Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Holocene Climate Evolution of the North Atlantic Ocean and the Nordic Seas — a Synthesis of New Results

  • Chapter
Climate Development and History of the North Atlantic Realm

Abstract

Synthesis of oceanic records shows that the surface waters of the North Atlantic and the Nordic Seas have been modulated by the strength of the Northern Hemisphere insolation during the Holocene. This is manifested by the early Holocene optimum temperatures and the general cooling trend of the surface ocean since then. However, the duration of this optimum decreased both towards the north and towards the margins of the Nordic Seas suggesting that some regions of the oceans being more sensitive to climatic forcings than others. There is increasing evidence that superimposed on the late Holocene cooling trend there is also a higher frequency (albeit subtle) variability of multi-decadal and centennial time scales in the ocean. The magnitude of this variability is in the order of a few degrees. At the moment the underlying mechanisms for this variability remains as a topic of debate.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 169.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Alley RB and 10 others (1993) Abrupt increase in Green-land snow accumulation at the end of the Younger Dryas event. Nature 362:527–529

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alley RB, Mayewski PA, Sowers T, Stuiver M, Taylor KC, Clark PU (1997) Holocene climatic instability: A prominent, widespread event 8200 yr ago. Geology 25:483–486

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Andrén T, Björck J, Johnsen S (1999) Correlation of Swedish glacial varves with the Greenland (GRIP) oxygen isotope record. Journal of Quaternary Science 14:361–371

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Andruleit HA, Baumann KH (1998) History of the last deglaciation and Holocene in the Nordic seas as revealed by coccolithophore assemblages. Marine Micropaleontology 35:179–201

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barber DC and 10 others (1999) Forcing of the cold event of 8,200 years ago by catastrophic drainage of Laurentide lakes. Nature 400:344–348

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bianchi GG, McCave N (1999) Holocene periodicity in North Atlantic climate and deep-ocean flow south of Iceland. Nature 397:515–517

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bond and 9 others (1997) A pervasive millennial-scale cycle in North Atlantic Holocene and glacial climates. Science 278:1257–1266

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bradley RS, Jones PD (1995) Climate Since A.D. 1500. London, Routledge

    Google Scholar 

  • Chapman MR, Shackleton NJ, Bianchi GB, McCave IN (1999) Millenial-scale climate fluctuations in the subpolar North Atlantic during the Holocene. Terra Nova 11 (4):169

    Google Scholar 

  • Dansgaard W, White JWC, Johnsen SJ (1989) The abrupt termination of the Younger Dryas climate event. Nature 339:532–533

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dansgaard W and 10 others (1993) Evidence for general instability of past climate from a 250-kyr ice-core record. Nature 364:218–220

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fronval T, Jansen E (1997) Eemian and early Weichselian (140–60 ka) paleoceanography and paleoclimate in the Nordic seas with comparisons to Holocene conditions. Paleoceanography 12:443–462

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hald M, Aspeli R (1997) Rapid climatic shifts of the northern Norwegian Sea during the last deglaciation and the Holocene. Boreas 26:15–28

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hald M, Hagen S (1998) Early preboreal cooling in the Nordic seas region triggered by meltwater. Geology 26:615–618

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haflidason H, Sejrup HP, Klitgaard Kristensen D, Johnsen S (1995) Coupled response of the late glacial climatic shifts of northwest Europe reflected in Greenland ice cores: Evidence from the northern North Sea. Geology 23:1059–1062

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hughen KA, Overpeck JT, Pewterson LC, Trumbore S (1996) Rapid climate changes in the tropical North Atlantic region during the last deglaciation. Nature 380:51–54

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Imbrie J and 17 others (1992) On the structure and origin of major glaciation cycles 1. Linear responses to Milankovitch forcing. Paleoceanography 7: 701–738

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jennings AE, Weiner NJ (1996) Environmental change in eastern Greenland during the last 1300 years: evidence from foraminifera and lithofacies in Nansen Fjord, 68°N. The Holocene 6:179–191

