Abstract
This work focuses on the Late Saalian (140 ka) Eurasian ice sheets’ surface mass balance (SMB) sensitivity to changes in sea surface temperatures (SST). An Atmospheric General Circulation Model (AGCM), forced with two preexisting Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, 21 ka) SST reconstructions, is used to compute climate at 140 and 21 ka (reference glaciation). Contrary to the LGM, the ablation almost stopped at 140 ka due to the climatic cooling effect from the large ice sheet topography. Late Saalian SST are simulated using an AGCM coupled with a mixed layer ocean. Compared to the LGM, these 140 ka SST show an inter-hemispheric asymmetry caused by the larger ice-albedo feedback, cooling climate. The resulting Late Saalian ice sheet SMB is smaller due to the extensive simulated sea ice reducing the precipitation. In conclusion, SST are important for the stability and growth of the Late Saalian Eurasian ice sheet.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abe-Ouchi A, Segawa T, Saito F (2007) Climatic conditions for modelling the Northern Hemisphere ice sheets throughout the ice age cycle. Clim Past 3:423–438
Abreu L, Shackleton N, Schonfeld J, Hall M, Chapman M (2003) Millennial-scale oceanic climate variability off the Western Iberian margin during the last two glacial periods. Mar Geol 196(1):1–20
Berger A, Loutre M (1991) Insolation values for the climate of the last 10 millions years. Quat Sci Rev 10(4):297–317
Bianchi C, Gersonde R (2002) The southern ocean surface between marine isotope stages 6 and 5d: shape and timing of climate changes. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol 187:151–177
Broecker W (1998) Paleocean circulation during the last deglaciation: a bipolar seesaw? Paleoceanography 13(2):119–121
Calvo E, Villanueva J, Grimalt J, Boelaert A, Labeyrie L (2001) New insights into the glacial latitudinal temperature gradients in the North Atlantic. Results from UK’37 sea surface temperatures and terrigenous inputs. Earth Planet Sci Lett 188(3–4):509–519
Chapman M, Shackleton N, Duplessy J (2000) Sea surface temperature variability during the last glacial-interglacial cycle: assessing the magnitude and pattern of climate change in the North Atlantic. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol 157(1):1–25
Chen M, Chang Y, Chang C, Wang L, Wang C, Yu E (2002) Late Quaternary sea-surface temperature variations in the southeast Atlantic: a planktic foraminifer faunal record of the past 600 000 yr (IMAGES II MD962085). Mar Geol 180(1–4):163–181
Chen M, Shiau L, Yu P, Chiu T, Chen Y, Wei K (2003) 500 000-year records of carbonate, organic carbon, and foraminiferal sea-surface temperature from the southeastern South China Sea (near Palawan Island). Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol 197(1–2):113–131
Clark P, Pisias N, Stocker T, Weaver A (2002) The role of the thermohaline circulation in abrupt climate change. Nature 415:863–869
CLIMAP (1984) The last interglacial ocean. Quat Res 21:123–224
Colleoni F, Krinner G, Jakobsson M (2009a) Sensitivity of the Late Saalian (140 kyrs BP) and LGM (21 kyrs BP) Eurasian ice sheet surface mass balance to vegetation feedbacks. Geophys Res Lett 36:L08,704
Colleoni F, Krinner G, Jakobsson M, Peyaud V, Ritz C (2009b) Influence of dust deposition and proglacial lakes on the surface mass balance of the large Eurasian ice sheet during the peak Saalian (140 kyrs BP). Glob Planet Change 28:132–148
Crowley T (1981) Temperature and circulation changes in the eastern North Atlantic during the last 150,000 years: Evidence from the planktonic foraminiferal record. Mar Micropaleontol 6(2):97–129
Crowley T (1995) Ice age terrestrial carbon changes revisited. Global Biogeochem Cycles 9(3):377–389
Delmonte B et al. (2004) EPICA Dome C Ice Cores Insoluble Dust Data
Dong B, Valdes P (1998) Simulations of the Last Glacial Maximum climates using a generalcirculation model: prescribed versus computed sea surface temperatures. Clim Dyn 14:571–591
Fraedrich K, Jansen H, Kirk E, Luksch U, Lunkeit F (2005) The Planet Simulator: towards a user friendly model. Meteorol Z 14:299–304
