Physics
Scientific paper
Feb 2011
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011georl..3803705c&link_type=abstract
Geophysical Research Letters, Volume 38, Issue 3, CiteID L03705
Physics
Atmospheric Processes: Paleoclimatology (0473, 4900), Global Change: Abrupt/Rapid Climate Change (4901, 8408), Oceanography: Physical: Fronts And Jets, Paleoceanography: Thermohaline, Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets: Polar Regions
Scientific paper
The 8.2 kyr event is the largest abrupt climatic change recorded in the last 10,000 years, and is widely hypothesized to have been triggered by the release of thousands of kilometers cubed of freshwater into the North Atlantic Ocean. Using a high-resolution (1/6°) global, ocean-ice circulation model we present an alternative view that freshwater discharged from glacial Lake Agassiz would have remained on the continental shelf as a narrow, buoyant, coastal current, and would have been transported south into the subtropical North Atlantic. The pathway we describe is in contrast to the conceptual idea that freshwater from this lake outburst spread over most of the sub-polar North Atlantic, and covered the deep, open-ocean, convection regions. This coastally confined freshwater pathway is consistent with the present-day routing of freshwater from Hudson Bay, as well as paleoceanographic evidence of this event. Using a coarse-resolution (2.6°) version of the same model, we demonstrate that the previously reported spreading of freshwater across the sub-polar North Atlantic results from the inability of numerical models of this resolution to accurately resolve narrow coastal flows, producing instead a diffuse circulation that advects freshwater away from the boundaries. To understand the climatic impact of freshwater released in the past or future (e.g. Greenland and Antarctica), the ocean needs to be modeled at a resolution sufficient to resolve the dynamics of narrow, coastal buoyant flows.
Condron Alan
Winsor Peter
No associations
LandOfFree
A subtropical fate awaited freshwater discharged from glacial Lake Agassiz does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with A subtropical fate awaited freshwater discharged from glacial Lake Agassiz, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and A subtropical fate awaited freshwater discharged from glacial Lake Agassiz will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1120375