A Short Circuit in Thermohaline Circulation: A Cause for Northern Hemisphere Glaciation?
- 16 October 1998
- journal article
- other
- Published by American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Science
- Vol. 282 (5388) , 436-438
- https://doi.org/10.1126/science.282.5388.436
Abstract
The cause of Northern Hemisphere glaciation about 3 million years ago remains uncertain. Closing the Panamanian Isthmus increased thermohaline circulation and enhanced moisture supply to high latitudes, but the accompanying heat would have inhibited ice growth. One possible solution is that enhanced moisture transported to Eurasia also enhanced freshwater delivery to the Arctic via Siberian rivers. Freshwater input to the Arctic would facilitate sea ice formation, increase the albedo, and isolate the high heat capacity of the ocean from the atmosphere. It would also act as a negative feedback on the efficiency of the “conveyor belt” heat pump.Keywords
This publication has 28 references indexed in Scilit:
- Russian and German scientists explore the Arctic's Laptev Sea and its climate systemEos, 1998
- Late Cenozoic Eolian deposition in the North Pacific: Asian drying, Tibetan uplift, and cooling of the northern hemispherePaleoceanography and Paleoclimatology, 1998
- Continuous paleoclimate record recovered for last 5 million yearsEos, 1997
- Response of a coupled ocean/energy balance model to restricted flow through the Central American IsthmusPaleoceanography and Paleoclimatology, 1997
- Cretaceous frontal thrusts of the Verkhoyansk fold belt, eastern SiberiaTectonics, 1995
- On the Structure and Origin of Major Glaciation Cycles 1. Linear Responses to Milankovitch ForcingPaleoceanography and Paleoclimatology, 1992
- Ocean General Circulation Model Sensitivity Experiment with an open Central American IsthmusPaleoceanography and Paleoclimatology, 1990
- What Drives Glacial Cycles?Scientific American, 1990
- Late Pliocene variation in northern hemisphere ice sheets and North Atlantic deep water circulationPaleoceanography and Paleoclimatology, 1989
- Tertiary oxygen isotope synthesis, sea level history, and continental margin erosionPaleoceanography and Paleoclimatology, 1987