Ganopolski A, Rahmstorf S (2001) Rapid changes of glacial climate simulated in a coupled climate model. Nature 409:153–158
Goni MA, D M Hartz RCT, Tappa E (2001) Oceanographic considerations for the application of the alkenone-based paleotemperature U37K? index in the Gulf of California. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 65(4):545–557
Hays J, Imbrie J, Shackleton N (1976) Variations in the earth’s orbit: pacemaker of the ice ages. Science 196:1121–1132
Hebbeln D, Dokken T, Andersen E, Hald M, Elverhoi A (1994) Moisture supply for northern ice-sheet growth during the Last Glacial Maximum. Nature 370:357–360
Hippler D, Eisenhauer A, Nagler T (2006) Tropical Atlantic SST history inferred from Ca isotope thermometry over the last 140ka. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 70(1):90–100
Hourdin F, Musat I, Bony S, Braconnot P, Codron F, Dufresne JL, Fairhead L, Filiberti MA, Frieflingstein P, Grandpeix JY, Krinner G, Levan P, Li ZX, Lott F (2006) The LMDZ4 general circulation model : climate performance and sensitivity to parametrized physics with emphasis on tropical convection. Clim Dyn 27(7–8):787–813
Ivins E, James T (2005) Antarctic glacial isostatic adjustment: a new assessment. Antarct Sci 17(4):541–553
Jakobsson M, Gardner J, Vogt P, Mayer L, Armstrong A, Backman J, Brennan R, Calder B, Hall J, Kraft B (2005) Multibeam bathymetric and sediment profiler evidence for ice grounding on the Chukchi Borderland, Arctic Ocean. Quat Res 63:150–160
Jakobsson M, Polyak L, Edwards M, Kleman J, Coakley B (2008) Glacial geomorphology of the Central Arctic Ocean: the Chukchi Borderland and the Lomonosov Ridge. Earth Surf Proc Land 33(4):526–545
Kageyama M, Valdes P (2000) Impact of the North American ice-sheet orography on the Last Glacial Maximum eddies and snowfall. Geophys Res Lett 27(10):1515
Kageyama M, Valdes PJ, Ramstein G, Hewitt C, Wyputta U (1999) Northern Hemisphere storm tracks in present day and Last Glacial Maximum Climate Simulations: a comparison of the European PMIP models. J Clim 12:742–760
Kageyama M, Lane A, Abe-Ouchi A, Braconnot P, Cortijo E, Crucix M, de Vernal A, Guiot J, Hewitt C, Kitoh A, Kucera M, Marti O, Ohgaito R, Otto-Bliesner B, Peltier W, Rosell-Mele A, Vettoretti G, Weber S, Yum Y, Members MP (2006) Last Glacial Maximum temperatures over the North Atlantic, Europe and western Siberia: a comparison between PMIP models, MARGO seasurface temperatures and pollen-based reconstructions. Quat Sci Rev 25:2082–2102
Kandiano E, Bauch H, Muller A (2004) Sea surface temperature variability in the North Atlantic during the last two glacial interglacial cycles: comparison of faunal, oxygen isotopic, and Mg/Ca-derived records. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol 204(1–2):145–164
Kirst J, Schneider R, Muller P, von Storch I, Wefer G (1999) Late quaternary temperature variability in the Benguela current system derived from Alkenones. Quat Res 52(1):92–103
Krinner G (2003) Impact of lakes and wetlands on boreal climate. J Geophys Res 108(D16):4520
Krinner G, Genthon C (1999) Altitude dependence of the ice sheet surface climate. Geophys Res Lett 26:2227–2230
Krinner G, Mangerud J, Jakobsson M, Crucifix M, Ritz C, Svendsen J (2004) Enhanced ice sheet growth in Eurasia owing to adjacent ice-dammed lakes. Nature 427:429–432
Krinner G, Boucher O, Balanski Y (2006) Ice-free glacial northern Asia due to dust deposition on snow. Clim Dyn 27(6):773–777
Kucera M, Rosell-Mele A, Schneider R, Waelbroeck C, Weinelt M (2005a) Multiproxy approach for the reconstruction of the glacial ocean surface (MARGO). Quat Sci Rev 24:813–819
Lambeck K, Purcell A, Johnston P, Nakada M, Yokoyama Y (2003) Water-load definition in the glacio-hydro-isostatic sea-level equation. Quat Sci Rev 22:309–318
Lambeck K, Purcell A, Funder S, Kjaer K, Larsen E, ans Möller P (2006) Constraints on the Late Saalian to early Middle Weichselian ice sheet of Eurasia from field data and rebound modelling. Boreas 35:539–575
Lea D, Pak D, Spero H (2000) Climate impact of late Quaternary Equatorial Pacific Sea surface temperature variations. Science 289(5485):1719–1724
