hybrid ice-sheet–shelf model forced by subsurface oceanic temperature fluctuations, assumed to increase during D-O stadials and decrease during D-O interstadials. Since in our model the atmospheric forcing follows orbital variations only, the increase in total melting at millennial timescales is a direct result of an increase in basal melting. We show that the GrIS evolution during the LGP could have been strongly influenced by oceanic changes on millennial timescales, leading to oceanically induced ice-volume contributions above 1 m sea level equivalent (SLE). Also, our results suggest that the increased flux of GrIS icebergs as inferred from North Atlantic proxy records could have been triggered, or intensified, by peaks in melting at the base of the ice shelves resulting from increasing subsurface oceanic temperatures during D-O stadials. Several regions across the GrIS could thus have been responsible for ice mass discharge during D-O events, opening the possibility of a non-negligible role of the GrIS in oceanic reorganisations throughout the LGP.

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