Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Muted change in Atlantic overturning circulation over some glacial-aged Heinrich events

Nature Geoscience volume 7, pages 144–150 (2014)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Heinrich events—surges of icebergs into the North Atlantic Ocean—punctuated the last glacial period. The events are associated with millennial-scale cooling in the Northern Hemisphere. Fresh water from the melting icebergs is thought to have interrupted the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation, thus minimizing heat transport into the northern North Atlantic. The northward flow of warm water passes through the Florida Straits and is reflected in the distribution of seawater properties in this region. Here we investigate the northward flow through this region over the past 40,000 years using oxygen isotope measurements of benthic foraminifera from two cores on either side of the Florida Straits. These measurements allow us to estimate water density, which is related to flow through the thermal wind balance. We infer a substantial reduction of flow during Heinrich Event 1 and the Younger Dryas cooling, but little change during Heinrich Events 2 and 3, which occurred during an especially cold phase of the last glacial period. We speculate that because glacial circulation was already weakened before the onset of Heinrich Events 2 and 3, freshwater forcing had little additional effect. However, low-latitude climate perturbations were observed during all events. We therefore suggest that these perturbations may not have been directly caused by changes in heat transport associated with Atlantic overturning circulation as commonly assumed.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Core locations and context.
Figure 2: Glacial and deglacial records.
Figure 3: Modelled temperature anomaly.
Figure 4: Stage 3 records.
Figure 5: Location of other records.

