Modelling the Effect of Large Submarine Sandslides on the Ocean Circulation

Submarine landslide can be orders of magnitude larger than terrestrial landslide, moving up to thousands of kilometers of sediment. Submarine landslides have been suggested to be able to play an important role in extreme climate events although at present no study has been focused on this aspect.

The Storegga Slide is the biggest Holocene Slide mapped off the Norwegian Margin, with an estimated volume of 3000 km³. The slide failure is coincident with the last major cold event, the 8.2k cold event. The work presented is focused on the investigation of the connection between the Storegga Slide and the 8.2k cold event. The main focus is the study of the dense mud cloud generated after the release of the landslide. Studies have suggested that the generated mud cloud have had a concentration as high as 4% and a height of 800m. The hypothesis tested is if this dense mud cloud can interfere with the meridional overturning circulation at to which extent.

For this study a regional Arctic coupled ocean-sea-ice model was set up using the MITgcm general circulation model. The mud cloud was simulated using salinity perturbation as a proxy for the increased density of the water column. Results indicate a strong response from the ocean currents to the perturbation. The dense water mass formed by the perturbation moves northward slowly infilling the Arctic and affecting the whole water column up to the top. The results so far exclude a direct effect of the Storegga Slide on the MOC via a perturbation of the dense water formation in the North Atlantic. However, given the response of the circulation to the perturbation the results suggest that the Storegga Slide could have played a role in the 8.2k cold event. Work is still needed to precisely assess the magnitude of the impact of the perturbation on the circulation and the dynamics of this effect.