scholarly journals Linking catchment hydrology and ocean circulation in Late Holocene southernmost Africa

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annette Hahn ◽  
Enno Schefuß ◽  
Sergio Andó ◽  
Hayley C. Cawthraw ◽  
Peter Frenzel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Ocean Circulation ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Sea Surface ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Time Interval ◽  
Sea Surface Temperatures ◽  
Surface Temperatures ◽  
Precipitation Regimes ◽  
Climatic System

Abstract. Recent studies of the South African climatic system revealed a highly complex interplay of forcing factors on precipitation regimes. This includes the influence of the tropical easterlies, the strength of the Southern Hemispheric Westerlies as well as sea surface temperatures along the coast of the subcontinent. This study of a sediment core at the terrestrial-marine interface spanning a time interval of ~ 4 ka provides insights on the highly dynamic climatic system in southernmost South Africa. Several organic proxies sensitive to changes in climatic parameters like the distribution and isotopic composition of plant-wax lipids as well as indicators for sea surface temperatures and soil input give information on climatic changes during the investigated time period. Moreover, the micropaleontology, mineralogical and elemental composition of the sediments reflects the variability of the terrigenous input to the core site. The combination of downcore sediment signatures and a catchment-wide provenance study indicate that the Little Ice Age was characterized by relatively warm sea surface temperatures in Mossel Bay and arid climatic conditions favorable to torrential flood events sourced in the Gouritz headlands. In contrast, the so-called Medieval Climate Anomaly is expressed by humid conditions in the Gouritz River catchment with lower, but highly variable sea surface temperatures in the Mossel Bay area. The coincidence between humid climatic conditions and cooler sea surface temperatures has been attributed to a strengthened and more southerly anticyclonic circulation. In this climatic setting strong tropical easterlies supply Indian Ocean moisture to South Africa and at the same time Agulhas Bank upwelling pulses become more common due to an increase in Agulhas Current transport as well as alongshore southeasterly winds. These processes resemble the modern day oceanography in summer and can be conceptualized in a regional climate model.

scholarly journals Southern Hemisphere anticyclonic circulation drives oceanic and climatic conditions in late Holocene southernmost Africa

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 649-665 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annette Hahn ◽  
Enno Schefuß ◽  
Sergio Andò ◽  
Hayley C. Cawthra ◽  
Peter Frenzel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Sea Surface ◽  
South Coast ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Sea Surface Temperatures ◽  
The South ◽  
Anticyclonic Circulation ◽  
Surface Temperatures ◽  
Precipitation Regimes

Abstract. Due to the high sensitivity of southern Africa to climate change, a reliable understanding of its hydrological system is crucial. Recent studies of the regional climatic system have revealed a highly complex interplay of forcing factors on precipitation regimes. This includes the influence of the tropical easterlies, the strength of the southern hemispheric westerlies as well as sea surface temperatures along the coast of the subcontinent. However, very few marine records have been available in order to study the coupling of marine and atmospheric circulation systems. Here we present results from a marine sediment core, recovered in shallow waters off the Gouritz River mouth on the south coast of South Africa. Core GeoB18308-1 allows a closer view of the last  ∼  4 kyr. Climate sensitive organic proxies, like the distribution and isotopic composition of plant-wax lipids as well as indicators for sea surface temperatures and soil input, give information on oceanographic and hydrologic changes during the recorded time period. Moreover, the micropaleontology, mineralogical and elemental composition of the sediments reflect the variability of the terrigenous input to the core site. The combination of down-core sediment signatures and a catchment-wide provenance study indicate that the Little Ice Age ( ∼  300–650 cal yr BP) was characterized by climatic conditions favorable to torrential flood events. The Medieval Climate Anomaly ( ∼  950–650 cal yr BP) is expressed by lower sea surface temperatures in the Mossel Bay area and humid conditions in the Gouritz River catchment. These new results suggest that the coincidence of humid conditions and cooler sea surface temperatures along the south coast of South Africa resulted from a strengthened and more southerly anticyclonic circulation. Most probably, the transport of moisture from the Indian Ocean by strong subtropical easterlies was coupled with Agulhas Bank upwelling pulses, which were initiated by an increase in Agulhas Current strength.

scholarly journals Record of Little Ice Age sea surface temperatures at Bermuda using a growth-dependent calibration of coral Sr/Ca

2005 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. n/a-n/a ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathalie F. Goodkin ◽  
Konrad A. Hughen ◽  
Anne L. Cohen ◽  
Struan R. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Little Ice Age ◽  
Sea Surface ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Sea Surface Temperatures ◽  
Surface Temperatures

Cooling and freshening of the eastern equatorial Pacific over the last 2000 years

