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.

The importance of Canadian Arctic Archipelago gateways for glacial expansion in Scandinavia

Nature Geoscience volume 15, pages 482–488 (2022)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

The last glacial cycle began around 116,000 years before present during a period with low incoming solar radiation in Northern Hemisphere summer. Following the glacial inception in North America, the marine sediment record depicts a weakening of the high-latitude ocean overturning circulation and a multi-millennial eastward progression of glaciation across the North Atlantic basin. Modelling studies have shown that reduced solar radiation can initiate inception in North America and Siberia; however, the proximity to the temperate North Atlantic typically precludes ice growth in Scandinavia. Using a coupled Earth-system–ice-sheet model, we show that ice forming in North America may help facilitate glacial expansion in Scandinavia. As large coherent ice masses form and start filling the ocean gateways in the Canadian Archipelago, the transport of comparatively fresh North Pacific and Arctic water through the archipelago is diverted east of Greenland, resulting in a freshening of North Atlantic deep convection regions, sea-ice expansion and a substantial cooling that is sufficient to trigger glacial inception in Scandinavia. This mechanism may also help explain the Younger Dryas cold reversal and the rapid regrowth of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet following several warm events in the last glacial period.

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

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

Fig. 1: Time series of proxy data across the inception interval.
Fig. 2: Map of regions and major currents in the Northern Hemisphere high latitudes.
Fig. 3: Climate response to 116 ka insolation and greenhouse gas forcing and to the closing of the CAA ocean gateways.
Fig. 4: Simulated ice-sheet thickness in the simulation with open and closed ocean gateways in the CAA, respectively.

Data availability

CESM2 data from the pre-industrial and 116 ka simulations with open and closed CAA gateways are available via Zenodo: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6563697. Original repositories for the pre-industrial simulation and proxy datasets may be found at https://www.earthsystemgrid.org/dataset/ucar.cgd.cesm2.b.e21.B1850.f09_g17.CMIP6-piControl.001.html, vo.imcce.fr/insola/earth/online/earth/earth.html, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.854045, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.55501, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.840727, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.777694, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.742858.

Code availability

The simulations in this study were produced with the publicly released version of CESM2.1.1, which is open-source software, freely available at http://www.cesm.ucar.edu/.

References

  1. Berger, A. et al. Interglacials of the last 800,000 years. Rev. Geophys. 54, 162–219 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Kopp, R. E., Simons, F. J., Mitrovica, J. X., Maloof, A. C. & Oppenheimer, M. Probabilistic assessment of sea level during the last interglacial stage. Nature 462, 863–867 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Spratt, R. M. & Lisiecki, L. E. A late Pleistocene sea level stack. Clim. Past 12, 1079–1092 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Waelbroeck, C. et al. Sea-level and deep water temperature changes derived from benthic foraminifera isotopic records. Quat. Sci. Rev. 21, 295–305 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Lambeck, K. & Chappell, J. Sea level change through the last glacial cycle. Science 292, 679–686 (2001).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Govin, A. et al. Persistent influence of ice sheet melting on high northern latitude climate during the early Last Interglacial. Clim. Past 8, 483–507 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Risebrobakken, B., Dokken, T. & Jansen, E. Extent and variability of the meridional Atlantic circulation in the eastern Nordic Seas during Marine Isotope Stage 5 and its influence on the inception of the last glacial. Geophys. Monogr. 158, 323–339 (2005).

