Agulhas salt-leakage oscillations during abrupt climate changes of the Late Pleistocene

Marino, Gianluca, Zahn, Rainer, Ziegler, Martin, Purcell, Conor, Knorr, Gregor, Hall, Ian Robert ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6960-1419, Ziveri, Patrizia and Elderfield, Henry 2013. Agulhas salt-leakage oscillations during abrupt climate changes of the Late Pleistocene. Paleoceanography 28 (3) , pp. 599-606. 10.1002/palo.20038

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Abstract

An ensemble of new, high-resolution records of surface ocean hydrography from the Indian-Atlantic oceanic gateway (IAO-G), south of Africa, demonstrates recurrent and high-amplitude salinity oscillations in the Agulhas Leakage area during the penultimate glacial-interglacial cycle. A series of millennial-scale salinification events, indicating strengthened salt-leakage into the South Atlantic, appear to correlate with abrupt changes in the North Atlantic climate and Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). This interhemispheric coupling, which plausibly involved changes in the Hadley Cell and mid-latitude westerlies that impacted the inter-ocean transport at the tip of Africa, suggests that the Agulhas Leakage acted as a source of negative buoyancy for the perturbed AMOC, possibly aiding its return to full-strength. Our finding points to the Indian-to-Atlantic salt transport as a potentially important modulator of the AMOC during the abrupt climate changes of the Late Pleistocene.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Earth and Environmental Sciences
Subjects:	G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GC Oceanography
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Agulhas Leakage; Abrupt Climate Change; Millennial-scale variability; AMOC; Bipolar Seesaw; Southern Hemisphere atmospheric circulation
Additional Information:	Pdf uploaded in accordance with publisher's policy at http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo/issn/1944-9186/ (accessed 20/02/2014).
Publisher:	American Geophysical Union
ISSN:	0883-8305
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	30 March 2016
Last Modified:	10 Nov 2023 12:47
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/48585

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