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerald Rustic ◽  
Athanasios Koutavas ◽  
Thomas Marchitto
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotope ◽  
Surface Temperature ◽  
Sea Surface Temperature ◽  
Equatorial Pacific ◽  
Sea Surface ◽  
Eastern Pacific ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Sea Surface Temperatures ◽  
Surface Temperatures ◽  
Eastern Equatorial Pacific

<p>Sea surface temperatures in the eastern equatorial Pacific exert powerful influence on the climate beyond the tropics through strong atmosphere-ocean coupling. Records of eastern Pacific sea surface temperatures are of vital importance for identifying the linkages between short-term climate variability and long-term climate trends. Here we reconstruct eastern equatorial Pacific sea surface temperature and salinity from paired trace metal and stable isotope analyses in foraminifera from a sediment core near the Galápagos Islands. Sea surface temperatures are correlated with reconstructed Northern and Southern hemisphere temperature records suggesting a common origin. We propose that this temperature signal originates in the extra-tropics and is transmitted to the eastern Pacific surface via its source waters. We find exceptions to this cooling during the Little Ice Age and during the last century, where notable sea surface temperature increases are observed. We calculate δ<sup>18</sup>O<sub>sw </sub>from paired stable isotope and trace element analyses and derive salinity, which reveals a significant trend toward fresher surface waters in the eastern equatorial Pacific. The overall trend toward cooler and fresher sea surface conditions is consistent with longer-term trends from both the Eastern and Western Pacific.</p>

scholarly journals Warm Middle Jurassic–Early Cretaceous high-latitude sea-surface temperatures from the Southern Ocean

2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 215-226 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. C. Jenkyns ◽  
L. Schouten-Huibers ◽  
S. Schouten ◽  
J. S. Sinninghe Damsté
Keyword(s):  
Southern Ocean ◽  
Early Cretaceous ◽  
Middle Jurassic ◽  
Warming Trend ◽  
Upper Jurassic ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Sea Surface ◽  
Polar Regions ◽  
Sea Surface Temperatures ◽  
Surface Temperatures

Abstract. Although a division of the Phanerozoic climatic modes of the Earth into "greenhouse" and "icehouse" phases is widely accepted, whether or not polar ice developed during the relatively warm Jurassic and Cretaceous Periods is still under debate. In particular, there is a range of isotopic and biotic evidence that favours the concept of discrete "cold snaps", marked particularly by migration of certain biota towards lower latitudes. Extension of the use of the palaeotemperature proxy TEX86 back to the Middle Jurassic indicates that relatively warm sea-surface conditions (26–30 °C) existed from this interval (∼160 Ma) to the Early Cretaceous (∼115 Ma) in the Southern Ocean, with a general warming trend through the Late Jurassic followed by a general cooling trend through the Early Cretaceous. The lowest sea-surface temperatures are recorded from around the Callovian–Oxfordian boundary, an interval identified in Europe as relatively cool, but do not fall below 25 °C. The early Aptian Oceanic Anoxic Event, identified on the basis of published biostratigraphy, total organic carbon and carbon-isotope stratigraphy, records an interval with the lowest, albeit fluctuating Early Cretaceous palaeotemperatures (∼26 °C), recalling similar phenomena recorded from Europe and the tropical Pacific Ocean. Extant belemnite δ18O data, assuming an isotopic composition of waters inhabited by these fossils of −1‰ SMOW, give palaeotemperatures throughout the Upper Jurassic–Lower Cretaceous interval that are consistently lower by ∼14 °C than does TEX86 and the molluscs likely record conditions below the thermocline. The long-term, warm climatic conditions indicated by the TEX86 data would only be compatible with the existence of continental ice if appreciable areas of high altitude existed on Antarctica, and/or in other polar regions, during the Mesozoic Era.

Impacts of Shortwave Penetration Depth on Large-Scale Ocean Circulation and Heat Transport

2005 ◽  
Vol 35 (6) ◽  
pp. 1103-1119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colm Sweeney ◽  
Anand Gnanadesikan ◽  
Stephen M. Griffies ◽  
Matthew J. Harrison ◽  
Anthony J. Rosati ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heat Flux ◽  
Heat Transport ◽  
Penetration Depth ◽  
Ocean Circulation ◽  
Mixed Layer ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Sea Surface ◽  
Shortwave Radiation ◽  
Sea Surface Temperatures ◽  
Surface Temperatures

Abstract The impact of changes in shortwave radiation penetration depth on the global ocean circulation and heat transport is studied using the GFDL Modular Ocean Model (MOM4) with two independent parameterizations that use ocean color to estimate the penetration depth of shortwave radiation. Ten to eighteen percent increases in the depth of 1% downwelling surface irradiance levels results in an increase in mixed layer depths of 3–20 m in the subtropical and tropical regions with no change at higher latitudes. While 1D models have predicted that sea surface temperatures at the equator would decrease with deeper penetration of solar irradiance, this study shows a warming, resulting in a 10% decrease in the required restoring heat flux needed to maintain climatological sea surface temperatures in the eastern equatorial Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The decrease in the restoring heat flux is attributed to a slowdown in heat transport (5%) from the Tropics and an increase in the temperature of submixed layer waters being transported into the equatorial regions. Calculations were made using a simple relationship between mixed layer depth and meridional mass transport. When compared with model diagnostics, these calculations suggest that the slowdown in heat transport is primarily due to off-equatorial increases in mixed layer depths. At higher latitudes (5°–40°), higher restoring heat fluxes are needed to maintain sea surface temperatures because of deeper mixed layers and an increase in storage of heat below the mixed layer. This study offers a way to evaluate the changes in irradiance penetration depths in coupled ocean–atmosphere GCMs and the potential effect that large-scale changes in chlorophyll a concentrations will have on ocean circulation.

scholarly journals Winter–spring warming in the North Atlantic during the last 2000 years: evidence from southwest Iceland

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 1363-1383
Author(s):  
Nora Richter ◽  
James M. Russell ◽  
Johanna Garfinkel ◽  
Yongsong Huang
Keyword(s):  
Ocean Circulation ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Sea Surface ◽  
Balance Model ◽  
Sea Surface Temperatures ◽  
Spring Season ◽  
Spring Warming ◽  
Surface Temperatures ◽  
Air Temperatures ◽  
Spring Temperatures

Abstract. Temperature reconstructions from the Northern Hemisphere (NH) generally indicate cooling over the Holocene, which is often attributed to decreasing summer insolation. However, climate model simulations predict that rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations and the collapse of the Laurentide Ice Sheet caused mean annual warming during this epoch. This contrast could reflect a seasonal bias in temperature proxies, and particularly a lack of proxies that record cold (late fall–early spring) season temperatures, or inaccuracies in climate model predictions of NH temperature. We reconstructed winter–spring temperatures during the Common Era (i.e., the last 2000 years) using alkenones, lipids produced by Isochrysidales haptophyte algae that bloom during spring ice-out, preserved in sediments from Vestra Gíslholtsvatn (VGHV), southwest Iceland. Our record indicates that winter–spring temperatures warmed during the last 2000 years, in contrast to most NH averages. Sensitivity tests with a lake energy balance model suggest that warmer winter and spring air temperatures result in earlier ice-out dates and warmer spring lake water temperatures and therefore warming in our proxy record. Regional air temperatures are strongly influenced by sea surface temperatures during the winter and spring season. Sea surface temperatures (SSTs) respond to both changes in ocean circulation and gradual changes in insolation. We also found distinct seasonal differences in centennial-scale, cold-season temperature variations in VGHV compared to existing records of summer and annual temperatures from Iceland. Multi-decadal to centennial-scale changes in winter–spring temperatures were strongly modulated by internal climate variability and changes in regional ocean circulation, which can result in winter and spring warming in Iceland even after a major negative radiative perturbation.

Caribbean sea surface temperatures: Two-to-three degrees cooler than present during the Little Ice Age

2000 ◽  
Vol 27 (20) ◽  
pp. 3365-3368 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amos Winter ◽  
Hiroshi Ishioroshi ◽  
Tsuyoshi Watanabe ◽  
Tadamichi Oba ◽  
John Christy
Keyword(s):  
Little Ice Age ◽  
Caribbean Sea ◽  
Sea Surface ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Sea Surface Temperatures ◽  
Surface Temperatures

scholarly journals Mechanisms Governing the Development of the North Atlantic Warming Hole in the CESM-LE Future Climate Simulations

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (15) ◽  
pp. 5927-5946 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa Gervais ◽  
Jeffrey Shaman ◽  
Yochanan Kushnir
Keyword(s):  
Ocean Circulation ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
Sea Surface ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Labrador Sea ◽  
Sea Surface Temperatures ◽  
Subpolar Gyre ◽  
The North ◽  
Surface Temperatures ◽  
The North Atlantic

A warming deficit in North Atlantic sea surface temperatures is a striking feature in global climate model future projections. This North Atlantic warming hole has been related to a slowing of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC); however, the detailed mechanisms involved in its generation remain an open question. An analysis of the Community Earth System Model Large Ensemble simulations is conducted to obtain further insight into the development of the warming hole and its relationship to the AMOC. It is shown that increasing freshwater fluxes through the Arctic gates lead to surface freshening and reduced Labrador Sea deep convection, which in turn act to cool Labrador Sea sea surface temperatures. Furthermore, the resulting changes in surface ocean circulation lead to enhanced transport of cooled Labrador Sea surface waters into the interior of the subpolar gyre and a more zonal orientation of the North Atlantic Current. As a result, there is an increase in ocean advective heat flux divergence within the center of the subpolar gyre, causing this warming deficit in North Atlantic sea surface temperatures. These local changes to the ocean circulation affect the AMOC and lead to its slowdown.

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