Sea surface temperature variability in the subpolar Atlantic over the last two millennia

Type Article
Date 2011-12
Language English
Author(s) Sicre M. -A.1, Hall I. R.2, Mignot J.3, Khodri M.3, Ezat U.1, Truong M. -X.1, Eiriksson J.4, Knudsen K. -L.5
Affiliation(s) 1 : IPSL CNRS, Lab Sci Climat & Environm, F-91198 Gif Sur Yvette, France.
2 : Cardiff Univ, Sch Earth & Ocean Sci, Cardiff CF10 3AT, S Glam, Wales.
3 : IPSL UPMC CNRS IRD MNHN, Lab Oceanog & Climat Expt & Approaches Numer, F-75252 Paris, France.
4 : Univ Iceland, Inst Earth Sci, IS-101 Reykjavik, Iceland.
5 : Univ Aarhus, Dept Earth Sci, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark.
Source Paleoceanography (0883-8305) (Amer Geophysical Union), 2011-12 , Vol. 26 , N. 4 / PA4218 , P. 1-10
DOI 10.1029/2011PA002169
WOS© Times Cited 67
Abstract A decadal resolution time series of sea surface temperature (SST) spanning the last two millennia is reconstructed by combining a proxy record from a new sediment sequence with previously published data from core MD99-2275, north of Iceland. The alkenone based SST reconstruction is validated with historic observational data and compared to a new similar temporal resolution reconstruction obtained from sediment core RAPiD21-3K, in the subpolar North Atlantic. The two SST paleorecords show consistent multidecadal scale coolings throughout the interval and similar expressions during the contrasted climatic periods 'colloquially known' as the Medieval Climatic Anomaly (MCA) and Little Ice Age (LIA). In order to further understand the temporal and spatial SST variations and investigate the influence of natural forcings on the observed SST changes during the last millennium, we compare our time series to simulations using the Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace IPSLCM4-v2 climate model. This comparison highlights the potential importance of volcanism as a natural forcing driving coherent abrupt cooling events captured in the subpolar North Atlantic records.
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