Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation During the Last Glacial Maximum

2007419 citationsJournal Article

Authors

Jean Lynch‐Stieglitz · Cardiff University

Jess F. Adkins · Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

William B Curry · California Institute of Technology

Trond Dokken · Georgia Institute of Technology

I.R. Hall · Cardiff University

Juan Carlos Herguera · Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research

Joël Hirschi

Abstract

The circulation of the deep Atlantic Ocean during the height of the last ice age appears to have been quite different from today. We review observations implying that Atlantic meridional overturning circulation during the Last Glacial Maximum was neither extremely sluggish nor an enhanced version of present-day circulation. The distribution of the decay products of uranium in sediments is consistent with a residence time for deep waters in the Atlantic only slightly greater than today. However, evidence from multiple water-mass tracers supports a different distribution of deep-water properties, including density, which is dynamically linked to circulation.

Topics & Keywords

Geology and Paleoclimatology Research Isotope Analysis in Ecology Geological formations and processes

UN Sustainable Development Goals

Life below water

Publication Details

Published in: Science

Volume 316, Issue 5821, pp. 66-69

DOI: 10.1126/science.1137127

Field-Weighted Citation Impact: 19.72