atmosphere-ocean coupling
; atmospheric moisture
; carbon dioxide
; climate forcing
; cooling
; Dansgaard-Oeschger cycle
; deep water formation
; glacial environment
; Heinrich event
; iceberg
; interstadial
; meridional circulation
; overturn
; Atlantic Ocean
; Atlantic Ocean (North)
; Central America
英文摘要:
Glacial climate is marked by abrupt, millennial-scale climate changes known as Dansgaard-Oeschger cycles. The most pronounced stadial coolings, Heinrich events, are associated with massive iceberg discharges to the North Atlantic. These events have been linked to variations in the strength of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation. However, the factors that lead to abrupt transitions between strong and weak circulation regimes remain unclear. Here we show that, in a fully coupled atmosphere-ocean model, gradual changes in atmospheric CO 2 concentrations can trigger abrupt climate changes, associated with a regime of bi-stability of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation under intermediate glacial conditions. We find that changes in atmospheric CO 2 concentrations alter the transport of atmospheric moisture across Central America, which modulates the freshwater budget of the North Atlantic and hence deep-water formation. In our simulations, a change in atmospheric CO 2 levels of about 15 ppmv - comparable to variations during Dansgaard-Oeschger cycles containing Heinrich events - is sufficient to cause transitions between a weak stadial and a strong interstadial circulation mode. Because changes in the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation are thought to alter atmospheric CO 2 levels, we infer that atmospheric CO 2 may serve as a negative feedback to transitions between strong and weak circulation modes.
AlfredWegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Bussestrasse 24, Germany; Laboratory for Marine Geology, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao, China; School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Cardi University, Cardi, United Kingdom; MARUM-Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University Bremen, Leobener Strasse, Germany
Recommended Citation:
Zhang X.,Knorr G.,Lohmann G.,et al. Abrupt North Atlantic circulation changes in response to gradual CO 2 forcing in a glacial climate state[J]. Nature Geoscience,2017-01-01,10(7)