Mahowald N, Kohfeld K, Hansson M, Balanski Y, Harrisson S, Prentice J, Schulz M, Rodhe H (1999) Dusts sources and deposition during the last glacial maximum and current climate: a comparison of model results with paleodata from ice cores and marine sediments. J Geophys Res 104(D13)
Mangerud J, Jakobsson M, Alexanderson H, Astakhov V, Clarke G, Henriksen M, Hjort C, Krinner G, Lunkka JP, Moller P, Murray A, Nikolskaya O, Saarnisto M, Svendsen J (2004) Ice-dammed lakes and rerouting of the drainage of northern eurasia during the last glaciation. Quat Sci Rev 23:1313–1322
Mashiotta TA, Spero HJ, Lea DW (1999) Glacial interglacial changes in Subantarctic sea surface temperature and d18O-water using foraminiferal Mg. Earth Planet Sci Lett 170(4):417–432
Nurnberg D, Groeneveld J (2006) Pleistocene variability of the Subtropical Convergence at East Tasman Plateau: Evidence from planktonic foraminiferal Mg/Ca (ODP Site 1172A). Geochem Geophy Geosynth 7:984. doi:10.1029/2005GC000
Ohmura A, Reeh N (1996) New precipitation and accumulation maps for Greenland. J Glaciol 125(37):140–148
Pahnke K, Sachs J (2006) Sea surface temperatures of southern midlatitudes 0160 kyr B.P. Paleoceanography 21:191. doi:10.1029/2005PA001
Paul A, Schaefer-Neth C (2003) Modeling the water masses of the Atlantic Ocean at the Last Glacial Maximum. Paleoceanography 18(3):783 doi:10.1029/2002PA000
Pelejero C, ECalvo, Barrows T, Logan G, Deckker PD (2006) South Tasman Sea alkenone palaeothermometry over the last four glacial/interglacial cycles. Mar Geol 230(1–2):73–86
Peltier W (2004) Global glacial isostasy and the surface of the ice-age Earth: The REF140-5G (VM2) Model and GRACE. Annu Rev Earth Planet Sci 32:111–149
Petit J, Jouzel J, Raynaud D, Barkov N, Barnola J, Basile I, Bender M, Chapellaz J, Davis J, Delaygue G, Delmotte M, Kotlyakov V, Legrand M, Lipenkov V, Lorius C, Ppin L, Ritz C, Saltzman E, Stievenard M (2001) Ice core data for 420,000 year
Peyaud V (2006) Role of the Ice Sheet Dynamics in major climate changes. PhD thesis, Laboratoire de Glaciologie et de Géophysique de l’Environnement, Université Grenoble I
Peyaud V, Ritz C, Krinner G (2007) Modeling the Early Weichselian Eurasian Ice Sheets: role of ice shelves and influence of ice-dammed lakes. Clim Past 3:375–386
Polyak L, Edward M, Coakley B, Jakobsson M (2001) Ice shelves in the Pleistocene Arctic Ocean inferred from glaciogenic deep-sea bedforms. Nature 410:453–457
Ramstein G, Joussaume S (1995) Sensitivity experiments to sea surface temperatures, sea-ice extent and ice-sheet reconstruction for the Last Glacial Maximum. Ann Glaciol 21:343–347
Rayner N, Parker D, Horton E, Folland C, Alexander L, Rowell D, Kent E, Kaplan A (2003) Global analyses of SST, sea ice and night marine air temperature since the late nineteenth century. J Geophys Res 108(D14):4407
Rind D (2006) Components of the ice age circulation. J Geophys Res 2:31–42
Ritz C, Rommalaere V, Dumas C (2001) Modeling the evolution of Antarctic ice sheet over the last 420,000 years: implications for altitude changes in the Vostok region. J Geophys Res 106(D23):31943–31964
Romanova V, Lohmann G, Grosfeld K (2005) Effect of land albedo, CO2, orography, and oceanic heat transport on extreme climates. Clim Past 92:4241–4281
Romanova V, Lohmann G, Grosfeld K, Butzin M (2006) Effect of land albedo, CO2, orography, and oceanic heat transport on extreme climates. Quat Sci Rev 25:832–845
Ruddiman W, McIntyre A (1979) Warmth of the subpolar North Atlantic Ocean during Northern Hemisphere ice-sheet growth. Science 204:173–175
Schaefer G, Rodger J, Hayward B, Kennett J, Sabaa A, Scott G (2005) Planktic foraminiferal and sea surface temperature record during the last 1 Myr across the Subtropical Front, Southwest Pacific. Mar Micropaleontol 54(3-4):191–212
Schneider R (1999) Atlantic Alkenone sea-surface temperature records. In: De Abrantes F, Mix AC (ed) Reconstructing ocean history: a window into the future. Springer, Berlin
Schneider R, Muller P, Ruhland G (1995) Late quaternary surface circulation in the East Equatorial South Atlantic: evidence from Alkenone sea surface temperatures. Paleoceanography 10(2):197–219
