A persistent Norwegian Atlantic Current through the Pleistocene glacials

Andrew Newton, Mads Huuse, Simon Brocklehurst

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    Changes in ocean‐circulation regimes in the northern North Atlantic and the Nordic Seas may affect not only the Arctic but potentially hemispheric or even global climate. Therefore, unraveling the long‐term evolution of the North Atlantic Current‐Norwegian Atlantic Current system through the Pleistocene glaciations could yield useful information and climatological context for understanding contemporary changes. In this work, ~50,000 km2 of 3‐D seismic reflection data are used to investigate the Pleistocene stratigraphy for evidence of paleo‐oceanographic regimes on the mid‐Norwegian margin since 2.58 Ma. Across 33 semicontinuous regional paleo‐seafloor surfaces ~17,500 iceberg scours have been mapped. This mapping greatly expands our spatiotemporal understanding of currents and iceberg presence in the eastern Nordic Seas. The scours display a dominant southwest‐northeast trend that complements previous sedimentological and numerical modeling studies that suggest northward‐flowing currents in the Norwegian Sea during the Pleistocene. This paleo‐oceanographic study suggests that through many of the Pleistocene glaciations, the location of surface ocean currents in the Norwegian Sea and, by extension, the eastern North Atlantic, were broadly similar to the present.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)5599-5608
    Number of pages10
    JournalGeophysical Research Letters
    Volume45
    Issue number11
    Early online date18 May 2018
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 16 Jun 2018

    Keywords

    • North Atlantic Current
    • North Atlantic Deep Water
    • 3D Seismic 38 Reflection
    • Mid-Norwegian Margin
    • Iceberg Scours
    • Seismic geomorphology

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