The Deep Ocean During the Last Interglacial Period
J. C. Duplessy,1*
D. M. Roche,2
M. Kageyama3
Oxygen isotope analysis of benthic foraminifera in deep sea cores from the Atlantic and Southern Oceans shows that during the last interglacial period, North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) was 0.4° ± 0.2°C warmer than today, whereas Antarctic Bottom Water temperatures were unchanged. Model simulations show that this distribution of deep water temperatures can be explained as a response of the ocean to forcing by high-latitude insolation. The warming of NADW was transferred to the Circumpolar Deep Water, providing additional heat around Antarctica, which may have been responsible for partial melting of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.
1 Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement/Institut Pierre Simon Laplace (LSCE/IPSL), Laboratoire Commissarial à l'Energie Atomique/CNRS/Université de Versailles Saint Quentin (CEA/CNRS/UVSQ), Parc du CNRS, 91198 Gif sur Yvette, France.
2 Department of Paleoclimatology and Geomorphology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1085, NL-1081 HV Amsterdam, Netherlands.
3 Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, LSCE/IPSL, Laboratoire CEA/CNRS/UVSQ, CE Saclay, l'Orme des Merisiers, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: Jean-Claude.Duplessy{at}lsce.cnrs-gif.fr