    Google Scholar 

  8. Risebrobakken, B. et al. Inception of the Northern European ice sheet due to contrasting ocean and insolation forcing. Quat. Res. 67, 128–135 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Zhuravleva, A., Bauch, H. A. & Spielhagen, R. F. Atlantic water heat transfer through the Arctic gateway (Fram Strait) during the Last Interglacial. Glob. Planet. Change 157, 232–243 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Oppo, D. W., McManus, J. F. & Cullen, J. L. Evolution and demise of the Last Interglacial warmth in the subpolar North Atlantic. Quat. Sci. Rev. 25, 3268–3277 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Nørgaard-Pedersen, N., Mikkelsen, N. & Kristoffersen, Y. Arctic Ocean record of last two glacial–interglacial cycles off North Greenland/Ellesmere Island—implications for glacial history. Mar. Geol. 244, 93–108 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Svendsen, J. I. et al. Late Quaternary ice sheet history of northern Eurasia. Quat. Sci. Rev. 23, 1229–1271 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Stokes, C. R., Tarasov, L. & Dyke, A. S. Dynamics of the North American Ice Sheet Complex during its inception and build-up to the Last Glacial Maximum. Quat. Sci. Rev. 50, 86–104 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Kleman, J., Fastook, J. & Stroeven, A. P. Geologically and geomorphologically constrained numerical model of Laurentide Ice Sheet inception and build-up. Quat. Int. 95, 87–98 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Kleman, J., Fastook, J., Ebert, K., Nilsson, J. & Caballero, R. Pre-LGM Northern Hemisphere paleo-ice sheet topography. Clim. Past 9, 2365–2378 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Mangerud, J. in Klimageschichtliche Probleme der letzten 130 000 Jahre (ed. Frenzel, B.) 451 (Fischer, Stuttgart, 1991).

  17. Batchelor, C. L. et al. The configuration of Northern Hemisphere ice sheets through the Quaternary. Nat. Commun. 10, 3713 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Simon, Q., Hillaire-Marcel, C., St-Onge, G. & Andrews, J. T. North-eastern Laurentide, western Greenland and southern Innuitian ice stream dynamics during the last glacial cycle. J. Quat. Sci. 29, 14–26 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Dong, L. et al. Isotopic fingerprints of ice-rafted debris offer new constraints on mid to late Quaternary Arctic circulation and glacial history. Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst. 21, e2020GC009019 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Barr, I. D. & Clark, C. D. Late Quaternary glaciations in far NE Russia; combining moraines, topography and chronology to assess regional and global glaciation synchrony. Quat. Sci. Rev. 53, 72–87 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Tulenko, J. P., Lofverstrom, M. & Briner, J. P. Ice sheet influence on atmospheric circulation explains the patterns of Pleistocene alpine glacier records in North America. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 534, 116115 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Lofverstrom, M., Liakka, J. & Kleman, J. The North American Cordillera—an impediment to growing the continent-wide Laurentide Ice Sheet. J. Clim. 28, 9433–9450 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Lofverstrom, M. & Liakka, J. On the limited ice intrusion in Alaska at the LGM. Geophys. Res. Lett. 43, 11030–11038 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Liakka, J., Lofverstrom, M. & Colleoni, F. The impact of the North American glacial topography on the evolution of the Eurasian ice sheet over the last glacial cycle. Clim. Past 12, 1225–1241 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Liakka, J. & Lofverstrom, M. Arctic warming induced by the Laurentide Ice Sheet topography. Clim. Past 14, 887–900 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Seager, R. et al. Is the Gulf Stream responsible for Europe’s mild winters? Q. J. R. Meteorol. Soc. 128, 2563–2586 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Rossby, T. The North Atlantic Current and surrounding waters: at the crossroads. Rev. Geophys. 34, 463–481 (1996).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Kleman, J. et al. North American Ice Sheet build-up during the last glacial cycle, 115–21 kyr. Quat. Sci. Rev. 29, 2036–2051 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Kohfeld, K. E., Fairbanks, R. G., Smith, S. L. & Walsh, I. D. Neogloboquadrina pachyderma (sinistral coiling) as paleoceanographic tracers in polar oceans: evidence from northeast water polynya plankton tows, sediment traps, and surface sediments. Paleoceanography 11, 679–699 (1996).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. McManus, J. F., Oppo, D. W., Keigwin, L. D., Cullen, J. L. & Bond, G. C. Thermohaline circulation and prolonged interglacial warmth in the North Atlantic. Quat. Res. 58, 17–21 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Kuhlbrodt, T. et al. On the driving processes of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation. Rev. Geophys. 45, RG2001 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Lozier, M. S. et al. A sea change in our view of overturning in the subpolar North Atlantic. Science 363, 516–521 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Carmack, E. C. The alpha/beta ocean distinction: a perspective on freshwater fluxes, convection, nutrients and productivity in high-latitude seas. Deep Sea Res. 2 54, 2578–2598 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Aagaard, K. & Carmack, E. C. The role of sea ice and other fresh water in the Arctic circulation. J. Geophys. Res. Oceans 94, 14485–14498 (1989).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Otto-Bliesner, B. L. et al. Amplified North Atlantic warming in the late Pliocene by changes in Arctic gateways. Geophys. Res. Lett. 44, 957–964 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Hu, A. et al. Influence of Bering Strait flow and North Atlantic circulation on glacial sea-level changes. Nat. Geosci. 3, 118–121 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Karami, M. P., Myers, P. G., de Vernal, A., Tremblay, L. B. & Hu, X. The role of Arctic gateways on sea ice and circulation in the Arctic and North Atlantic oceans: a sensitivity study with an ocean-sea-ice model. Clim. Dyn. 57, 2129–2151 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Woodgate, R. A., Aagaard, K. & Weingartner, T. J. Monthly temperature, salinity, and transport variability of the Bering Strait through flow. Geophys. Res. Lett. 32, L04601 (2005).