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnsen SJ and nine others (1992) Irregular glacial interstadials recorded in a new Greenland ice core. Nature 359:311–313

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keigwin LD (1996) The Little Ice Age and Medieval Warm Period in the Sargasso Sea. Science 274:1504–1508

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keigwin LD, Pickart RS (1996) Slope Water Current over the Laurentian Fan on interannual to millenial time scales. Science 286:520–523

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klitgaard Kristensen D, Sejrup HP, Haflidason H, Johnsen SJ, Spurk MA (1998) A regional 8200 cal. yr BP cooling event in NW Europe. J Quaternary Sci 13:165–169

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koç Karpuz N, Jansen E (1992) A high resolution diatom record of the last deglaciation from the SE Norwegian Sea: Documentation of rapid climatic changes. Paleoceanography 7:499–520

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koç N, Jansen E (1994) Response of the high latitude Northern Hemisphere to orbital climate forcing: evidence from the GIN-Seas. Geology 22:523–526

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koç N, Jansen E, Haflidason H (1993) Paleoceanographic reconstructions of surface ocean conditions in the Greenland, Iceland and Norwegian seas through the last 14 ka based on diatoms. Quaternary Science Reviews 12:115–140

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koç N, Jansen E, Hald M, Labeyrie L (1996) Lateglacial-Holocene sea-surface temperatures and gradients between the North Atlantic and the Norwegian Sea: Implications for the Nordic heat pump. In: Andrews JT, Austin WEN, Bergsten HE (eds) The Late Glacial Paleoceanography of the North Atlantic Margins. Geological Society Special Publication No. 111, pp 177–185

    Google Scholar 

  • Lean J, Beer J, Bradley R (1995) Reconstruction of solar irradience since 1610: Implications for climate change. Geophysical Research Letters 22:3195–3198

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lean J, Skumanich A, White O (1992) Estimating the sun’s radiative output suring the Maunder Minimum. Geophysical Research Letters 19:1591–1594

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mikalsen G, Sejrup HPAhigh-resolution 2500 year long temperature record from Sognesjøen, western Norway; correlations to atmospheric Δ14C cycles. Submitted to Geology

    Google Scholar 

  • Reid GC (1987) Influence of solar variability on global sea surface temperatures. Nature 329:142–143

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tett SFB, Stott PA, Allen MR, Ingram WJ, Mitchell JFB (1999) Causes of twentieth-century temperature change near the Earth’s surface. Nature 399:569–572

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wood RA, Keen AB, Mitchell JFB, Gregory JM (1999) Changing spatial structure of the thermohaline circulation in response to atmospheric CO2 forcing in a climate model. Nature 399:572–575

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Norwegian Polar Institute, Polar Environmental Center, N-9296, Tromsø, Norway

    Nalân Koç

  2. Department of Geology, University of Bergen, Allégt 41, N-5007, Bergen, Norway

    Eystein Jansen

Authors
  1. Nalân Koç
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Eystein Jansen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Fachbereich Geowissenschaften, Universität Bremen, Klagenfurter Straße 2, 28359, Bremen, Germany

    Gerold Wefer

  2. Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Geological Research Division, University of California, 92093-0215, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA

    Wolfgang H. Berger

  3. Niedersächsisches Institut für historische Küstenforschung, Viktoriastraße 26/28, 26483, Wilhelmshaven, Germany

    Karl-Ernst Behre

  4. University of Bergen, Department of Geology, Allégaten 41, 5007, Bergen, Norway

    Eystein Jansen

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2002 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Koç, N., Jansen, E. (2002). Holocene Climate Evolution of the North Atlantic Ocean and the Nordic Seas — a Synthesis of New Results. In: Wefer, G., Berger, W.H., Behre, KE., Jansen, E. (eds) Climate Development and History of the North Atlantic Realm. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-04965-5_11

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-04965-5_11

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-07744-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-662-04965-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation