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Influence of ocean heat transport on the climate of the Last Glacial Maximum

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Abstract

A series of climate simulations using an atmospheric general circulation model shows that maintaining ocean heat transport at close to present-day values, but with otherwise glacial boundary conditions, leads to an enhanced cooling, particularly in the tropics. This is in agreement with recent geochemical evidence from fossil corals, ground waters, and ice. Near-modern ocean heat transport may have been sustained in all ocean basins during the Last Glacial Maximum in order to balance the formation and export of Glacial North Atlantic Intermediate Water.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. NOAA-NGDC Paleoclimatology Program, 325 Broadway, Boulder, Colorado, 80303, USA

    Robert S. Webb

  2. NASA-GISS, 2880 Broadway, New York, New York, 10025, USA

    David H. Rind & Richard J. Healy

  3. INSTAAR and Department of Geological Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, 80309, USA

    Scott J. Lehman

  4. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, 02543, USA

    Richard J. Healy & Daniel Sigman

Authors
  1. Robert S. Webb
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  2. David H. Rind
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  4. Richard J. Healy
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  5. Daniel Sigman
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Webb, R., Rind, D., Lehman, S. et al. Influence of ocean heat transport on the climate of the Last Glacial Maximum. Nature 385, 695–699 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/385695a0

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