Last Century Warming Over the Canadian Atlantic Shelves Linked to Weak Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation
Abstract
We report the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) is a key component of the global climate system. Recent studies suggested a twentieth-century weakening of the AMOC of unprecedented amplitude (~15%) over the last millennium. Here we present a record of δ18O in benthic foraminifera from sediment cores retrieved from the Laurentian Channel and demonstrate that the δ18O trend is linked to the strength of the AMOC. In this 100-year record, the AMOC signal decreased steadily to reach its minimum value in the late 1970s, where the weakest AMOC signal then remains constant until 2000. We also present a longer δ18O record of 1,500 years and highlight the uniqueness of the last century δ18O trend. Moreover, the Little Ice Age period is characterized by statistically heavier δ18O, suggesting a relatively weak AMOC. Lastly, implications for understanding the mechanisms driving the intensity of AMOC under global warming and high-latitude freshwater input are discussed.
- Authors:
-
[1];
[1];
[2];
[3];
[3];
[4];
[5];
[6]
- Univ. of Hong Kong (China)
- Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
- Oregon State Univ., Corvallis, OR (United States)
- Univ. of Connecticut, Storrs, CT (United States)
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- The Ohio State Univ., Columbus, OH (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1499369
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-19-21455
Journal ID: ISSN 0094-8276
- Grant/Contract Number:
- 89233218CNA000001
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Geophysical Research Letters
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 45; Journal Issue: 22; Journal ID: ISSN 0094-8276
- Publisher:
- American Geophysical Union
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 58 GEOSCIENCES; Atlantic meridional overturning circulation; global change; climate change; oceanography; stable isotope; ocean model
Citation Formats
Thibodeau, Benoit, Not, Christelle, Hu, Jiang, Schmittner, Andreas, Noone, David, Tabor, Clay, Zhang, Jiaxu, and Liu, Zhengyu. Last Century Warming Over the Canadian Atlantic Shelves Linked to Weak Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. United States: N. p., 2018.
Web. doi:10.1029/2018GL080083.
Thibodeau, Benoit, Not, Christelle, Hu, Jiang, Schmittner, Andreas, Noone, David, Tabor, Clay, Zhang, Jiaxu, & Liu, Zhengyu. Last Century Warming Over the Canadian Atlantic Shelves Linked to Weak Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. United States. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GL080083
Thibodeau, Benoit, Not, Christelle, Hu, Jiang, Schmittner, Andreas, Noone, David, Tabor, Clay, Zhang, Jiaxu, and Liu, Zhengyu. Tue .
"Last Century Warming Over the Canadian Atlantic Shelves Linked to Weak Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation". United States. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GL080083. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1499369.
@article{osti_1499369,
title = {Last Century Warming Over the Canadian Atlantic Shelves Linked to Weak Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation},
author = {Thibodeau, Benoit and Not, Christelle and Hu, Jiang and Schmittner, Andreas and Noone, David and Tabor, Clay and Zhang, Jiaxu and Liu, Zhengyu},
abstractNote = {We report the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) is a key component of the global climate system. Recent studies suggested a twentieth-century weakening of the AMOC of unprecedented amplitude (~15%) over the last millennium. Here we present a record of δ18O in benthic foraminifera from sediment cores retrieved from the Laurentian Channel and demonstrate that the δ18O trend is linked to the strength of the AMOC. In this 100-year record, the AMOC signal decreased steadily to reach its minimum value in the late 1970s, where the weakest AMOC signal then remains constant until 2000. We also present a longer δ18O record of 1,500 years and highlight the uniqueness of the last century δ18O trend. Moreover, the Little Ice Age period is characterized by statistically heavier δ18O, suggesting a relatively weak AMOC. Lastly, implications for understanding the mechanisms driving the intensity of AMOC under global warming and high-latitude freshwater input are discussed.},
doi = {10.1029/2018GL080083},
journal = {Geophysical Research Letters},
number = 22,
volume = 45,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Nov 06 00:00:00 EST 2018},
month = {Tue Nov 06 00:00:00 EST 2018}
}
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