    Google Scholar 

  39. Münchow, A., Falkner, K. K. & Melling, H. Baffin Island and west Greenland current systems in northern Baffin Bay. Prog. Oceanogr. 132, 305–317 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Prinsenberg, S. & Hamilton, J. Monitoring the volume, freshwater and heat fluxes passing through Lancaster Sound in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Atmos. Ocean 43, 1–22 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Danabasoglu, G. et al. The Community Earth System Model version 2 (CESM2). J. Adv. Model. Earth Syst. 12, e2019MS001916 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. Vettoretti, G. & Peltier, W. Post-Eemian glacial inception. Part I: the impact of summer seasonal temperature bias. J. Clim. 16, 889–911 (2003).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  43. Jochum, M. et al. True to Milankovitch: glacial inception in the new Community Climate System Model. J. Clim. 25, 2226–2239 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. Birch, L., Cronin, T. & Tziperman, E. Glacial inception on Baffin Island: the role of insolation, meteorology, and topography. J. Clim. 30, 4047–4064 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  45. Born, A., Kageyama, M. & Nisancioglu, K. Warm Nordic Seas delayed glacial inception in Scandinavia. Clim. Past 6, 817–826 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  46. Guihou, A. et al. Enhanced Atlantic meridional overturning circulation supports the last glacial inception. Quat. Sci. Rev. 30, 1576–1582 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  47. Gowan, E. J. et al. A new global ice sheet reconstruction for the past 80 000 years. Nat. Commun. 12, 1199 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  48. Pico, T., Mitrovica, J. & Mix, A. Sea level fingerprinting of the Bering Strait flooding history detects the source of the Younger Dryas climate event. Sci. Adv. 6, eaay2935 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  49. England, J. et al. The Innuitian Ice Sheet: configuration, dynamics and chronology. Quat. Sci. Rev. 25, 689–703 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  50. Mangerud, J. et al. A major re-growth of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet in western Norway during Allerød–Younger Dryas. Quat. Sci. Rev. 132, 175–205 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  51. Petit, J.-R. et al. Climate and atmospheric history of the past 420,000 years from the Vostok ice core, Antarctica. Nature 399, 429–436 (1999).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  52. Lipscomb, W. et al. Description and evaluation of the Community Ice Sheet Model (CISM) v2.1. Geosci. Model Dev. 12, 387–424 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  53. Muntjewerf, L. et al. Description and demonstration of the coupled Community Earth System Model v2–Community Ice Sheet Model v2 (cesm2–cism2). J. Adv. Model. Earth Syst. 13, e2020MS002356 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  54. Fyke, J. G., Sergienko, O., Lofverstrom, M., Price, S. & Lenaerts, J. T. An overview of interactions and feedbacks between ice sheets and the Earth system. Rev. Geophys. 56, 361–408 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  55. Danielson, J. J. & Gesch, D. B. Global Multi-Resolution Terrain Elevation Data 2010 (GMTED2010) Open File Report 2011-1073 (USGS, 2011).

