Ocean circulation, ice shelf, and sea ice interactions explain Dansgaard–Oeschger cycles
Abstract
Paleoclimatic proxy records from Greenland ice cores show that the last glacial interval was punctuated by abrupt climatic transitions called Dansgaard–Oeschger (DO) events. These events are characterized by temperature increases over Greenland of up to 15 ° C within a few decades. The cause of these transitions and their out-of-phase relationship with corresponding records from Antarctica remains unclear. Based on earlier hypotheses, we propose a model focusing on interactions between ice shelves, sea ice, and ocean currents to explain DO events in Greenland and their Antarctic counterparts. Our model reproduces the main features of the observations. Our study provides a potential explanation of DO events and could help assess more accurately the risk of abrupt climatic transitions in the future.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Nov 01, 2018
- Source ID
- 10.1073/pnas.1802573115
Entities
People
- Denis-Didier Rousseau
- Michael Ghil
- Niklas Boers
Organizations
- Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
- Columbia University
- German Research Foundation
- Imperial College London
- Institute Pierre Simon Laplace
- Office of Naval Research
- Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
- University of California