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Reorganization of the North Atlantic Oscillation during early Holocene deglaciation

Nature Geoscience volume 9, pages 602–605 (2016)Cite this article

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Abstract

The North Atlantic Oscillation is the dominant atmospheric pressure mode in the North Atlantic region and affects winter temperature and precipitation in the Mediterranean, northwest Europe, Greenland, and Asia1. The index1 that describes the sea-level pressure difference between Iceland and the Azores is correlated with a dipole precipitation pattern over northwest Europe and northwest Africa. How the North Atlantic Oscillation will develop as the Greenland ice sheet melts is unclear2. A potential past analogue is the early Holocene, during which melting ice sheets around the North Atlantic3,4 freshened surface waters, affecting the strength of the meridional overturning circulation5. Here we present a Holocene rainfall record from northwest Africa based on speleothem δ18O and compare it against a speleothem-based rainfall record from Europe6. The two records are positively correlated during the early Holocene, followed by a shift to an anti-correlation, similar to the modern record, during the mid-Holocene. On the basis of our simulations with an Earth system model, we suggest the shift to the anti-correlation reflects a large-scale atmospheric and oceanic reorganization in response to the demise of the Laurentide ice sheet and a strong reduction of meltwater flux to the North Atlantic, pointing to a potential sensitivity of the North Atlantic Oscillation to the melting of ice sheets.

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Figure 1: Correlations between the NAO index and winter climate parameters.
Figure 2: Comparison of rainfall variability between northwest Morocco and western Germany during the early-to-mid-Holocene.
Figure 3: Results of the COSMOS climate simulations.

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG; project IM 44/1, and WA3532/1-1) and the Max Planck Society. We would like to thank W. Wei for providing model output and performing the CCA-analysis and acknowledge D. Fleitmann for fruitful discussions. The staffs in the isotope laboratories at Bochum and Mainz (U. Weis, B. Stoll, A. Niedermayr, D. Buhl, B. Gehnen, U. Schulte) are acknowledged for their help with sample preparation and measurements. In addition, T. Reinecke, the thin section lab at Bochum and our local speleo-guides E. H. El Mansouri and T. Echchibi are gratefully acknowledged. A. Fink (Institute for Geophysics and Meteorology, University of Cologne) is thanked for providing rainfall data from the weather station in Taza, Morocco.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Geology, Mineralogy, and Geophysics, Ruhr University Bochum, Universitätsstrasse 150, 44801 Bochum, Germany

    Jasper A. Wassenburg, Detlev K. Richter & Adrian Immenhauser

  2. Institute for Geosciences, University of Mainz, Johann-Joachim-Becher-Weg 21, 55128 Mainz, Germany

    Jasper A. Wassenburg & Denis Scholz

  3. Federal Institute for Hydrology, 56068 Koblenz, Germany

    Stephan Dietrich

  4. Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, 27570 Bremerhaven, Germany

    Stephan Dietrich & Gerrit Lohmann

  5. Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel (GEOMAR), Wischhofstrasse 1-3, 24148 Kiel, Germany

    Jan Fietzke

  6. Institute for Environmental Physics, University of Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 229, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany

    Jens Fohlmeister

  7. Climate Geochemistry and Biogeochemistry Departments, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, PO Box 3060, 55020 Mainz, Germany

    Klaus Peter Jochum

  8. Faculty of Sciences Dhar Mahraz, BP 1796 Atlas, Fès, Morocco

    Abdellah Sabaoui

  9. Institute of Geology, University of Innsbruck, Innrain 52, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria

    Christoph Spötl

  10. Biogeochemistry Department, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, PO Box 3060, 55020 Mainz, Germany

    Meinrat O. Andreae

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Contributions

J.A.W. wrote the paper and prepared and performed the stable isotope and trace element analysis; J.A.W., S.D., A.I. and D.K.R., were involved in the study design; S.D., and G.L. analysed the climate modelling data; J.A.W. and D.S. were involved in the age–depth modelling; J.A.W., J.Fohlmeister and D.S. were involved in the speleothem data interpretation; S.D., G.L. and J.A.W. contributed to the climate discussion; J.Fietzke performed the 230Th/U dating of stalagmite GP2; J.Fohlmeister performed the tuning and correlation analysis; C.S. performed the δ18O analysis of the rainwater samples; K.P.J. provided support with trace element analysis; M.O.A. provided essential feedback to multiple draft versions of the manuscript; A.S. provided logistical support essential for the collection of stalagmite GP2. All authors discussed the results and provided comments on the manuscripts.

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Correspondence to Jasper A. Wassenburg.

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Wassenburg, J., Dietrich, S., Fietzke, J. et al. Reorganization of the North Atlantic Oscillation during early Holocene deglaciation. Nature Geosci 9, 602–605 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2767

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