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Links between salinity variation in the Caribbean and North Atlantic thermohaline circulation

Nature volume 428, pages 160–163 (2004)Cite this article

Abstract

Variations in the strength of the North Atlantic Ocean thermohaline circulation have been linked to rapid climate changes1 during the last glacial cycle through oscillations in North Atlantic Deep Water formation and northward oceanic heat flux2,3,4. The strength of the thermohaline circulation depends on the supply of warm, salty water to the North Atlantic, which, after losing heat to the atmosphere, produces the dense water masses that sink to great depths and circulate back south2. Here we analyse two Caribbean Sea sediment cores, combining Mg/Ca palaeothermometry with measurements of oxygen isotopes in foraminiferal calcite in order to reconstruct tropical Atlantic surface salinity5,6 during the last glacial cycle. We find that Caribbean salinity oscillated between saltier conditions during the cold oxygen isotope stages 2, 4 and 6, and lower salinities during the warm stages 3 and 5, covarying with the strength of North Atlantic Deep Water formation7. At the initiation of the Bølling/Allerød warm interval, Caribbean surface salinity decreased abruptly, suggesting that the advection of salty tropical waters into the North Atlantic amplified thermohaline circulation and contributed to high-latitude warming.

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Figure 1: Temperature and δ18OSW variation in the western Caribbean Sea during the past 136 kyr.
Figure 2: A comparison of local δ18OSW change in Colombian basin surface water and estimated variation in NADW formation over the past 136 kyr.
Figure 3: Temperature and salinity variation in the Colombian Basin and in the western tropical Atlantic over the last deglacial.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) and the LDEO Deep-Sea Sample Repository for core samples. Laboratory assistance from D. Pak and mass spectrometer operation by G. Paradis and D. Winter were critical to the success of this study. We also thank A. Droxler for providing a suite of his ODP 999A samples, and J. Kennett and A. Russell for their comments and suggestions. Funding for this research was provided by a USSSP Schlanger Ocean Drilling Fellowship to M.W.S. and the US National Science Foundation (H.J.S. and D.W.L.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology, University of California, Davis, California, 95616, USA

    Matthew W. Schmidt & Howard J. Spero

  2. Department of Geological Sciences and Marine Science Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, California, 93106, USA

    David W. Lea

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  1. Matthew W. Schmidt
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Correspondence to Matthew W. Schmidt.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Figure

Modern mean annual salinity in the western tropical Atlantic at 10 m water depth and location of ODP 999A (12°45’N, 78°44’W; 2,827 m; 4 cm/ka sed. rate) and VM28-122 (11.56°N, 78.41°W; 3,623 m; 4 cm/ka sed. rate during the Holocene and LGM, 10 - 15 cm/ka sed. rate during the deglaciation). (DOC 550 kb)

Supplementary Data

Table SI-1 shows the raw 14C ages and their corresponding Calendar Age (ka BP). Table SI-2 shows a complete data listing of the measured G. ruber δ18O, Mg/Ca, and the computed δ18OSW values. (XLS 30 kb)

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Schmidt, M., Spero, H. & Lea, D. Links between salinity variation in the Caribbean and North Atlantic thermohaline circulation. Nature 428, 160–163 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature02346

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