European climate optimum and enhanced Greenland melt during the last interglacial

The Last Interglacial climatic optimum, ca. 128 ka, is the most recent climate interval significantly warmer than present, providing an analogue (albeit imperfect) for ongoing global warming and the effects of Greenland Ice Sheet (GIS) melting on climate over the coming millennium. While some climat...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geology (Boulder) 2012-07, Vol.40 (7), p.627-630
Main Authors: Sánchez Goñi, Maria Fernanda, Bakker, Pepijn, Desprat, Stéphanie, Carlson, Anders E, van Meerbeeck, Cedric J, Peyron, Odile, Naughton, Filipa, Fletcher, William J, Eynaud, Frédérique, Rossignol, Linda, Renssen, Hans
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Arctic region
Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation
Atlantic Ocean
Bay of Biscay
climate change
Cooling
cores
data processing
digital simulation
Europe
Geographic information systems
glacial geology
Global warming
Greenland
Greenland ice sheet
ice sheets
interglacial environment
Marine
marine sediments
Melting
meltwater
North Atlantic
paleo-oceanography
paleocirculation
paleoclimatology
Quaternary geology
runoff
sediments
sensitivity analysis
Simulation
Western Europe
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Summary:The Last Interglacial climatic optimum, ca. 128 ka, is the most recent climate interval significantly warmer than present, providing an analogue (albeit imperfect) for ongoing global warming and the effects of Greenland Ice Sheet (GIS) melting on climate over the coming millennium. While some climate models predict an Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) strengthening in response to GIS melting, others simulate weakening, leading to cooling in Europe. Here, we present evidence from new proxy-based paleoclimate and ocean circulation reconstructions that show that the strongest warming in western Europe coincided with maximum GIS meltwater runoff and a weaker AMOC early in the Last Interglacial. By performing a series of climate model sensitivity experiments, including enhanced GIS melting, we were able to simulate this configuration of the Last Interglacial climate system and infer information on AMOC slowdown and related climate effects. These experiments suggest that GIS melt inhibited deep convection off the southern coast of Greenland, cooling local climate and reducing AMOC by ∼24% of its present strength. However, GIS melt did not perturb overturning in the Nordic Seas, leaving heat transport to, and thereby temperatures in, Europe unaffected.
ISSN:0091-7613
1943-2682
DOI:10.1130/G32908.1