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How meltwater from the ice sheets disturbed the climate 10,000 years ago by Staff Writers Bochum, Germany (SPX) Jul 22, 2016
Today, a negative correlation is observed in the amount of rainfall in north-western Africa and north-western Europe. If a humid winter climate prevails in north-western Europe, the climate in north-western Africa is dry. Due to melting ice sheets, this correlation was reversed in the early Holocene period; this resulted in both regions being humid respectively dry at the same time. Radical climate change occurred. The researchers have published their report in the current edition of Nature Geoscience. Winter climate in north-western Europe and in the Mediterranean region is controlled by the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), i.e. the variation in the difference of atmospheric pressure between the Azores high in the south and the Icelandic low in the north. The researchers aimed to find out how the NAO will respond to melting ice sheets and glaciers around the North Atlantic as they are doing now due to climate change.
Climate journal from the cave The researchers show that on multi-decadal to multi-centennial timescales a negative correlation existed between the amount of rainfall in both regions druing during the mid-Holocene from 8,000 to 5,900 years ago and the late Holocene from 4,700 to 2,500 years ago. That means that one region experienced less rainfall when the other experienced a lot, just like today. In the early Holocene, however, a positive correlation existed between both regions. During the transition from the mid to the late Holocene, the correlation reversed.
Climate simulations illustrate how climate reacts to the melting of ice "A possible explanation for the negative correlation is the melting of the North American ice sheet in the early Holocene period," explains Jasper Wassenburg, who conducted the analyses in collaboration with Prof Dr Adrian Immenhauser at the Department of Sediment and Isotope Geology at the Ruhr-Universitat Bochum and is now at the Institute of Geosciences at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. During the most recent ice age, this ice sheet covered large areas of Canada. Huge volumes of meltwater flowed into the North Atlantic and changed its circulation pattern. "Using the simulations of our climate model, we demonstrated that the positive correlation of rainfall in Morocco and Germany is caused by a combination of effects: namely the impact of the North American ice shield on the atmospheric circulation and the impact of its meltwater on the oceanic circulation," explains Dr Stephan Dietrich, who evaluated the simulations at the Alfred-Wegener-Institut, Helmholtz-Zentrum fur Polar- und Meeresforschung and is now at the Bundesanstalt fur Gewasserkunde in Koblenz.
Ice sheet had a strong cooling effect Moreover, the meltwater affected the strength of ocean currents, especially the North Atlantic Current. "Even though the precise mechanisms have not yet been fully understood, it is very likely that these effects were essential factors that caused the positive correlation of rainfall in Morocco and Germany to reverse into a negative one, due to the melting of the North American ice sheet," explains Jasper Wassenburg.
Similar scenario is conceivable "We suggest that it all depends on the speed at which the ice in Greenland will melt and on the volume of meltwater." Detailed reconstructions of the climate and precise measurements of the changes in Greenland ice are necessary in order to understand the mechanisms that contribute to the changes in correlation patterns. The study was conducted by researchers from Ruhr-Universitat Bochum, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Alfred Wegener Institute - Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research -, Bundesanstalt fur Gewasserkunde, Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel (GEOMAR), Ruprecht Karls University Heidelberg, Innsbruck University, Faculty of Sciences Dhar Mahraz Fes, and Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz. Jasper A. Wassenburg, Stephan Dietrich, Jan Fietzke, Jens Fohlmeister, Klaus Peter Jochum, Denis Scholz, Detlev K. Richter, Abdellah Sabaoui, Christoph Spotl, Gerrit Lohmann, Meinrat O. Andreae and Adrian Immenhauser. Reorganization of the North Atlantic Oscillation during early Holocene deglaciation, in: Nature Geoscience, 2016, DOI: 10.1038/ngeo2767
Related Links Ruhr-University Bochum Beyond the Ice Age
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