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Full-Text Articles in Earth Sciences

Florida Straits Deglacial Temperature And Salinity Change: Implications For Tropical Hydrologic Cycle Variability During The Younger Dryas, Matthew W. Schmidt, Jean Lynch-Stieglitz Jan 2011

Florida Straits Deglacial Temperature And Salinity Change: Implications For Tropical Hydrologic Cycle Variability During The Younger Dryas, Matthew W. Schmidt, Jean Lynch-Stieglitz

OES Faculty Publications

The prevailing paradigm of abrupt climate change holds that rapid shifts associated with the most extreme climate swings of the last glacial cycle were forced by changes in the strength and northward extension of Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), resulting in an abrupt reorganization of atmospheric circulation patterns with global teleconnections. To determine the timing of tropical Atlantic atmospheric circulation changes over the past 21 ka BP, we reconstruct high resolution sea surface temperature and δ18OSW (a proxy for surface salinity) records based on Mg/Ca ratios and oxygen isotope measurements in the planktonic foraminifera Globigerinoides ruber from …


Meridional Shifts In The Marine Itcz And The Tropical Hydrologic Cycle Over The Last Three Glacial Cycles, Matthew W. Schmidt, Howard J. Spero Jan 2011

Meridional Shifts In The Marine Itcz And The Tropical Hydrologic Cycle Over The Last Three Glacial Cycles, Matthew W. Schmidt, Howard J. Spero

OES Faculty Publications

Paleoproxy studies show a strong correlation between tropical climate and high-latitude temperature variability recorded in the Greenland ice cores over the last glacial cycle. In particular, abrupt cooling events in the Greenland Ice Sheet Project II δ18O ice record appear synchronous with a southward migration of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) in the Atlantic, a weakening of the Indian and East Asian monsoon systems, and a strengthening of the South American monsoon system. Because this high-to-low-latitude climate teleconnection significantly alters the tropical hydrologic cycle around the globe, it plays a critical role in regulating global climate on glacial-interglacial …


Modern Dirty Sea Ice Characteristics And Sources: The Role Of Anchor Ice, Dennis A. Darby, Wesley B. Myers, Martin Jakobsson, Ignatius Rigor Jan 2011

Modern Dirty Sea Ice Characteristics And Sources: The Role Of Anchor Ice, Dennis A. Darby, Wesley B. Myers, Martin Jakobsson, Ignatius Rigor

OES Faculty Publications

Extensive dirty ice patches with up to 7 kg m-2 sediment concentrations in layers of up to 10 cm thickness were encountered in 2005 and 2007 in numerous areas across the central Arctic. The Fe grain fingerprint determination of sources for these sampled dirty ice floes indicated both Russian and Canadian sources, with the latter dominating. The presence of benthic shells and sea weeds along with thick layers (2-10 cm) of sediment covering 5-10 m2 indicates an anchor ice entrainment origin as opposed to suspension freezing for some of these floes. The anchor ice origin might explain the …


Evidence From The Florida Straits For Younger Dryas Ocean Circulation Changes, Jean Lynch-Stieglitz, Matthew W. Schmidt, William B. Curry Jan 2011

Evidence From The Florida Straits For Younger Dryas Ocean Circulation Changes, Jean Lynch-Stieglitz, Matthew W. Schmidt, William B. Curry

OES Faculty Publications

The waters passing through the Florida Straits today reflect both the western portion of the wind-driven subtropical gyre and the northward flow of the upper waters which cross the equator, compensating North Atlantic Deep Water export as part of the large-scale Atlantic meridional overturning circulation. It has been postulated from various lines of evidence that the overturning circulation was weaker during the Younger Dryas cold event of the last deglaciation. We show here that the contrast in the oxygen isotopic composition of benthic foraminiferal tests across the Florida Current is reduced during the Younger Dryas. This most likely reflects a …


Lithospheric Control On The Spatial Pattern Of Azores Hotspot Seafloor Anomalies: Constraints From A Model Of Plume-Triple Junction Interaction, Jennifer E. Georgen Jan 2011

Lithospheric Control On The Spatial Pattern Of Azores Hotspot Seafloor Anomalies: Constraints From A Model Of Plume-Triple Junction Interaction, Jennifer E. Georgen

OES Faculty Publications

The Azores hotspot is located near a plate boundary triple junction (TJ) consisting of the Terceira Rift (TER) and two branches of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR). The seafloor expression of the Azores hotspot has a complex spatial pattern. Latitudinal anomalies in seafloor depth and other data along the MAR extend farther to the south of the inferred location of the mantle heterogeneity than to the north. Longitudinal anomalies span a greater distance to the east of the MAR (along the TER) than to the west. A finite element model is used to investigate how the divergence of three plates away …


Early Season Depletion Of Dissolved Iron In The Ross Sea Polynya: Implications For Iron Dynamics On The Antarctic Continental Shelf, Peter N. Sedwick, C. M. Marsay, B. M. Sohst, A. M. Aguilar-Islas, M. C. Lohan, M. C. Long, K. R. Arrigo, R. B. Dunbar, M. A. Saito, W. O. Smith, G. R. Ditullio Jan 2011

Early Season Depletion Of Dissolved Iron In The Ross Sea Polynya: Implications For Iron Dynamics On The Antarctic Continental Shelf, Peter N. Sedwick, C. M. Marsay, B. M. Sohst, A. M. Aguilar-Islas, M. C. Lohan, M. C. Long, K. R. Arrigo, R. B. Dunbar, M. A. Saito, W. O. Smith, G. R. Ditullio

OES Faculty Publications

The Ross Sea polynya is among the most productive regions in the Southern Ocean and may constitute a significant oceanic CO2sink. Based on results from several field studies, this region has been considered seasonally iron limited, whereby a "winter reserve" of dissolved iron (dFe) is progressively depleted during the growing season to low concentrations (~ 0.1 nM) that limit phytoplankton growth in the austral summer (December-February). Here we report new iron data for the Ross Sea polynya during austral summer 2005-2006 (27 December-22 January) and the following austral spring 2006 (16 November-3 December). The summer 2005-2006 data show …