Schneider R, Muller P, Ruhland G, Meinecke G, Schmidt H, Wefer G (1996) Late quaternary surface temperatures and productivity in the East Equatorial South Atlantic: response to changes in trade/monsoon wind forcing and surface water advection. In: Wefer G et al. (ed) The South-Atlantic: present and past circulation. Springer, Berlin
Shackleton N, Berger A, Peltier W (1990) An alternative astronomical calibration of the lower Pleistocene timescale based on ODP Site 677. Trans R Soc Edinb Earth sci 81:251–261
Shin SI, Liu Z, Otto-Bliesner B, Brady EC, Kutzbach JE, Harrison SP (2003) A simulation of the last glacial maximum climate using the ncar-ccsm. Clim Dyn 20(2–3):127–151
Siegert MJ, Marsiat I (2001) Numerical reconstructions of LGM climate across the Eurasian Arctic. Quat Sci Rev 20(16):1595–1605
Simmonds I, Wu X (1993) Cyclone behaviour response to changes in winter Southern Hemisphere sea-ice concentration. J Clim 119:1121–1148
Spahni R, Chappellaz J, Stocker T, Loulergue L, Hausammann G, Kyawamura G, Flckiger J, Schwander J, Raynaud D, Masson-Delmotte V, Jouzel J (2005) Epica Dome C CH4 data to 650 kya BP
Stocker T (1998) The seesaw effect. Science 282:61–62
Svendsen J, Alexanderson H, Astakhov V, Demidov I, Dowdeswell J, Funder S, Gataullin V, Henriksen M, Hjort C, Houmark-Nielsen M, Hubberten H, Ingolfsson O, Jakobsson M, Kjaer K, Larsen E, Lokrantz H, Lunkka J, Lysa A, Mangerud J, Matiouchkov A, Murray A, Moller P, Niessen F, Nikolskaya O, Polyak L, Saarnisto M, Siegert C, Siegert M, Spielhagen R, Stein R (2004) Late Quaternary ice sheet history of northern Eurasia. Quat Sci Rev 23(11–13):1229–1271
Toracinta R, Oglesby R, Bromwitch D (2004) Atmospheric Response to Modified CLIMAP Ocean Boundary Conditions during the Last Glacial Maximum. J Clim 17(3):504–522
Villanueva J, Flores J, Grimalt J (2002) A detailed comparison of the Uk’37 and coccolith records over the past 290 kyears: implications to the alkenone paleotemperature method. Org Geochem 33(8):897–905
Waelbroeck C, Paul A, Kucera M, Rosell-Melé A, Weinelt M, Schneider R, Mix AC, Abelmann A, Armand L, Bard E, Barker S, Barrows TT, Benway H, Cacho I, Chen MT, Cortijo E, Crosta X, de Vernal A, Dokken T, Duprat J, Eldereld H, Eynaud F, Gersonde R, Hayes A, Henry M, Hillaire-Marcel C, Huang CC, Jansen E, Juggins S, Kallel N, Kiefer T, Kienast M, Labeyrie L, Leclaire H, Londeix L, Mangin S, Matthiessen J, Marret F, Meland M, Morey AE, Mulitza S, Pfaumann U, Pisias NG, Radi T, Rochon A, Rohling EJ, Sbaf L, Schfer-Neth C, Solignac S, Spero H, Tachikawa K, Turon JL (2009) Constraints on the magnitude and patterns of ocean cooling at the Last Glacial Maximum, MARGO Project Members. Nat Geosci 2:127–332
Wei G, Deng W, Liu Y, Li X (2007) High-resolution sea surface temperature records derived from foraminiferal Mg/Ca ratios during the last 260 ka in the northern South China Sea. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol 250(1–4):126–138
Winckler G, Anderson R, Fleisher M, McGee D, Mahowald N (2008) Covariant glacial–interglacial dust fluxes in the Equatorial Pacific and Antarctica. Science 320:93–96
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank Myriam Khodri, Antje Voelker, Catherine Ritz and Thomas Crowley for their useful contributions. The authors acknowledge support by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (project IDEGLACE), the Région Rhône Alpes (programme Explora’Doc) and the Ministère des Affaires Étrangères Français and The Bert Bolin Centre for Climate Research (Stockholm University) for their support. The climate simulations were carried out at IDRIS/CNRS and on the Mirage scientific computing plateform in Grenoble (France).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Colleoni, F., Liakka, J., Krinner, G. et al. The sensitivity of the Late Saalian (140 ka) and LGM (21 ka) Eurasian ice sheets to sea surface conditions. Clim Dyn 37, 531–553 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-010-0870-7
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-010-0870-7