Sea-surface temperature and salinity changes in the northwest Pacific since the Last Glacial Maximum

2004 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 335-346 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tadamichi Oba ◽  
Masafumi Murayama
Keyword(s):  
Surface Temperature ◽  
Sea Surface Temperature ◽  
Last Glacial Maximum ◽  
Glacial Maximum ◽  
Sea Surface ◽  
Northwest Pacific ◽  
Last Glacial ◽  
Salinity Changes ◽  
The Last Glacial Maximum ◽  
The Last Glacial

Reconstruction of sea-surface temperature, salinity, and sea-ice cover in the northern North Atlantic during the last glacial maximum based on dinocyst assemblages

2000 ◽  
Vol 37 (5) ◽  
pp. 725-750 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne de Vernal ◽  
Claude Hillaire-Marcel ◽  
Jean-Louis Turon ◽  
Jens Matthiessen
Keyword(s):  
Sea Ice ◽  
Surface Temperature ◽  
Last Glacial Maximum ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
Ice Cover ◽  
Glacial Maximum ◽  
Sea Surface ◽  
Last Glacial ◽  
The Last Glacial Maximum ◽  
The Last Glacial

Past sea-surface conditions over the northern North Atlantic during the last glacial maximum were examined from the study of 61 deep-sea cores. The last glacial maximum time slice studied here corresponds to an interval between Heinrich layers H2 and H1, and spanning about 20-16 ka on a 14C time scale. Transfer functions based on dinocyst assemblages were used to reconstruct sea-surface temperature, salinity, and sea-ice cover. The results illustrate extensive sea-ice cover along the eastern Canadian margins and sea-ice spreading, only during winter, over most of the northern North Atlantic. On the whole, much colder winter prevailed, despite relatively mild conditions in August (10-15°C at most offshore sites), thus suggesting a larger seasonal contrast of temperatures than today. Lower salinity than at present is reconstructed, especially along the eastern Canadian and Scandinavian margins, likely because of meltwater supply from the surrounding ice sheets. These reconstructions contrast with those established by CLIMAP on the basis of planktonic foraminifera. These differences are discussed with reference to the stratigraphical frame of the last glacial maximum, which was not the coldest phase of the last glacial stage. The respective significance of dinocyst and foraminifer records is also examined in terms of the thermohaline characteristics of surface waters and the vertical structure of upper water masses, which was apparently much more stratified than at present in the northern North Atlantic, thus preventing deep-water formation.

Exploring the complex uncertainties in coupled climate-ice simulations of the Last Glacial Maximum

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren Gregoire ◽  
Niall Gandy ◽  
Lachlan Astfalck ◽  
Robin Smith ◽  
Ruza Ivanovic ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mass Balance ◽  
Last Glacial Maximum ◽  
Ice Sheets ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Glacial Maximum ◽  
Sea Surface ◽  
Surface Mass ◽  
Last Glacial ◽  
The Last Glacial Maximum ◽  
The Last Glacial

<p>Simulating the co-evolution of climate and ice-sheets during the Quaternary is key to understanding some of the major abrupt changes in climate, ice and sea level. Indeed, events such as the Meltwater pulse 1a rapid sea level rise and Heinrich, Dansgaard–Oeschger and the 8.2 kyr climatic events all involve the interplay between ice sheets, the atmosphere and the ocean. Unfortunately, it is challenging to simulate the coupled Climate-Ice sheet system because small biases, errors or uncertainties in parts of the models are strongly amplified by the powerful interactions between the atmosphere and ice (e.g. ice-albedo and height-mass balance feedbacks). This leads to inaccurate or even unrealistic simulations of ice sheet extent and surface climate. To overcome this issue we need some methods to effectively explore the uncertainty in the complex Climate-Ice sheet system and reduce model biases. Here we present our approach to produce ensemble of coupled Climate-Ice sheet simulations of the Last Glacial maximum that explore the uncertainties in climate and ice sheet processes.</p><p>We use the FAMOUS-ICE earth system model, which comprises a coarse-resolution and fast general circulation model coupled to the Glimmer-CISM ice sheet model. We prescribe sea surface temperature and sea ice concentrations in order to control and reduce biases in polar climate, which strongly affect the surface mass balance and simulated extent of the northern hemisphere ice sheets. We develop and apply a method to reconstruct and sample a range of realistic sea surface temperature and sea-ice concentration spatio-temporal field. These are created by merging information from PMIP3/4 climate simulations and proxy-data for sea surface temperatures at the Last Glacial Maximum with Bayes linear analysis. We then use these to generate ensembles of FAMOUS-ice simulations of the Last Glacial maximum following the PMIP4 protocol, with the Greenland and North American ice sheets interactively simulated. In addition to exploring a range of sea surface conditions, we also vary key parameters that control the surface mass balance and flow of ice sheets. We thus produce ensembles of simulations that will later be used to emulate ice sheet surface mass balance.  </p>

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