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Center for Nonlinear Studies |
Changes in intermediate and deep Atlantic water masses during the last deglaciation (21,000 to 10,000 years ago) may have released the accumulated deep-ocean carbon and caused the early deglacial increase of the atmospheric CO2. However, these changes are poorly constrained by ocean proxy records due to the lack of a dynamic framework. Here we use an isotope-enabled POP2 under realistic transient climate forcing to explore the deglacial water-mass evolution and to provide a dynamic framework for understanding the ocean proxy records. We first explore the controversy on the relative contributions of northern and southern deep-water sources when the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is reduced, by comparing the simulated oxygen isotopes with proxy. We then explore the the response of Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW) to the deglacial climate change and the controversy of the AAIW-AMOC interaction, by comparing the simulated neodymium isotopes with proxy. Model results provide new interpretations of these proxy records, and suggest corresponding water-mass evolution patterns.
Host: Wilbert Weijer