Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 30 June 2006:
Vol. 312. no. 5782, pp. 1929 - 1932
DOI: 10.1126/science.1127213
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Reports

Surface and Deep Ocean Interactions During the Cold Climate Event 8200 Years Ago

Christopher R. W. Ellison,1 Mark R. Chapman,1* Ian R. Hall2*

Evidence from a North Atlantic deep-sea sediment core reveals that the largest climatic perturbation in our present interglacial, the 8200-year event, is marked by two distinct cooling events in the subpolar North Atlantic at 8490 and 8290 years ago. An associated reduction in deep flow speed provides evidence of a significant change to a major downwelling limb of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation. The existence of a distinct surface freshening signal during these events strongly suggests that the sequenced surface and deep ocean changes were forced by pulsed meltwater outbursts from a multistep final drainage of the proglacial lakes associated with the decaying Laurentide Ice Sheet margin.

1 School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia (UEA), Norwich, NR4 7TJ, UK.
2 School of Earth, Ocean, and Planetary Sciences, Cardiff University, Main Building, Park Place, Cardiff, CF10 3YE, UK.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: Mark.Chapman{at}uea.ac.uk (M.R.C.); Hall{at}cardiff.ac.uk (I.R.H.)

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Radiocarbon chronology of Holocene colluvial (debris-flow) events at Sletthamn, Jotunheimen, southern Norway: a window on the changing frequency of extreme climatic events and their landscape impact.
J. A. Matthews, S. O. Dahl, P. Q. Dresser, M. S. Berrisford, O. Lie, A. Nesje, and G. Owen (2009)
The Holocene 19, 1107-1129
   Abstract »    PDF »
Oxygen isotope precipitation anomaly in the North Atlantic region during the 8.2 ka event.
D. Dominguez-Villar, I. J. Fairchild, A. Baker, X. Wang, R. L. Edwards, and H. Cheng (2009)
Geology 37, 1095-1098
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Timing and structure of the 8.2 kyr B.P. event inferred from {delta}18O records of stalagmites from China, Oman, and Brazil.
H. Cheng, D. Fleitmann, R. L. Edwards, X. Wang, F. W. Cruz, A. S. Auler, A. Mangini, Y. Wang, X. Kong, S. J. Burns, et al. (2009)
Geology 37, 1007-1010
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Massive perturbation in terrestrial ecosystems of the Eastern Mediterranean region associated with the 8.2 kyr B.P. climatic event.
J. Pross, U. Kotthoff, U.C. Muller, O. Peyron, I. Dormoy, G. Schmiedl, S. Kalaitzidis, and A.M. Smith (2009)
Geology 37, 887-890
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Terrestrial climate signal of the "8200 yr B.P. cold event" in the Labrador Sea region.
T. J. Daley, F. A. Street-Perrott, N. J. Loader, K. E. Barber, P. D.M. Hughes, E. H. Fisher, and J. D. Marshall (2009)
Geology 37, 831-834
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Bottom-current variability during the last glacial-deglacial transition, Northern Rockall Trough and Faroe Bank Channel, NE Atlantic.
K. L. McIntyre and J. A. Howe (2009)
Scottish Journal of Geology 45, 43-57
   Abstract »    PDF »
Reduced North Atlantic Deep Water Coeval with the Glacial Lake Agassiz Freshwater Outburst.
H. F. Kleiven, C. Kissel, C. Laj, U. S. Ninnemann, T. O. Richter, and E. Cortijo (2008)
Science 319, 60-64
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Holocene glacier variation chronology of the Smorstabbtindan massif, Jotunheimen, southern Norway, and the recognition of century- to millennial-scale European Neoglacial Events.
J. A. Matthews and P. Q. Dresser (2008)
The Holocene 18, 181-201
   Abstract »    PDF »
Estimating the potential for twenty-first century sudden climate change.
D. Shindell (2007)
Phil Trans R Soc A 365, 2675-2694
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Long-term and millennial-scale climate variability in northwestern France during the last 8850 years.
F. Naughton, J.-F. Bourillet, M. F. Sanchez Goni, J.-L. Turon, and J.-M. Jouanneau (2007)
The Holocene 17, 939-953
   Abstract »    PDF »
Reconstruction of Holocene glacier history from distal sources: glaciofluvial stream-bank mires and a glaciolacustrine sediment core near Sota Saeter, Breheimen, southern Norway.
R. A. Shakesby, J. G. Smith, J. A. Matthews, S. Winkler, P. Q. Dresser, J. Bakke, S.-O. Dahl, O. Lie, and A. Nesje (2007)
The Holocene 17, 729-745
   Abstract »    PDF »
Terrestrial impact of abrupt changes in the North Atlantic thermohaline circulation: Early Holocene, UK.
J. D. Marshall, B. Lang, S. F. Crowley, G. P. Weedon, P. van Calsteren, E. H. Fisher, R. Holme, J. A. Holmes, R. T. Jones, A. Bedford, et al. (2007)
Geology 35, 639-642
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Amplitude and timing of temperature and salinity variability in the subpolar North Atlantic over the past 10 k.y..
R. E. Came, D. W. Oppo, and J. F. McManus (2007)
Geology 35, 315-318
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)