Variability of the western Mediterranean Sea surface temperature during the last 25,000 years and its connection with the Northern Hemisphere climatic changes
Cacho, Isabel (Universitat de Barcelona. Departament d'Estratigrafia, Paleontologia i Geociències Marines)
Grimalt, Joan (Institut d'Investigacions Químiques i Ambientals de Barcelona)
Canals Artigas, Miquel (Universitat de Barcelona. Departament d'Estratigrafia, Paleontologia i Geociències Marines)
Shaffi, Laura (University of Cambridge. Godwin Laboratory)
Shackleton, Nick J. (University of Cambridge. Godwin Laboratory)
Schönfeld, Joachim (GEOMAR Research Center for Marine Geosciences)
Zahn, Rainer (Cardiff University. Department of Earth Sciences)

Date:	2001
Abstract:	Sea surface temperature (SST) profiles over the last 25 kyr derived from alkenone measurements are studied in four cores from a W-E latitudinal transect encompassing the Gulf of Cadiz (Atlantic Ocean), the Alboran Sea, and the southern Tyrrhenian Sea (western Mediterranean). The results document the sensitivity of the Mediterranean region to the short climatic changes of the North Atlantic Ocean, particularly those involving the latitudinal position of the polar front. The amplitude of the SST oscillations increases toward the Tyrrhenian Sea, indicating an amplification effect of the Atlantic signal by the climatic regime of the Mediterranean region. All studied cores show a shorter cooling phase (700 years) for the Younger Dryas (YD) than that observed in the North Atlantic region (1200 years). This time diachroneity is related to an intra-YD climatic change documented in the European continent. Minor oscillations in the southward displacement of the North Atlantic polar front may also have driven this early warming in the studied area. During the Holocene a regional diachroneity propagating west to east is observed for the SST maxima, 11. 5-10. 2 kyr B. P. in the Gulf of Cadiz, 10-9 kyr B. P. in the Alboran Sea, and 8. 9-8. 4 kyr B. P. in the Thyrrenian Sea. A general cooling trend from these SST maxima to present day is observed during this stage, which is marked by short cooling oscillations with a periodicity of 730±40 years and its harmonics.
Rights:	Tots els drets reservats.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Climate dynamics ; Hydroclimatology ; Ocean/atmosphere interactions
Published in:	Paleoceanography, Vol. 16, Issue 1 (January 2001) , p. 40-52, ISSN 1944-9186

DOI: 10.1029/2000PA000502

13 p, 1.7 MB

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