The role of the thermohaline circulation in abrupt climate change

被引:576
作者
Clark, PU [1 ]
Pisias, NG
Stocker, TF
Weaver, AJ
机构
[1] Oregon State Univ, Dept Geosci, Corvallis, OR 97331 USA
[2] Oregon State Univ, Coll Ocean & Atmospher Sci, Corvallis, OR 97331 USA
[3] Univ Bern, Inst Phys, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland
[4] Univ Victoria, Sch Earth & Ocean Sci, Victoria, BC V8W 3P6, Canada
基金
美国国家科学基金会; 加拿大自然科学与工程研究理事会;
关键词
D O I
10.1038/415863a
中图分类号
O [数理科学和化学]; P [天文学、地球科学]; Q [生物科学]; N [自然科学总论];
学科分类号
07 ; 0710 ; 09 ;
摘要
The possibility of a reduced Atlantic thermohaline circulation in response to increases in greenhouse-gas concentrations has been demonstrated in a number of simulations with general circulation models of the coupled ocean-atmosphere system. But it remains difficult to assess the likelihood of future changes in the thermohaline circulation, mainly owing to poorly constrained model parameterizations and uncertainties in the response of the climate system to greenhouse warming. Analyses of past abrupt climate changes help to solve these problems. Data and models both suggest that abrupt climate change during the last glaciation originated through changes in the Atlantic thermohaline circulation in response to small changes in the hydrological cycle. Atmospheric and oceanic responses to these changes were then transmitted globally through a number of feedbacks. The palaeoclimate data and the model results also indicate that the stability of the thermohaline circulation depends on the mean climate state.
引用
收藏
页码:863 / 869
页数:7
相关论文
共 94 条
[1]   The deglaciation of the northern hemisphere: A global perspective [J].
Alley, RB ;
Clark, PU .
ANNUAL REVIEW OF EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCES, 1999, 27 :149-182
[2]   Stochastic resonance in the North Atlantic [J].
Alley, RB ;
Anandakrishnan, S ;
Jung, P .
PALEOCEANOGRAPHY, 2001, 16 (02) :190-198
[3]  
ALLEY RB, IN PRESS ABRUPT CLIM
[4]  
[Anonymous], 2001, PROJECTIONS FUTURE C
[5]   Hydrological impact of Heinrich events in the subtropical northeast Atlantic [J].
Bard, E ;
Rostek, F ;
Turon, JL ;
Gendreau, S .
SCIENCE, 2000, 289 (5483) :1321-1324
[6]   Radiocarbon calibration by means of mass spectrometric 230Th/234U and 14C ages of corals:: An updated database including samples from Barbados, Mururoa and Tahiti [J].
Bard, E ;
Arnold, M ;
Hamelin, B ;
Tisnerat-Laborde, N ;
Cabioch, G .
RADIOCARBON, 1998, 40 (03) :1085-1092
[7]   Interhemispheric synchrony of the last deglaciation inferred from alkenone palaeothermometry [J].
Bard, E ;
Rostek, F ;
Sonzogni, C .
NATURE, 1997, 385 (6618) :707-710
[8]   Brief interstadial events in the Santa Barbara basin, NE Pacific, during the past 60 kyr [J].
Behl, RJ ;
Kennett, JP .
NATURE, 1996, 379 (6562) :243-246
[9]   Timing of millennial-scale climate change in Antarctica and Greenland during the last glacial period [J].
Blunier, T ;
Brook, EJ .
SCIENCE, 2001, 291 (5501) :109-112
[10]  
Bond GC, 1999, GEOPH MONOG SERIES, V112, P35