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Pronounced centennial-scale Atlantic Ocean climate variability correlated with Western Hemisphere hydroclimate



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  • Journal Title:
    Nature Communications
  • Personal Author:
    Thirumalai, Kaustubh ORCID ICON IMG ; Quinn, Terrence M. ; Okumura, Yuko ; Richey, Julie N. ; Partin, Judson W. ; Poore, Richard Z. ; Moreno-Chamarro, Eduardo
  • NOAA Program & Office:
    OAR (Oceanic and Atmospheric Research)
  • Description:
    Surface-ocean circulation in the northern Atlantic Ocean influences Northern Hemisphere climate. Century-scale circulation variability in the Atlantic Ocean, however, is poorly constrained due to insufficiently-resolved paleoceanographic records. Here we present a replicated reconstruction of sea-surface temperature and salinity from a site sensitive to North Atlantic circulation in the Gulf of Mexico which reveals pronounced centennial-scale variability over the late Holocene. We find significant correlations on these timescales between salinity changes in the Atlantic, a diagnostic parameter of circulation, and widespread precipitation anomalies using three approaches: multiproxy synthesis, observational datasets, and a transient simulation. Our results demonstrate links between centennial changes in northern Atlantic surface-circulation and hydroclimate changes in the adjacent continents over the late Holocene. Notably, our findings reveal that weakened surface-circulation in the Atlantic Ocean was concomitant with well-documented rainfall anomalies in the Western Hemisphere during the Little Ice Age.
  • Source:
    Nature Communications 9 (392)
  • DOI:
    https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-02846-4
  • Pubmed Central ID:
    PMC5786086
  • Document Type:
    Journal Article
  • Funding:
    Grant no. Na16oar4310177
  • Place as Subject:
    Atlantic Ocean
  • Rights Information:
    CC BY
  • Compliance:
    PMC
  • Download URL:
    https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/24131/noaa_24131_DS1.pdf
  • File Type:
    Filetype[PDF - 3.97 MB]
  • Collection(s):
    Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR)
  • Main Document Checksum:
    urn:sha-512:5690354836e3714b2728ba9348e254cf301ce3653b7e1f5e450192e8e19bd7354644b59b9ad24716dbed1b389feed71c5e2d75eb4e17b1efdd7bf7587dfd55c6
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