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Inception of the Northern European ice sheet due to contrasting ocean and insolation forcing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Bjørg Risebrobakken ,
Trond Dokken ,
Odd Helge Otterå ,
Eystein Jansen ,
Yongqi Gao  and
Helge Drange
Bjørg Risebrobakken*
Affiliation:
Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, Allégaten 55, 5007 Bergen, Norway Department of Earth Science, University of Bergen, Allégaten 41, 5007 Bergen, Norway
Trond Dokken
Affiliation:
Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, Allégaten 55, 5007 Bergen, Norway
Odd Helge Otterå
Affiliation:
Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, Allégaten 55, 5007 Bergen, Norway Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Centre, Thormøhlensgt. 47, 5006 Bergen, Norway
Eystein Jansen
Affiliation:
Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, Allégaten 55, 5007 Bergen, Norway Department of Earth Science, University of Bergen, Allégaten 41, 5007 Bergen, Norway
Yongqi Gao
Affiliation:
Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, Allégaten 55, 5007 Bergen, Norway Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Centre, Thormøhlensgt. 47, 5006 Bergen, Norway
Helge Drange
Affiliation:
Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, Allégaten 55, 5007 Bergen, Norway Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Centre, Thormøhlensgt. 47, 5006 Bergen, Norway
*
⁎Corresponding author. Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, Allégaten 55, N-5007 Bergen, Norway. Fax: +47 55584330. E-mail address:bjorg.risebrobakken@bjerknes.uib.no (B. Risebrobakken).
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Abstract

About 115,000 yr ago the last interglacial reached its terminus and nucleation of new ice-sheet growth was initiated. Evidence from the northernmost Nordic Seas indicate that the inception of the last glacial was related to an intensification of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) in its northern limb. The enhanced AMOC, combined with minimum Northern hemisphere insolation, introduced a strong sea–land thermal gradient that, together with a strong wintertime latitudinal insolation gradient, increased the storminess and moisture transport to the high Northern European latitudes at a time when the Northern hemisphere summer insolation approached its minimum.

Keywords

Glacial inceptionNordic SeasNorthern European ice sheetsPaleo-reconstruction: OGCMAMOCInsolationInsolation gradient
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 67 , Issue 1 , January 2007 , pp. 128 - 135
Copyright
University of Washington

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