  56. Amante, C. & Eakins, B. W. ETOPO1 Arc-Minute Global Relief Model: Procedures, Data Sources and Analysis Technical Memorandum NESDIS NGDC-24 (NOAA, 2009).

  57. Spahni, R. et al. Atmospheric methane and nitrous oxide of the late Pleistocene from Antarctic ice cores. Science 310, 1317–1321 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  58. Lofverstrom, M. et al. An efficient ice-sheet/Earth system model spin-up procedure for CESM2.1 and CISM2.1: description, evaluation, and broader applicability. J. Adv. Model. Earth Syst. 12, e2019MS001984 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  59. Lauritzen, P. H., Bacmeister, J. T., Callaghan, P. F. & Taylor, M. A. NCAR global model topography generation software for unstructured grids. Geosci. Model Dev. 8, 3975–3986 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  60. Otto-Bleisner, B. L. et al. The PMIP4 contribution to CMIP6–part 2: two interglacials, scientific objective and experimental design for Holocene and Last Interglacial simulations. Geosci. Model Dev. 10, 3979–4003 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  61. Dee, D. P. et al. The ERA-Interim reanalysis: configuration and performance of the data assimilation system. Q. J. R. Meteorol. Soc. 137, 553–597 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The CESM project is supported primarily by the National Science Foundation (NSF). This material is based on work supported by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), which is a major facility sponsored by the National Science Foundation under Cooperative Agreement no. 1852977. Computing and data storage resources, including the Cheyenne supercomputer (https://doi.org/10.5065/D6RX99HX), were provided by the Computational and Information Systems Laboratory (CISL) at NCAR. The authors extend a special thanks to both the CESM Land Ice Working Group (LIWG) and the Paleoclimate Working Group (PaleoWG) for donating computer time to extend these simulations beyond their original length.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Marcus Lofverstrom & Diane M. Thompson

  2. Climate and Global Dynamics Laboratory, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO, USA

    Bette L. Otto-Bliesner & Esther C. Brady

Authors
  1. Marcus Lofverstrom
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Diane M. Thompson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Bette L. Otto-Bliesner
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Esther C. Brady
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

M.L. conceptualized the project, developed boundary conditions, ran the simulations, analysed output data and wrote the original draft of the manuscript. D.M.T. helped with interpretation of proxy data and wrote the corresponding section in the manuscript. B.L.O.-B. helped finance parts of the project. E.C.B. helped develop the ocean boundary conditions for the closed gateways experiment. All authors commented on the final draft.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marcus Lofverstrom.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Peer review

Peer review information

Nature Geoscience thanks Evan Gowan, Chris R Stokes and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work. Primary Handling Editor: James Super, in collaboration with the Nature Geoscience team.

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Extended data

Extended Data Fig. 1 Latitudinal variations in top-of-atmosphere insolation as a function of month of year.

(a) full pre-industrial (1850 CE) top-of-atmosphere insolation, and (b) difference in top-of-atmosphere insolation between the 116 ka and pre-industrial orbital configurations. Countour lines in panel b replicate the contour lines of the full pre-industrial insolation in panel a.

Extended Data Fig. 2 Map of land-ocean distribution on the ocean-model grid.

Land and ocean grid points are indicated by white and black colour, respectively. Grid points that are switched from ocean to land in the closed CAA simulation are indicated by red colour. The background map is showing the land-ocean boundary on the nominal 1-degree ocean model grid.

Extended Data Fig. 3 Spatial and temporal evolution of Northern Hemisphere ice sheets.

Panels a-e show the ice evolution in the simulation with open CAA gateways at model year (a) 30, (b) 100, (c) 300, (d) 500, and (e) 815 (the latter is the same as Fig. 4a). Panel (f) shows the corresponding Northern Hemisphere ice distribution at model year 815 in the simulation with closed CAA gateways (same as Fig. 4c) where ice has started forming in the Scandinavian mountains. The background map is showing topography and bathymetry as represented on the 4-km ice-sheet model grid. In the simulation with closed CAA gateways, inception occurs after 725 model years in the high-elevation regions of southern Norway and after 739 model years in northern Norway (see also Extended Data Fig. 8).

