Projects per year
Abstract
Heinrich Events, the abrupt changes in the Laurentide Ice Sheet that cause the appearance of the well-observed Heinrich Layers, are thought to have a strong effect on the global climate. The focus of most studies that have looked at the climate’s response to these events has been the freshwater flux that results from melting icebergs. However, there is the possibility that the varying height of the ice sheet could force a change in the climate. In this study, we present results from a newly developed coupled climate/ice sheet model to show what effect this topographic change has both on its own and in concert with the flux of freshwater from melting icebergs. We show that the topographic forcing can explain a number of the climate changes that are observed during Heinrich Events, such as the warming and wettening in Florida and the warm sea surface temperatures in the central North Atlantic, which freshwater forcing alone cannot. We also find regions, for example the tropical Atlantic, where the response is a mixture of the two: Here observations may help disentangle the relative importance of each mechanism. These results suggest that the simple paradigm of a Heinrich Event causing climate change via freshwater inputs into the North Atlantic needs to be revised.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 16688-16693 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |
Volume | 111 |
Issue number | 47 |
Early online date | 3 Nov 2014 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 25 Nov 2014 |
Keywords
- Abrupt climate changes
- Ice sheet-climate interactions
- North Atlantic
Fingerprint
Dive into the research topics of 'Topography's crucial role in Heinrich Events'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Projects
- 2 Finished
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Modelling ice-sheets, climate and sea-level during the last glacial cycle
Payne, A. J. (Principal Investigator)
1/04/11 → 1/10/15
Project: Research
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MODELLING NORTH ATLANTIC'S HEINRICH EVENTS AND ASSOCIATED IMPACTS ON THE EARTH SYSTEM
Valdes, P. J. (Principal Investigator)
1/09/09 → 1/03/12
Project: Research
Equipment
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HPC (High Performance Computing) and HTC (High Throughput Computing) Facilities
Alam, S. R. (Manager), Eccleston, P. E. (Other), Williams, D. A. G. (Manager) & Atack, S. H. (Other)
Facility/equipment: Facility
Profiles
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Professor Paul J Valdes
- School of Geographical Sciences - Professor of Physical Geography
- Cabot Institute for the Environment
- The Bristol Research Initiative for the Dynamic Global Environment (BRIDGE)
Person: Academic , Member