Title
Surface changes in the North Atlantic meridional overturning circulation during the last millennium
Campus Units
Geological and Atmospheric Sciences
Document Type
Article
Publication Version
Published Version
Publication Date
6-12-2012
Journal or Book Title
Nature Communications
Volume
3
Issue
899
DOI
10.1038/ncomms1901
Abstract
Despite numerous investigations, the dynamical origins of the Medieval Climate Anomaly and the Little Ice Age remain uncertain. A major unresolved issue relating to internal climate dynamics is the mode and tempo of Atlantic meridional overturning circulation variability, and the significance of decadal-to-centennial scale changes in Atlantic meridional overturning circulation strength in regulating the climate of the last millennium. Here we use the time-constrained high-resolution local radiocarbon reservoir age offset derived from an absolutely dated annually resolved shell chronology spanning the past 1,350 years, to reconstruct changes in surface ocean circulation and climate. The water mass tracer data presented here from the North Icelandic shelf, combined with previously published data from the Arctic and subtropical Atlantic, show that surface Atlantic meridional overturning circulation dynamics likely amplified the relatively warm conditions during the Medieval Climate Anomaly and the relatively cool conditions during the Little Ice Age within the North Atlantic sector.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Copyright Owner
Macmillan Publishers Limited
Copyright Date
2012
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Wanamaker, Alan D.; Butler, Paul G.; Scourse, James D.; Heinemeier, Jan; Eiríksson, Jón; Knudsen, Karen Luise; and Richardson, Christopher A., "Surface changes in the North Atlantic meridional overturning circulation during the last millennium" (2012). Geological and Atmospheric Sciences Publications. 221.
https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/ge_at_pubs/221
Comments
This article is published as Wanamaker Jr, Alan D., Paul G. Butler, James D. Scourse, Jan Heinemeier, Jón Eiríksson, Karen Luise Knudsen, and Christopher A. Richardson. "Surface changes in the North Atlantic meridional overturning circulation during the last millennium." Nature communications 3 (2012): 899. doi: 10.1038/ncomms1901. Posted with permission.