The Brewer‐Dobson Circulation During the Last Glacial Maximum

Atlantic meridional overturning circulation during the Last Glacial Maximum.

The circulation of the deep Atlantic Ocean during the height of the last ice age appears to have been quite different from today. We review observations implying that Atlantic meridional overturning circulation during the Last Glacial Maximum was neither extremely sluggish nor an enhanced version of present-day circulation. The distribution of the decay products of uranium in sediments is consi...

Abyssal Atlantic Circulation during the Last Glacial Maximum

The Last Glacial Maximum.

We used 5704 14C, 10Be, and 3He ages that span the interval from 10,000 to 50,000 years ago (10 to 50 ka) to constrain the timing of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) in terms of global ice-sheet and mountain-glacier extent. Growth of the ice sheets to their maximum positions occurred between 33.0 and 26.5 ka in response to climate forcing from decreases in northern summer insolation, tropical Pac...

Effect of Wind Changes During the Last Glacial Maximum on the Circulation in the Southern Ocean

Present-day surface wind stress climatology is manipulated to simulate wind conditions during the last glacial maximum. These estimated wind fields force a onelayer, wind-driven numerical model of the southern ocean to determine if a change in the strength of the surface wind stress can shift the location of the Antarctic Polar Front, which is part of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. A change...

Abyssal Atlantic circulation during the Last Glacial Maximum: Constraining the ratio between transport and vertical mixing

[1] The ocean’s role in regulating atmospheric carbon dioxide on glacial‐interglacial timescales remains an unresolved issue in paleoclimatology. Reduced mixing between deep water masses may have aided oceanic storage of atmospheric CO2 during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), but data supporting this idea have remained elusive. The dC of benthic foraminifera indicate the Atlantic Ocean was more ...