Extended Data Fig. 4 Spatial and temporal evolution of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC).

(a) 30 year annual average AMOC from the pre-industrial control simulation (arrows indicate the flow direction); (b) difference between the 116 ka simulation with open CAA gateways and the pre-industrial simulation; (d) difference between the 116 ka simulations with closed and open CAA gateways. Panel (c) shows the temporal evolution of the maximum overturning strength between 60∘N and 80∘N (white box in panel a) in the pre-industrial (black), open CAA (red), and closed CAA (blue) simulations, respectively.

Extended Data Fig. 5 Differences in surface ocean freshwater budget between the open CAA and the pre-industrial control simulation.

(a) Difference in total freshwater flux (sum of panels b-f; same as Fig. 3b) and the contribution from: (b) meltwater fluxes from seasonal sea ice melting, (c) precipitation, (d) evaporation, (e) river transport, and (f) snow capping. Stippling indicates differences that are not significant at the 95% level. Mapping software: Cartopy with Natural Earth shapefiles.

Extended Data Fig. 6 Differences in surface ocean freshwater budget between the 116 ka simulations with closed and open CAA gateways.

(a) Difference in total freshwater flux (sum of panels b-f; same as Fig. 3e) and the contribution from: (b) meltwater fluxes from seasonal sea ice melting, (c) precipitation, (d) evaporation, (e) river transport, and (f) snow capping. Stippling indicates differences that are not significant at the 95% level. Mapping software: Cartopy with Natural Earth shapefiles.

Extended Data Fig. 7 Comparison of June-August (JJA) mean surface temperature.

from (a) ERA-Interim reanalysis product61 (averaged over years 1979-2014) and (b) the pre-industrial simulation; surface temperature anomalies in the 116 ka simulations with (c) open and (d) closed CAA gateways. Arrows in panels (c) and (d) indicate 850 hPa horizontal wind vectors (full zonal and meridional wind components in open CAA and closed CAA, respectively). Red arrows between 55∘–80∘N & 15∘W–50∘E roughly indicate the region where cool temperatures in the Nordic Seas are advected into Scandinavia, yielding favorable conditions for glacial inception in the highland regions of Norway and Sweden in the simulation with closed CAA gateways (panel d). Mapping software: Cartopy with Natural Earth shapefiles.

Extended Data Fig. 8 Timeseries of annually integrated temperature in the Scandinavian Mountains above 1000 m elevation.

Temperature data was averaged over all grid cells where the topography in the Scandinavian mountain range is over 1000 m elevation (region: 58∘–78∘N; 13∘W–20∘E) on the 4-km ice-sheet model grid (see Methods). Light colours indicate annually resolved temperature, and heavy lines show 10-year rolling averages to highlight the long-term temperature trend. The dashed and dotted vertical lines (at model years 725 and 739, respectively) indicate inception at the southern and the northern locations in the simulation with closed CAA gateways (see Fig. 4). Note that the pre-industrial control simulation was not run with the extended ice-sheet model grid, hence we do not have access to downscaled temperature data from that simulation. Moreover, the ice-sheet model only outputs annual mean temperature, which precludes a seasonal decomposition.

Extended Data Fig. 9 Comparison of annual mean precipitation.

(a) Full precipitation (liquid+solid) from the ERA-Interim reanalysis product61 (averaged over years 1979-2014) and (b) the pre-industrial simulation; precipitation anomalies in the 116 ka simulation with (c) open CAA and (d) closed CAA ocean gateways, respectively. Stippling in panels (c) and (d) indicates differences that are not significant at the 95% level. Mapping software: Cartopy with Natural Earth shapefiles.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Lofverstrom, M., Thompson, D.M., Otto-Bliesner, B.L. et al. The importance of Canadian Arctic Archipelago gateways for glacial expansion in Scandinavia. Nat. Geosci. 15, 482–488 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-022-00956-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-022-00956-9

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