References

  1. Wang, Y. J. et al. A high-resolution absolute-dated Late Pleistocene monsoon record from Hulu Cave, China. Science 294, 2345–2348 (2001).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Mulitza, S. et al. Sahel megadroughts triggered by glacial slowdowns of Atlantic meridional overturning. Paleoceanography 23, PA4206 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Schulz, H., von Rad, U. & Erlenkeuser, H. Correlation between Arabian Sea and Greenland climate oscillations of the past 110,000 years. Nature 393, 54–57 (1998).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Blunier, T. & Brook, E. J. Timing of millennial-scale climate change in Antarctica and Greenland during the last glacial period. Science 291, 109–112 (2001).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Lynch-Stieglitz, J. et al. Atlantic meridional overturning circulation during the Last Glacial Maximum. Science 316, 66–69 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Lynch-Stieglitz, J. et al. Meridional overturning circulation in the South Atlantic at the Last Glacial Maximum. Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst. 7, Q10N03 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Lynch-Stieglitz, J., Curry, W. B. & Slowey, N. Weaker gulf stream in the Florida Straits during the Last Glacial Maximum. Nature 402, 644–648 (1999).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Hesse, T., Butzin, M., Bickert, T. & Lohmann, G. A model-data comparison of delta C-13 in the glacial Atlantic Ocean. Paleoceanography 26, PA3220 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Lippold, J. et al. Strength and geometry of the glacial Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. Nature Geosci. 5, 813–816 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Rahmstorf, S. Ocean circulation and climate during the past 120,000 years. Nature 419, 207–214 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Sarnthein, M. et al. Changes in east Atlantic deep-water circulation over the last 30,000 Years—8 Time slice reconstructions. Paleoceanography 9, 209–267 (1994).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. McManus, J. F., Francois, R., Gherardi, J. M., Keigwin, L. D. & Brown-Leger, S. Collapse and rapid resumption of Atlantic meridional circulation linked to deglacial climate changes. Nature 428, 834–837 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Lippold, J. et al. Does sedimentary (231)Pa/(230)Th from the Bermuda Rise monitor past Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation? Geophys. Res. Lett. 36, L12601 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Boyle, E. A. Is ocean thermohaline circulation linked to abrupt stadial/interstadial transitions? Quat. Sci. Rev. 19, 255–272 (2000).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Zahn, R. et al. Thermohaline instability in the North Atlantic during meltwater events: Stable isotope and ice-rafted detritus records from core SO75-26KL, Portuguese Margin. Paleoceanography 12, 696–710 (1997).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Peck, V. L., Hall, I. R., Zahn, R. & Scourse, J. D. Progressive reduction in NE Atlantic intermediate water ventilation prior to Heinrich events: Response to NW European ice sheet instabilities? Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst. 8, Q01N10 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Oppo, D. W. & Lehman, S. J. Suborbital timescale variability of north-atlantic deep-water during the past 200,000 years. Paleoceanography 10, 901–910 (1995).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Van Kreveld, S. et al. Potential links between surging ice sheets, circulation changes, and the Dansgaard–Oeschger cycles in the Irminger Sea, 60–18 kyr. Paleoceanography 15, 425–442 (2000).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Voelker, A. H. L. et al. Mediterranean outflow strengthening during northern hemisphere coolings: A salt source for the glacial Atlantic? Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 245, 39–55 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Curry, W. B., Marchitto, T. M., McManus, J. F., Oppo, D. W. & Laarkamp, K. L. in Mechanisms of Global Climate Change at Millennial Time Scales (eds Clark, P. U., Webb, R. S. & Keigwin, L. D.) 59–76 (Geophysical Monograph, Vol. 112, American Geophysical Union, 1999).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  21. Lynch-Stieglitz, J., Schmidt, M. W. & Curry, W. B. Evidence from the Florida Straits for Younger Dryas ocean circulation changes. Paleoceanography 26, PA1205 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Schmidt, M. W. et al. Impact of abrupt deglacial climate change on tropical Atlantic subsurface temperatures. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 109, 14348–14352 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Stouffer, R. J. et al. Investigating the causes of the response of the thermohaline circulation to past and future climate changes. J. Clim. 19, 1365–1387 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Zhang, R. & Delworth, T. L. Simulated tropical response to a substantial weakening of the Atlantic thermohaline circulation. J. Clim. 18, 1853–1860 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Chang, P. et al. Oceanic link between abrupt changes in the North Atlantic Ocean and the African monsoon. Nature Geosci. 1, 444–448 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Hemming, S. R. Heinrich events: Massive late pleistocene detritus layers of the North Atlantic and their global climate imprint. Rev. Geophys. 42, RG1005 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Keigwin, L. D. Radiocarbon and stable isotope constraints on Last Glacial Maximum and Younger Dryas ventilation in the western North Atlantic. Paleoceanography 19, PA4012 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Bitz, C. M., Chiang, J. C. H., Cheng, W. & Barsugli, J. J. Rates of thermohaline recovery from freshwater pulses in modern, Last Glacial Maximum, and greenhouse warming climates. Geophys. Res. Lett. 34, L07708 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Weber, S. L. & Drijfhout, S. S. Stability of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation in the Last Glacial Maximum climate. Geophys. Res. Lett. 34, L22706 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Swingedouw, D. et al. Impact of freshwater release in the North Atlantic under different climate conditions in an OAGCM. J. Clim. 22, 6377–6403 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Arz, H. W., Patzold, J. & Wefer, G. Correlated millennial-scale changes in surface hydrography and terrigenous sediment yield inferred from last-glacial marine deposits off northeastern Brazil. Quat. Res. 50, 157–166 (1998).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Broccoli, A. J., Dahl, K. A. & Stouffer, R. J. Response of the ITCZ to Northern Hemisphere cooling. Geophys. Res. Lett. 33, L01702 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Chiang, J. C. H., Biasutti, M. & Battisti, D. S. Sensitivity of the Atlantic intertropical convergence zone to last glacial maximum boundary conditions. Paleoceanography 18, 1094 (2003).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Wunsch, C. Abrupt climate change: An alternative view. Quat. Res. 65, 191–203 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Reimer, P. J. et al. Intcal09 and Marine09 radiocarbon age calibration curves, 0–50,000 years Cal BP. Radiocarbon 51, 1111–1150 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Hillaire-Marcel, C. & Bilodeau, G. Instabilities in the Labrador Sea water mass structure during the last climatic cycle. Can. J. Earth Sci. 37, 795–809 (2000).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Stoner, J. S., Channell, J. E. T., Hillaire-Marcel, C. & Kissel, C. Geomagnetic paleointensity and environmental record from Labrador Sea core MD95-2024: Global marine sediment and ice core chronostratigraphy for the last 110 kyr. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 183, 161–177 (2000).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Conkright, M. E. et al. World Ocean Database 2001 Vol. 1 (US Government Printing Office, 2002).

