DECOUPLING OF NORTHERN NORTH ATLANTIC SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE AND DEEP CIRCULATION DURING ABRUPT GLACIAL CLIMATE CHANGE

Abstract:

Abrupt climate change is a prominent feature of the ice ages. The prevailing view is that these changes are related to fluctuations in ocean circulation, possibly triggered by changes in freshwater forcing as a result of ice-rafting events in the North Atlantic. Here we investigate this view by presenting results from a sediment core in the Northern North Atlantic (ODP 983 60.4°N, 23.6°W, 1984m depth, ~12-35 kyr), which is ideally positioned to monitor changes in the flow speed of Iceland-Scotland Overflow Waters. The mean size of silt (10-63 μm) has been proposed as a useful flow speed indicator, but can be influenced the presence of ice-rafted detritus (IRD). We present grain size data obtained using a Coulter counter as well as a laser diffraction particle sizer, which we compare to the proportion of Neogloboquadrina pachyderma (proxy for sea surface temperature) and manually counted coarse IRD. Grain size results are comparable for the two techniques and the influence of IRD is clearly visible in the mean size data. We use end-member modelling to derive an IRD-free estimate of flow speed variability and find clear reductions in the flow speed associated with IRD input. Sea surface temperature however, appears to vary independently from IRD input and hence deep circulation. In particular, IRD appears and current speed decreases after the onset of cooling and additional temperature variability is observed that is not associated with IRD events or changes in the deep circulation. These results question the classical view of freshwater forcing as the driver of abrupt climate change. We suggest that North Atlantic temperature variability may be related to shifts in position of the polar front and that, while IRD events may be coeval with changes in the deep circulation, these changes are not required to explain the abrupt temperature variability in the Northern North Atlantic.