    Google Scholar 

  39. Hodell, D. A., Channell, J. E. T., Curtis, J. H., Romero, O. E. & Rohl, U. Onset of ‘Hudson Strait’ Heinrich events in the eastern North Atlantic at the end of the middle Pleistocene transition (similar to 640 ka)? Paleoceanography 23, PA4218 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Hodell, D. A., Evans, H. F., Channell, J. E. T. & Curtis, J. H. Phase relationships of North Atlantic ice-rafted debris and surface-deep climate proxies during the last glacial period. Quat. Sci. Rev. 29, 3875–3886 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Shackleton, N. J., Hall, M. A. & Vincent, E. Phase relationships between millennial-scale events 64,000–24,000 years ago. Paleoceanography 15, 565–569 (2000).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. Skinner, L. C., Elderfield, H. & Hall, M. in Ocean Circulation: Mechanisms and Impacts (eds Schmittner, A., Chiang, J. & Hemming, S.) 197–208 (Geophysical Monograph Series, American Geophysical Union, 2007).

    Google Scholar 

  43. Tjallingii, R. et al. Coherent high- and low-latitude control of the northwest African hydrological balance. Nature Geosci. 1, 670–675 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. Zarriess, M. & Mackensen, A. Testing the impact of seasonal phytodetritus deposition on δ13C of epibenthic foraminifer Cibicidoides wuellerstorfi: A 31,000 year high-resolution record from the northwest African continental slope. Paleoceanography 26, PA2202 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  45. Zarriess, M. Primary Productivity and Ocean Circulation Changes on Orbital and Millennial Timescales off Northwest Africa during the Last Glacial/Interglacial Cycle: Evidence from Benthic Foraminiferal Assemblages, Stable Carbon and Oxygen Isotopes and Mg/Ca Paleothermometry PhD thesis, Univ. Bremen (2010).

  46. Garcia, H. E. et al. World Ocean Atlas 2009 Vol. 4 (Nutrients (phosphate, nitrate, silicate), US Government Printing Office, 2010).

    Google Scholar 

  47. Curry, W. B. & Oppo, D. W. Glacial water mass geometry and the distribution of δ13C of ΣCO2 in the western Atlantic Ocean. Paleoceanography 20, PA1017 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the US National Science Foundation (OCE-0096472, OCE-0648258 and OCE-1102743), a grant from the Comer Science and Education Foundation and a Rutt Bridges Undergraduate Research Fellowship to L.G.H. for financially supporting this work. P.C. acknowledges support from the Natural Science Foundation of China (40921004 and 40930844). S.M. was financially supported through the DFG Research Center/Cluster of Excellence ‘The Ocean in the Earth System’. We also thank T-Y. Chang for technical assistance.

Author information

Author notes

  1. L. Gene Henry

    Present address: Present address: Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, New York 10964, USA,

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30307, USA

    Jean Lynch-Stieglitz & L. Gene Henry

  2. Department of Oceanography, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843, USA

    Matthew W. Schmidt & Ping Chang

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

    William B. Curry

  4. Department of Earth Sciences, Godwin Laboratory for Palaeoclimate Research, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EQ, UK

    Luke C. Skinner

  5. MARUM—Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen, Leobener Strasse, Bremen D-28359, Germany

    Stefan Mulitza

  6. NOAA/Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, Princeton, New Jersey 08540, USA

    Rong Zhang

Authors
  1. Jean Lynch-Stieglitz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Matthew W. Schmidt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. L. Gene Henry
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. William B. Curry
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Luke C. Skinner
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Stefan Mulitza
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Rong Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Ping Chang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

J.L-S., W.B.C., M.W.S. and L.G.H. collected and analysed the sedimentary materials from KNR166-2, L.C.S. and S.M. contributed to the benthic carbon isotope compilation and P.C. and R.Z. contributed model output. All authors contributed to the interpretation of the data and model results and participated in the preparation of the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Jean Lynch-Stieglitz or L. Gene Henry.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Information (PDF 2268 kb)

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Information (XLS 129 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Lynch-Stieglitz, J., Schmidt, M., Gene Henry, L. et al. Muted change in Atlantic overturning circulation over some glacial-aged Heinrich events. Nature Geosci 7, 144–150 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2045

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2045

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing